Where have all the items gone?

[ab57fg]

Ebay strikes again with their crackpot ideas!

95 % of listings in the cars/bikes/boats categories have vanished due, presumably, to the latest set of category changes.

If I can't see the listings, I can't buy, and the sellers are being charged for a service they aren't getting(i.e. customers seeing their products)

Will ebay refund these sellers for loss of traffic due to these ridiculous changes?

Like the previous decision to remove won items from the summary page, this needs to be changed back.

[the3coopers]

Could you explain what you mean?

I see 1.6 million item in Car, Bikes, Boats parts...

http://tinyurl.com/957q9ej

As for "Like the previous decision to remove won items from the summary page" that doesn't make sense either.

[the3coopers]

Actually, that was just spare parts...  I get 3.5 million in Vehicle Parts & Accessories 

http://tinyurl.com/9nson95

Where are YOU looking?

[at_wicks_end]

I had a regular customer contact me yesterday saying he looked up my store but it showed I had zero items listed, when my store was certainly open. I also looked up a seller I buy from regularly to purchase again. I clicked on a listing of his in my purchase history, and then clicked the link to show his other items. It brought up his listings. I looked at that one, then went back to his "other items" list, and it showed zero listings available. I continued trying to no avail.

Now, this is not the first time this has happened to me. A few months back I had 2 repeat buyers contact me on the one day asking if I had stopped selling as it was showing zero listings.

So, I wonder how often does this happen? I have up to 3 days in a row with no sales, then numerous on the one day.

I have also seen a number of power sellers report this happening to them as well.

[suitcase_of_memories]

It may have something to do with the exposure on A Current Affair last night [wednesday 12/9] regarding the woman who got fully ripped off buying a car from ebay. Stupidly she paid via Western Union so has lost her $'s completely, but perhaps they are reviewing the Car section looking for the 'seller'.

There are at times though when I have searched Saved Sellers item & it shows they have zero listings which I find unusual as they are BIG sellers.

There is also the question/hypothetical that if 5,000 items are uploaded by individual sellers [with a million or so listers on ebay that is not unviable] at 8.10pm how can they possibly all be VISIBLE at exactly 8.10pm on their ending now night ???

[ab57fg]

A couple of searches that I have been doing for quite a few years are for Citroen(well someone has to!) and Klr - I would put Citroen in the search description, and scroll down to Cars, bikes,boats - result(last week) approx 10,000 items, now, 81 items.

Ditto with the Klr search, last week, 450-500 items, now, 10.

It looks like an expanded category of vehicle parts and accessories has now been introduced to do what was already done with cars, bikes, boats.

As for the reference to won items on the my ebay - about 15 months ago they rehashed the my ebay summary.

Won items went straight into purchase history but there wasn't any indication that you had won anything on the summary page(though "didn't win" was there!) - you had to go into purchase history to find if you had won anything. Thankfully after about 2 weeks, won items returned to the summary page.

Basically, if it ain't broke, don't "fix" it!

[missionsellit]

I am highlighting this problem in the music category in the books music string.  Big changes to how catgegories are affected, some buyers won't try too hard and as a seller, that worries me. Can't buy what you can't see, and there was me going to flog off my Citroen bits on my non TRS seller reg to get some free listings, so I went checking, try this, and I agree, the obvious search I do for citroen thru cars has 'vanished'

Try Citroen in all categories, then filter for 'location'  Australia only , and I get..........14202 results, including the disappeared ones from parts and the other categories. I would advise now your in THAT screen do your DS or 2cv or SM search and I think the results will be better, but like you I used to just head for cars to see who wanted to give me a cheap 2cv or SM.  Actually with all these category search changes, that may be easier than it used to be, but sad for the attached seller.

Thanks for the heads up I will now try hard to not be a sad citroen bits seller, I will change my listing approach and sell some listed in UK, it works for me in music to not put everything on one domain, attracts different 'search' results to look at my 'other items' while sticking with a 'theme ' that would interest anyone that happens on ONE of them.

PS that rusty SM is MINE....ALL MINE, :-x (only joking, I/m downsizing, lost the hoarding bug now)

[9701michael]

I've tried my saved searches for vinyl records over the past 2 days (as these are mostly what I sell and buy), to be greeted by a list of exactly 61 items, instead of the 1,000's that I know are active! I contacted customer support (twice), and received the usual 'clear your cache' nonsense - which I did, and which of course, achieved nothing. I've been checking back in there today a number of times, and it finally dawned on me (I'm probably a bit slow on the uptake) that the search function was now only showing 'new' items, with another default of 'free postage'. I've managed to remove the free postage default by fiddling around and clicking buttons, but nothing I've tried will remove the 'new' default (because in the preferences panel, it's the only option available!). Not only will this stupidity stop me buying, it's obviously going to stop anyone else from buying my stuff. Not a hint  from customer support, that the problem is of their doing (clear your cache, indeed!) - Great work once again, ebay. Not only do you profit-gouge your sellers with the doubling of store fees, but now you screw them over with these new system changes. Here's a hint ebay guys - collectable records are most likely to be vintage, i.e., old and used, because they're original pressings - and that's what collectors (you know - 'buyers') want, and sellers want to sell. As such, 'used' records account for the vast majority of records bought and sold on ebay (by the 1,000's). Now, if nobody can search for them anymore - what it the point of ebay?

[the3coopers]

It looks like an expanded category of vehicle parts and accessories has now been introduced to do what was already done with cars, bikes, boats.

It's just a category change - they happen ALL the time, so there's not much you can do about it. It's like when your supermarket rearranges the shelves slightly... not the end of the world.

Cars, Bikes and Boats is for those vehicles. Parts and Accessories are for guess what... parts and accessories to suit vehicles.

Anyway, your problems solved now? Just update your search, save it again, and move on. No point complaining about things, irrespective of how silly the changes might appear, they were obviously done for some reason or another 🙂

[9701michael]

"Just update your search, save it again, and move on."

The problem is, at least in my main category (vinyl records), you seemingly can't just update your search and save it again. Because the new settings don't allow you to select the specifics you need (they either aren't there anymore, or they don't 'take' when you choose them). The options have apparently been removed as part of this revamp. So now, instead of being able to view (for example) the 11,000-odd 7" 45's that I know are active listings, new and used (because there's always around that number), this version of the search only shows me around 60, which is ridiculous. As a buyer, I naturally enough want to see everything that's available. As a seller, I need to know what's on offer, and what prices are being achieved/how much interest there is, in items I'm planning to list (it's vital information when framing your prices to the market). Now I can't do either of these things, whereas only a couple of days ago, I could do both. Then there's the obvious and real concern that other potential buyers simply aren't able to see my listings anymore  - and if they can't see my listings, then they can't buy my records! It really is a joke, except that it's far from being funny.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I've tried and tried to update/reset the search criteria, but nothing works. It'd be lovely, even if highly unlikely, if somebody from ebay would take the time to come on here to try and understand the problems, and address them - or at least, explain how we can get around the surrent limitations. I feel that as both a buyer and seller, I'm being screwed.