eBay

community_team · ‎10-12-2021

--Final Update, October 28--

The category changes announced in our Fall Seller Update have been completed.

Now that all category changes are complete, while you might still see some adjustments to searches, it is okay to update or edit your listings without concerns of losing data or having it moved again.

We appreciate your feedback on this roll-out. We'll continue to adjust the process based on the input we’ve received here, and we'll take all of these suggestions into consideration for future updates.

As this project is now complete the post is being locked from further comments.

Resources and observations

We’ve heard from you that updating your Item Specifics in time for the February 2022 requirement date may be a challenge.

A useful tool that may help is located in the Seller Hub under Listing>Active. There is a drop-down box labeled ‘Download’ which will generate an Excel document for ‘Missing Required or Recommended Item Specifics’. You can read more about this tool here.

Should you come across any inaccuracies within the new Item Specifics we ask that you report those directly to sdsupport@ebay.com so our team can investigate. Outside of that, please share suggestions as to changes you'd like to see going forward here, selecting the Categories and Item Specifics option.

---Update as of October 19th---

We apologize for this delayed update. Thank you for your patience while our teams worked to finalize category changes.

All listings have been moved to their final destination categories. You may now proceed with checking your categories, revising items, and updating item specifics where needed.

Some item specifics have been renamed, and the value you originally provided has been copied over to the new item specific, so you don’t need to re-add these item specifics. We encourage you to update your listings with item specifics that are showing as “Required Soon.” These will become required on February 22, 2022.

All other item specifics are either Recommended or Optional. Learn more about item specifics.

Some categories were retired and replaced by product-based categories. You and your buyers can still find the items you’re looking for. Simply browse to the product category of your choice and use the filters to refine your search.

More information about key category changes:

Dolls & Bears. The categories based on Brand/Material/Theme/Character/Franchise/Product Line/Type of doll have been retired. Former categories have been replaced by left-hand navigation filters in the new Dolls & Doll Playsets category. You can access the filters by browsing to the product category of your choice and using Brand/Vintage/Material/Theme/Character/Franchise/Product Line/Type filters to refine your search.

Pottery & Glass. The categories based on Brand/Origin/Production Style/Production Technique have also been replaced by filters. You and buyers can now filter by the Brand/Origin/Production Style/Production Technique/Time Period Manufactured.
Postcards. The categories based on Location/Theme/Subject have been retired and replaced with two main categories for Topographical and Non-Topographical postcards. The former categories have been replaced by left-hand navigation filters in the two new main categories. For example in Topographical Postcards, you can filter by Country and Region.

Jewelry & Watches. The categories based on Main Stone and Metal Type have been retired and replaced by product-based categories under Fine Jewelry. Use the filters for Main Stone and Metal to refine your search.

---Update as of October 14th---
The work continues on this move and is progressing according to plan. We are on track and anticipate all category changes for your listings to be complete by end of day tomorrow (10.15). Thank you for your patience while our teams implement these changes.

---Update as of October 13th---

We continue to work through this change and thank you for your patience as our teams work through it. We wanted to provide answers to some top concerns and questions:

Why are Gallery Plus fees being charged for items that were previously free?

We determined that a technical issue impacted a small number of listings, which resulted in incorrect charges (including Gallery Plus, subtitles, and insertion fees) for some sellers. The issue has been fixed and we will be crediting impacted sellers as quickly as possible. No calls to Customer Service are necessary as credits will be issued automatically.

The eBay Standard Envelope shipping option is grayed out and I can’t select it. When will the issue be resolved?

The eBay Standard Envelope shipping option issue resulted from the category changes update and has been resolved. eBay Standard Envelope is now available in applicable categories if your item meets the established criteria.

Should I edit my listings if they’re in the wrong category, have been moved to another category, or have wrong or missing item specifics?

No. Recent category changes require updates to many thousands of servers and data changes to nearly every aspect of our platform. This level of adjustment takes time, which is why we asked for your patience while the process runs. We expect most data updates to be completed within 48 hours, but can they take up to a week (i.e., through Oct. 19). After that, if you have an item specific in mind that you think would work well for your listing, please consider adding it as a custom item specific.

Why isn’t my item coming up in search?

The category change update is still in process. We anticipate search issues will resolve when we complete most data updates during the next 24-48 hours.

There are more item specifics now than ever before. Do I need to fill in all of them?

No. Item specifics that you have already filled in will be maintained as the category moves are completed during the next week. In addition, new soon-to-be-required item specifics are being added and will become required by Feb 22, 2022. As always, the more item specifics you fill out, the better visibility your listing has to buyers.

For Parts & Accessories, when will fitment/compatibility charts start working again?

There was an issue with parts compatibility not working properly as the category changes rolled out that has been resolved. You should now be able to see the options to add fitment compatibility when editing your listings.

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We’re updating some of our categories and item specifics to make your listings easier to find.

Starting October 12th, you’ll see updates to the following categories. Learn more about category changes →

Collectibles & Art

Jewelry

Musical Instruments

Parts & Accessories

Sporting Goods

As these updates go into effect, you may see temporary impacts to your listing experience or to the visibility of listings in the affected categories.

This is a result of listings transitioning to the updated item specifics and category structures. Your affected listings should return to normal within 48 hours, though you may see irregularities on some listings for up to a week. We recommend checking your item specifics and categories in affected listings after these updates are complete.

These updates also include new item specifics in the above categories, which will be required February 22, 2022. Starting today, these item specifics will be available as you list, with the “Required Soon” tag. Learn more →

Keep an eye on this page over the coming days—we’ll be sharing up-to-date information on affected categories and listings, and answering any questions you have.

vivabe · ‎10-19-2021

Works for Thanksgiving too if you have "Turkey" in your title and you are not careful when checking automatic IS!

Same for city in New Jersey or Georgia turning into "Made in Jersey or Made in Georgia".

Further more, I like to put the date a postcard was posted in my title. Now it's turning into "date of making" .

auctionpet · ‎10-19-2021

@valeries_trunk

I see you've had a significant number of sales since this chaos began, but you also have a huge number of listings! Some of the categories they moved your items to are ridiculous! (Childs Tea Set and Antique Ruby Glass Goblet BOTH placed in Cookware/Mugs!) What % would you say your sales are down?

Btw, you have a nice selection!

ksedar · ‎10-19-2021

I have over 1k in listings, about half are in those collectable category. Then silverware, then jewelry. The weekend before I sold 15 or 20 things, about 600 bucks for me, over the long weekend and that is pretty normal for me since 2015 when I restarted selling. Tuesday hit and my sales fell off the the cliff. Flat. Almost nothing. I went three days with no sales which hasn't happened ever since I started back to selling in 2015. My impressions are WAY down but my click through is up. That tells me my items are not showing up in the organic search. I share to social media so my views are probably coming from that. My listing quality report from yesterday says "your listings are performing well. No opportunities for improvement". I promote all my listings. I fill in every IS and take 12 picture that are good quality. I literally do not know what happened. The only other thing that happened was I sold two ghosted listings (thanks ebay) that I had to cancel and got dinged on that which caused me to lose the TRS status for a month, tomorrow that should correct itself. I literally have NO IDEA what I can do to fix my store other than end everything and start over with all new listings. I seriously think it is not only the Monday nite fall update that killed my store but also my lack of using the new Pay Per Click promotion model which just won't work for my items because the silverware alone would eat up my PPC budget while people click away researching their own patterns, etc. I literally don't know what to do to fix this and Ebay is not posting any help or direction with this. They said don't fix your listings yet because they are doing it but nothing is fixed.

valeries_trunk · ‎10-19-2021

Thank you for the very nice complement! Yes, I have had some nice sales, but they are down about 20 % from what they would usually be at this time of year. We are definitely seeing a downturn. I have lots & lots to list for the upcoming holiday season. But I am very leery to do so, because I don't even know where to list some of my items. If eBay moves them, I would have to do IS all over again. So I am trying to list in the categories that haven't changed. Ex. I have an antique child's toy spooner that has now been moved to Pottery & Glass> Cookware, Dinnerware & Serveware> Bowls. It had been listed in Early American Pattern Glass, which is where it should be. It does not belong lumped in with modern glass & dinnerware. I pointed this out to eBay yesterday & the rep agreed with me. It is not a child's tea set, which can go under Toys. It is part of a toy table set from the late 1800s. I have lots of these sets & toy dishes to list, but who will find them using that search criteria? Why should I bother listing them if I don't know where they should go? I am really appalled that eBay has given no updates on how this will be resolved! I do think that when they tell use the situation is fixed (and we all know it wont be right), I will start checking my listing by highest price first & skimming through them for any needed corrections. But that will take me months of time with the amount of items I have. We should be reimbursed for all the time we have spent trying to get our stores in order for the holidays! And I don't mean a $50.00 credit. I mean a year's worth of a free store subscription! I have been on eBay for over 20 years. Their silence tells me this is nowhere near being fixed!

riser_resale · ‎10-19-2021

Why were my sales absolutely slaughtered since these changes were implemented? I sold 17 items in 24 hours the day before these changes, and then as soon as the changes were made I've sold nothing?! Even though I've went back through over 100 listings and put them in their proper category. What am I missing here???

somanypcs · ‎10-19-2021

Will there be a weekly discussion with eBay staff this week? I don't see an announcement for same. I was hoping to ask three questions:

1) What is the status of category changes and item specific updates?

2) When can sellers safely begin listing new items and updating item specifics in the affected categories?

3) Whom do we contact if we have questions about the category a listing is in and/or questions about one or more of the item specifics, particularly soon-to-be-required item specifics?

treasureislandpearls · ‎10-19-2021

As a long time seller, and to a lesser degree, buyer, I used to appreciate the changes, (for the most part) as it usually helped to break down categories into better organized areas for the most part.

This new system is craziness, there is no possible way I can see that this will help , unless you are expecting buyers to shop like they do on Amazon, with particular keywords, just looking for a specific item.

as a buyer , I liked Ebay as I could , for example, go to a specific category, and just browse knowing they would be in the arena of what I liked.

now, I have pick a dozen or more specifics, and hope the seller filled it out right? I think alot of good items will fall by the wayside.... or sellers will leave....

some of these specifics just make no sense as well, maybe Ebay can get a panel of actual sellers together to give input when they want to change categories.

flyingmvp · ‎10-19-2021

@treasureislandpearls wrote:
maybe Ebay can get a panel of actual sellers together to give input when they want to change categories.

They already have a panel and it's called "seller" message board on Ebay community where sellers of all categories, years of experience and knowledge come to share, help and complain about,

it is a nothing but a seller venting/ranting tool,

Ebay ignores.

But hey, check out Ebay stock on Google finance/marketwatch, stock is doing fine and that's what matters.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎10-19-2021

@flyingmvp wrote:
@treasureislandpearls wrote:
maybe Ebay can get a panel of actual sellers together to give input when they want to change categories.
They already have a panel and it's called "seller" message board on Ebay community where sellers of all categories, years of experience and knowledge come to share, help and complain about,
it is a nothing but a seller venting/ranting tool,
Ebay ignores.

But hey, check out Ebay stock on Google finance/marketwatch, stock is doing fine and that's what matters.

@community_team

Right about now it would be awesome to get a confirmation that N/A is NOT going to cause a problem going forward. (Re: February 2022). Currently it is the only go to workaround in a sellers toolbox.

-Lotz

free2beyou · ‎10-19-2021

I will say, that Google search is better than any of the reselling platforms for finding items you want to buy generally speaking. SO, I also think buyers know this too & will go to Google to search. I also want to say, that my items on Poshmark show up on Google & sometimes first in the listings in the image/shop category but not eBay. eBay doesn't seem to be as in sync with Google search as Poshmark seems to be so yes, they are kicking themselves in the pocketbook by making these changes.

free2beyou · ‎10-19-2021

I hear you. Unfortunately, you're not the only one, however, other stores are doing great with no slowing down (I watch a handful of stores & have them pinned to the top). I am new to eBay but already giving up on trying to figure out how to sell on here. Two years selling & for the work I put in and all the listings I've gotten up in 2 years, it's not worth my effort so far. I thought if I got new listings up daily & did "all the things" I'd make sales but not hardly any.

mypaintstyle · ‎10-19-2021

I think this is excessive , useless, difficult to work through, and it makes sellers frustrated and mad at the unprofessional , out of touch advisors / consultants that eBay is employing to come up with this utter nonsense !!!!

Why do you you constantly make up stuff like this to make our work more and more difficult ?

kims_finishing_touches · ‎10-19-2021

HEY EBAY, NOT ALL JEWELRY HAS GEMSTONES IN IT!

Good grief, what utter rubbish of an update to item specifics in jewelry.

Why isn't there a "are there stones?" option and if answered "yes" the excessive number of stone related item specifics populates??? NO, instead there are dozens of mostly not applicable specifics to scroll through with a handful of useful ones hidden somewhere in the mishmash. The order of the specifics seems to have been chosen by a blind monkey. Absolutely no rhyme or reason to any of it.

It may finally be time to bail and go to etsy.

itsjustasprain · ‎10-19-2021

@somanypcs wrote:
Will there be a weekly discussion with eBay staff this week? I don't see an announcement for same. I was hoping to ask three questions:

1) What is the status of category changes and item specific updates?
2) When can sellers safely begin listing new items and updating item specifics in the affected categories?
3) Whom do we contact if we have questions about the category a listing is in and/or questions about one or more of the item specifics, particularly soon-to-be-required item specifics?

The announcement is there now and General Topics is on for tomorrow. You have a great list of concise questions here so please be ready to paste them into the chat as soon as it starts.

flo_mingo · ‎10-19-2021

I am wondering when this mess mad of item specifics will end. I not updating until they tell us they are done. This was such a STUPID thing to put sellers through last quarter when we are trying to list for our busy selling season, thanks again to eBay for not being In Touch with their sellers. Who is running this platform these days?? I have moved on and found ather sites to be so much easier, I dont know why I keep beating my head against this wall.