topic Re: Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products in Selling

Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products

kaiserin-auguste-viktoria — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 11:49:40 GMT

Why has Ebay reduced the many categories for doll products, based on age, country of origin, materials etc and replaced them with a single category in which dolls from plastic to ceramic, from across 200 years, from artworks to children's toys

Dolls & Doll Playsets

This is not how people search for dolls on eBay.

I believe that they have removed similar relevant categories from a range of collectables and antiques. Ebay does not seem to have consulted with their communities of either buyers or sellers when reorganising the sales classifications.

Does anyone know anything more? Does anyone know how the justified this decision?

Re: Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products

goldair1_4 — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 20:22:01 GMT

no,but ive seen people on the US ebay site who have been selling for 20 years or more cancel all their listings and leave ebay over this,at least according to them they left.

It's pretty messed up,that's for sure

Re: Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products

jolienspb — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 22:18:17 GMT

The items I sell are in the 'Pottery & Glass' category and all of my sub-categories have all been altered too. The sub-categories were very specific and useful and primarily based on brand (Royal Doulton, Royal Albert, Shelley etc), as well as product types which I'd carefully chosen and allocated. But now it looks like all of my items have been lumped into Pottery & Glass> Cookware, Dinnerware & Serveware with an additional randomly selected (not by me) sub-category of Cookware, Dinnerware & Serveware, regardless of what the item might actually be.

So I now have display plates in 'Jugs & Pitchers'; tea trios in 'Plates'; trays in 'Cups & Saucers' etc. Almost every single listing is now wrong - and I now have almost 400 individual listings to either correct or leave as inaccurate.

Also, 'Type' is now a 'Required field'. How is this any different from 'Product Type' or 'Object Type' which all my listings already have? More 'updating'? Utterly baffling.

Re: Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products

twyngwyn — Sat, 16 Oct 2021 00:35:00 GMT

This happens twice a year when they 'mess' with categories (Spring & Autumn updates)

eBay Moves Collectibles Around Resulting in Higher Fees (ecommercebytes.com)

Re: Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products

sugar249 — Sat, 16 Oct 2021 01:27:15 GMT

Because they are making the system more versatile, people categorised things wrong anyhow.

If you setup your item specifics and comments/titles correctly it wont be an issue.

This is a far better and efficient search method.

But lets be honest, people will always complain about change, say they are leaving, then when you look back, they are still there. The world has changed, maybe you still drive a horse and buggy as well.

Re: Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products

kaiserin-auguste-viktoria — Sat, 16 Oct 2021 15:01:35 GMT

YES, Ebay has removed the categories for specific collectables in photography as well as in glass, china and dolls. You can no longer list specifically under Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, collotypes, cynanotypes etc, all specific types of photographs, essential for both collectors and dealers.

Do they want to turn Ebay into a mass market place for Chinese-made junk and deadbeat drop shippers like Ali Baba or Amazon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ebay sellers and buyers need to protest as loud as possible

Re: Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products

kaiserin-auguste-viktoria — Sat, 16 Oct 2021 15:15:49 GMT

I disagree

many people including professional dealers and experienced collectors used the categories to fast track their searches.

Many categories of collectibles have very precise taxonomies, that is how people both sell and buy collections, and then organise and display them

I would suggest that it is not a matter of being a troglodyte or being afraid of change, which is a pretty dumb and not thought through thing to say

but of Ebay being out of touch with professional activities and attitudes.

If you think I can't cope with technology , then there are thousands of angry Ebayers globally who think like I do - I assume that you would also dismiss them as being afraid of change

Maybe bogan dropshippers trying to push plastic **bleep** out of China in the hope that they will make more money than the 1000s of other people who watch the adds on youtube so that they can retire to Indonesia or the Phillipines think this is a good idea as people may end up buying their junk because it is too hard to find better stuff

[I'll let you in on a secret - no one can make an independent living from drop shipping **bleep** that noone wants from China]

and YES I am going to reedit my titles to include key words, but I think that relevant and accurate categories is the way to go!

Re: Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products

love_of_cars — Sun, 17 Oct 2021 10:28:41 GMT

I kind of laughed when the word 'bogan' came up. I live next door to some real bogans and I can't imagine them being in a business of dropshipping dolls from China. Maybe selling on some hot items on Gumtree they got from a mate, but certainly not organising dropshipping from another country.

Re: Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products

sugar249 — Sun, 17 Oct 2021 11:27:43 GMT

@kaiserin-auguste-viktoria wrote:

but of Ebay being out of touch with professional activities and attitudes.

and YES I am going to reedit my titles to include key words, but I think that relevant and accurate categories is the way to go!

I wont comment on the rest of your rant, can't be bothered wasting my time.

I think the 2 areas I have quoted about highlight your problem, no Ebay are not out of touch with ''professional activities and attitudes'', they are actually trying to move you so called professionals into a better world.

Highlight by your second comment, keywords, not sure if you have noticed by search in the big wide world is based on Keywords, not categories. Strengthen your keywords, and you items will not just be found within Ebay by your professional out of date attitudes, but they will also be found on search engines, which thrive and live on keywords.

I look at the products I sell, the majority will appear on search engines outside of Ebay, whereas my prime competitor (which is also my supplier, not dropshipping as you fear), you can only find a small number outside of Ebay, because they are relying on out of date search criteria called categorys, well it's not really a search method, rather putting things in specific drawers in a filing cabinet. And only opening those drawers.

Do it properly and your sales will improve, but hey I'm not afraid of change so why would I care.

Re: Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products

brulinsfarm — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 05:30:17 GMT

I too am upset by the category changes as a seller & a buyer. Predominantly in the Pottery & Glass & Collectables areas. They have removed all relevant pottery sections ie Australian & sub categories such as Ellis, Remued, foreign makers such as Royal Copenhagen, Lladro etc. I went to list an Aussie animal figurine & it wanted to put it as an ashtray!

I really do get the feeling eBay couldn't care less about small sellers even though they rake 15% + from us with every sale. I agree with those who think it's become a platform for cheap, Chinese junk.

Hate, hate, hate the changes.

Re: Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products

sugar249 — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 06:03:36 GMT

@brulinsfarm wrote:
even though they rake 15% + from us with every sale.

Really, just a small exaggeration, but it makes the story sound better.

Re: Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products

kaiserin-auguste-viktoria — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 09:27:37 GMT

Except when I use Keywords to search I still get 100s of totally unrelated items, including items that do not fit in the broad category that I am looking in.

so people must be filling in the item specifics wrongly or the algorithms that ebay is using are actually not efficient as you claim

you can't paint a lump of dog poo gold and claim it is bullion

Re: Why has Ebay removed the previous categories for specific doll products

padi*0409 — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 09:41:35 GMT

@kaiserin-auguste-viktoria wrote:

Except when I use Keywords to search I still get 100s of totally unrelated items, including items that do not fit in the broad category that I am looking in.

It's very easy to get rid of those unrelated items, simply put a space at the end of the search then -and the item that you want to get rid of.

Many of my searches have that in them.