no more second category listings. less page visits, less watchers, less...

[wrongatron]

AS OF TUESDAY 1ST MAY EBAY HAS SCRAPPED THE 
"ADD SECOND CATEGORY TO REACH MORE BUYERS" OPTION.
NOW WHEN SELLERS HAVE AN ODD ITEM THAT DOESNT REALLY SUIT ANY PARTICULAR EXISTING CATEGORY, THEY NO LONGER HAVE THE OPTION TO LIST IN MORE THAN ONE CATEGORY. 
THIS MEANS LESS PAGE VISITS, LESS WATCHERS AND LESS SALES.
FOR BUYERS THIS MEANS LESS BROWSING, AND LESS SURPRISE ITEMS THAT YOU WOULD NOT NORMALLY SEARCH FOR, BUT LOVE AND BUY NONE THE LESS WHEN YOU COME ACROSS THEM BY ACCIDENT!
LESS FREEDOM OF CHOICE.
THIS AFFECTS US ALL
PLEASE CONTACT EBAY BY EMAIL AND PHONE TO LET THEM KNOW THEIR MISTAKE!
CLICK ON CUSTOMER SUPPORT TAB TOP RIGHT OF PAGE, THEN CONTACT EBAY.
REMOVING THE ADD SECOND CATEGORY TO REACH MORE BUYERS TAB IS A 
GIANT LEAP BACKWARDS
WHAT MAY THEY DO NEXT....

[zenremix777]

out of interest, try your suggestion of typing vintage into the ebay search window. 913,409 hits. this is not particularly useful.

1 300 listings for "vintage" in the Electronics category. Less than 100 over the various subcategories. It seems the simple answer is to select a subcategory and compete with less than 100 other people. Maybe too simple of an answer for you.

I get that eBay has now changed the playing field for various categories but have no idea why. Maybe you should try and comprehend eBay's decisions aswell as comprehending your own way of coping with it.

[the-kazbar]

I am wondering if this is something to do with the new fee structure that started on Wednesday ?:|

Perhaps the option to list in 2 categories is only available to store holders now? I dont remember reading anything about it but I haven't looked at the non-store fees changes so if it is there I wouldn't have seen it anyway.

[wrongatron]

it wasnt my intention to be rude, i am just trying to come to terms with changes that will negatively effect my business. since posting i am also now trying to come to terms with bovine attitudes that ebay knows best. 

i have been on ebay for 5 years and have seen many changes, some for the better, some for the worse. i have also seen backlash from ebay members reverse some ill thought out changes, back to the side of sanity. 

mine and many other businesses out there rely on BROWSING (sorry to capitalise) there are odd unique and absurd items that people may never think to actively search for, yet when they see them as they trawl, they know they must have them...

i didnt know i wanted a 1952 british ifas violet ray apparatus until i saw one whilst trawling. this is a COLLECTABLE also SCIENCE AND MEDICAL also VINTAGE ELECTRONICS also ANTIQUE also HEALTH AND BEAUTY etc etc.

to pick two of these for the seller to list in must have been difficult enough, let alone just one. i can safely say i would never have seen it in HEALTH AND BEAUTY.

ill be jiggered if i start listing in LOTS MORE / OTHER

ebay is a framework to sell within. it does not know better than the diverse range of sellers and buyers that use it. as the framework reduces options, some markets will die off. freedom of choice will be effected. ebay could reduce its overheads by having one category "FOR SALE" sure, i could learn how to cope with this change...

i guess everyone uses ebay differently. 

[foxette-in-sox]

as this change will probably kill my vintage hi-fi ebay business.

Wrong-you breaching ebay policies will kill your ebay business.

[wrongatron]

smrt

[sprinklespowerpuff]

Hi Wrongatron. I'm a buyer who searches/trawls for unusual, quirky, vintage/retro items etc etc so I understand fully where you're coming from. I don't buy Chinese junk and it's getting harder and harder to find items I'm interested in. Whether that's mainly due to changes in the way Ebay is set up when searching or because many sellers of collectable vintage items have gone from here or a combination of both, I'm not sure. All I know is a lot of the interesting and unusual things have gone or are not showing up when I search for some reason. I do know typing in vintage/retro/collectable into the search does narrow it down but still there seems to be far fewer of these items than a few months back.

[zenremix777]

i didnt know i wanted a 1952 british ifas violet ray apparatus until i saw one whilst trawling. this is a COLLECTABLE also SCIENCE AND MEDICAL also VINTAGE ELECTRONICS also ANTIQUE also HEALTH AND BEAUTY etc etc.

Yeah, you've got a good point. It not only puts different items visible to potentially more people but it puts more money in eBay's pocket via the fees for listing over different categories. I've no idea why they stopped that with Electronics.

[wrongatron]

this has been an interesting exercise, my first post has gotten mixed reactions.

of particular interest was the comment about: "Wrong-you breaching ebay policies will kill your ebay business."

soon after this comment was made, i was reported by an ebay member  for having a listing that featured the text from the colorful spiel that begins this topic thread, (see top of thread)  this listing was pulled by ebay minutes later. 

my mind boggles trying to understand the motivation that would lead someone to read my forum post, search my feedback and items for sale, then report me. it has caused no problems, just confusion. is this member an ebay employee with a  planted profile? (all info and feedback private) or do they love the new policy changes so much that my topic threatens them? or do they have too much time on their hands...

this is a discussion board, i am discussing the impact of recent policy changes. there are two sides to most things, a positive change is the elimination of most listing fees. the negative is the loss of being able to add a second category and reach more buyers. doing this did add to insertion fees. perhaps a balance could be struck - single category insertion - free - if the seller wants to add a second category, this can attract more fees. ebay gets a percentage of every sale i make, if i make more and better sales, i win and ebay wins. if my listings languish in inappropriate categories and do not sell, i lose, ebay loses, and buyers lose as weird and wonderful items drop off ebay.

[wrongatron]

thanks for the comment, if only there were more like you! i just want the most people to see my items, i though ebay would help to facilitate this not hinder it.

niche markets have a tougher time next to mass markets, in the future they may be harder and harder to maintain. perhaps it may be easier if we all lived in the same style house, with the same tv on the same channel, but in the meantime, i too seek out the obtuse, the absurd and the beguiling. 

viva la difference!

[thesoulyearns]

eBay caters to both the mass and niche market (e.g. collectibles, vintage, etc) but you've just got to allow people to see it. Putting those key words in your title can help and if it's vintage electronics, you can actually place it in the Vintage Electronics category. If you've got more than one vintage electronic, place them both in differenet categories. Try different things out and see what others are doing. Sometimes it's hard to get a sale and sometimes it's easy... it's hard to be consistently successful but that's life.