Ebay Category Listings

As I now know something is very wrong with ebay.

With an ebay Anchor store the listing come at no extra cost.

The cost description for the 2nd choice category listing came up today at the end of the listings.

Never seen this before and I have never ask for a 2nd choice category.

ebay is pushing this area at the minute and they are changing my settings because I think that it does not cost me anything.

Dug up some old unsold lots and they do not have 2nd choice category on them. Only the newer listings have them and I have not changed any listings and my old unsold lots prove it!

It has taken me hours to change categories that are wrong or 2nd choice categories.

The bulk edit is refusing to work with listed items.

Have just kept trying to change the worst of it but it is all over the shop but it is at a point that I can leave it.

ebay has a problem that I have to live with and the changes that need to happen are only going to when I relist and list.

Correct categories are different over all the different eBays, those that are different .com's (USA) or .ca's (Canada), .com.au (Australia), .co.uk (United Kingdom), .fr (France), and so on (many more.

For example, North American based listinbgs list Canada as a separate country and heading (major category) but the rest of the world (mostly) list Canada under North America (or just America) / Canada, and United States under Not just United States but North America / United States.


A true world-wide country and detailed category listing ability would be prefered by most I think, on many sites.

However, even on some more worldly-wise sites such as DelCampe there is a hold-all type of category called Unclassified at the end of normal categories for each country, and much unflavoured material (not described as well as could be) arrives there, travel weary and bedraggled, but interesting none the least, at times.


John,
I applaud your adapting efforts at changing and flowing with the ever-changing environment(s) that ebay presents. A masterful class you are approaching.


Even with proper categories there are many who, for one reason or another, do not have catalogues or knowledge of reigns and eras of stamps, let alone proper year-datings.

For these collectors, I feel, a searchable description that covers the topics or themes of the stamp(s) is of benefit, both to the seller and potential buyers.

edit typos

Peterc4, I wish so too! I'm trying to learn as much as I can, so I can provide good descriptions on the site you're speaking of...(I'm a newbie and don't want to use the dreaded "e" word and get in trouble here!) :)
I do the best I can with the knowledge I have. I imagine a lot of sellers are like me...have patience with us please!

I wish that they could add the category of perforation gauges to Collectibles & Art/Stamps/Publications & Supplies/Perforation Gauges.

Just searching on ebay and some sellers do not state the country of origin of the stamps or mixture. So when searching with words only, not by the categories, you will not be able to find these items.

Thank you for the kind words Puzzler!

The title to this tread and the how of the description area when it comes to ebay etc is very much your area and your help for me to start to understand these mysteries I thank you very much for.

Hi roxturpin

We can use the names of the on line auctions like ebay etc but I can not post the name or link to my ebay store unless I am a current SCF supporter. This rule came about because of issues in the auction area of this forum about 12 months ago.Before this we could link or say anything about our selling endeavours after 50 quality posts with a time limit of over a 2 week period.

As the removal of the auction area still seems to be a very sensitive issue at the minute I will not comment further at this present time about what seems to be an out dated rule.

The biggest thing is to get the reputation of SCF back to somewhere where it was over some 12 months ago now.

I would like to see how many buyers actually use categories; I suspect that many actually just type words into the search box as opposed to navigating through, or filtering on, the categories.

Search functionality is one of the most powerful, and critical, aspect to ebay's profits. It is truly incredible how quick they are able to take input, get it indexed, and then have it available for their customers (buyers) for searching. No other online search engine does it as quickly as ebay. Doing it on the scale they do, across multiple international servers, is amazing and a reflection of just how much money they have to throw at it.

In my informal testing US ebay gets a new listing added to their search index and available in <150 seconds on average. Interestingly enough, words in the listing body description get indexed a bit faster than those in the title or subtitle. Ditto for adding 'item specifics' key words; they too get indexed and are available for searching a bit faster than those in the title.

At the end of the day eBays highest priority is having a buyer find what they are looking and closing the sale. This takes a great search index. Having a great search index is so critical that it is not left to simple categories. Multiple ways are in place to ensure that buyers can connect with what they want.

I think that many sellers do not take the time to fully exploit all of these opportunities. Ideally sellers would use all four things; categories, good titles, good listing body description, AND 'item specifics' key words if they want buyers to quickly and efficiently find their listings.

Thanks KGV collector!
I do have a KGV question, maybe you can answer...How many countries have King George V on their stamps? I seem to see him everywhere.

Good question. I think the answer would be.
Every country in the Commonwealth when King George V Ruled would of had a stamp with his piture on it.
A lot of the stamps would of been made in what is now known as the United Kingdom.

You should start a thread with this topic in the main forum it would be a very good one and more people need to see it, it is to good to hide it here. We can always cut and paste part of this post.

Always Happy Stamping KGV

Ha, thanks for that! :)
I've taken your advice and posted this on the main forum.
Rox