posted on February 18, 2001 10:52:51 PM
Just curious what other sellers here on AW think about the new proposed changes for the Collectible categories?
Now that I've finally had a chance to sit down & wade through them all, I like what I see!
I have a couple very minor complaints, but for the most part I feel the Sr. Category Manager for Collectibles has done an outstanding job in tweaking the collectible categories.
Obviously there are several categories I don't sell in, so if I've missed some SNAFU's, I'd be interested in hearing other sellers comments.
For those of you that haven't taken a look at these yet, here's the links.
posted on February 18, 2001 11:42:52 PM
I haven't had time to go through it all but Collectibles: Cultures & Religious and Antiques & Art: Ethnographic have always tempted me to list in both.
With Royal Doulton items being in Glass & Pottery and also Decorative & Giftware, there will be a temptation to list in both categories.
Maybe I missed it but I don't see a category for eggcups or egg cups. They are all over the map now with some listed under manufacturers from England, some Made in Japan, some in different kitchen categories, some in Porcelain General, etc.
posted on February 19, 2001 09:01:46 AM
Hello shaani
A couple of very good points. I also feel that an eggcup category is needed. Most times they get tossed into Kitchen:General, or as you've stated, into the various pottery manufacturers categories.
I've also asked for a Condiment Container/Face Pot category, and a Holt Howard category. Hey, they did add a Beswick Pottery category for me, so ya never know?
As far as the Decorative & Giftware category, yes, that's another one of my "issues". I don't want to see categories such as Royal Doulton & Wade being added into the Giftware area. Once an item has it's own category under Pottery & Porcelain, [or two categories in many cases] I don't feel another one should be created in a different area on eBay. I made a big stink over this from the get go.
IMHO The changes under Cultures & Religious are some of the best I've seen.
I know what you're saying about Antiques & Art:Ethnographic, but the key words are Antique and Art.
It appears the Pre-1940 category is going to be combined with the Artifacts category under Cultures:Native Americana, and moved into General, which would then leave the Antiques & Art area more for the older Pre-1940 items.
One of my main stinks with the Cultural:Native Americana Pre-1940 category is that many of the items are NOT Pre-1940. Many of them are brand spanking new items & the sellers know it.
I think in the future you'll see a lot of the older items being listed under Antiques & Art.
The new additions under Cultures:Native Americana are IMHO fantastic. Sub categories such as Beads & Beadwork will make browsing & searching for specific items much easier.
One has to also keep in mind that the Collectibles Categories are handled by one person, while the Antiques Categories are handled by another. [yes, let's hope they are working hand in hand]
If I was looking to list a circa 1800 native beaded item, I would list it under Antiques & Art:Native Americana. The post 1940 items would be best listed under the Collectibles area.
But yes, I do see your point about not knowing which way to go when listing, and being somewhat forced into listing in both categories. IMO if it's not pre-1900, it should be listed under the Collectibles category, and will receive more hits & bids in that area. I sell a fair number of Native made items, and this has been my experience.
I think that eBay is attempting to [finally] plan for the future.
2-3 yrs from now there may be so many NEW beaded Native items listed, that the true Antique collectors [Pre-1900 items] would get lost wading through the Collectibles category?
The same thing with Baskets, Pottery, etc.
I emailed this link to the the person in charge of the Collectibles category, so if you have any other thoughts please post them.
posted on February 19, 2001 10:45:01 AM
I think the confusion in the Ethnographics category is the word "Art". Many people do not consider Art to be necessarily "Antique".
Also "Pacific Rim" is in the Ethnographic listings. I know one seller that sold off some of his Haida collection last year and lots of the carvings were newer but he said he did better when he listed them in the Pacific Rim category. Now I see he chooses both Ethnographic and Collectibles:Cultures for each listing.
I still don't understand the reasoning for the extra Royal Doulton category. Some people collect china only for display, others actually use it. Now items like dishes will be in both places--doesn't make sense.
I know two avid collectors who just got on the internet and they are discovering ebay. Both of them have used the Browse function but did not realize what Search is.
Yes, I too know many new users who do not understand how to use the Search feature, and these are the buyers I try & cater to. Some of them spent weeks/months on eBay before they figured out they could Search via the entire site, or the various categories.
With regards to RD & Wade. As you can see, they have been sub categorized into the following:
Royal Doulton
Collector Plates
Figurines
I believe the idea is to seperate the old, from the new. Personally I think that if they wanted to sub categorize them, they should have done so in the Pottery & Porcelain area under the main category, and not added new categories under Decorative & Giftware. IMO it's a bad idea, and I've stated this numerous times.
As far as Ethnographic & Art, yes I agree. Same thing goes with much of the Inuit Art, both Sculptures & Prints. The majority of it is Post 1950, and not Antique.
It appears they've added Sculpture, Paintings & Drawings, and Masks to the new Collectible sub categories, so this may help?
Perhaps the Manager of the Antiques categories will tweak the Ethnographic category down the road?
posted on February 20, 2001 01:56:43 PM
We really like the new Advertising:Coke:subcategorys. Will make listing much easier. We're also very pleased they've added an advertising:thermometer category.
Now, if I could just get them to add a diary/autograph album or book category, I'd be pleased as punch. I've been asking for that category going on 4 years now. Guess it's never gonna happen!
posted on February 20, 2001 02:14:29 PM
Comments? Okay- here's mine. I sell in the Disneyana section from time to time, and the cut-off date of 1967 between "Vintage" and "Contemporary" seems rather arbitrary, at least with regards to theme park items, since Disneyland opened in 1955 and WDW in 1971.
posted on February 20, 2001 02:35:30 PM
Good point Mr.P, but I am glad to see they finally combined Figures & Figurines into one category. That one had been picking my butt for some time.
posted on February 20, 2001 02:46:04 PM
In the categories I'm familiar with, I think they did a pretty good job of creating the sub-categories. Much better than what eBay did when eBay Motors was developed.
And for the things I sell, there will be less confusion about what category to list in.
BUT-- I'm not sure whether this will help, or hurt sales.
See- some collectibles buyers only collect in a very narrow field- they know exactly what they are interested in. Those folks will do fine- they may now have a sub-category that is specific to the widget they are interested in.
But there is another group of buyers- and these are probably the majority for me-- who browse the "ending today" pages of the larger existing categories, and often find something peripherially related to their interest, and bid on it.
When categories are broken down so finely, I think we decrease the chances of someone stumbling on something of interest-- something generally realated to their field of interest, but something they never would have searched for.
If I were selling WDW items, it would be a no-brainer. Most of the items I sell in this area are old Dland ride admission tickets (late 50's through early 70's), and they aren't dated. About the only way you can figure a range of dates is from the rides listed, and 1967 isn't a particularly useful date in this regard.
In the overall scheme of things, it's not that big of a deal, I guess.
posted on February 20, 2001 02:47:31 PM
I have a problem with the Paper and Writing Instruments subcategories being combined. To me, Paper & Writing Instruments sounds like it is for stationery and pens. Writing instruments really has nothing to do with Paper collectibles. Sure, you can write on your paper collectibles, but that would just reduce their value.
posted on February 20, 2001 02:47:48 PM
Hi...after seeing your ques. a couple of days ago - I began surveying some of my regular buyers...
Several dozen never use the category search.
That's right, almost all told me they type in whatever they're looking for....
their reasons vary from maybe a good find; mislistings...and most didn;t want to waste time on another page...
for what its worth...i sell composition dolls, pocket watches, vintage toys (buddy L lin mar) and 20-30s glass...
posted on February 20, 2001 03:41:29 PM
the priest
Yes, obviously the experienced buyers will use different methods to find the deals, but many of the new users don't even understand how search works. For those users, I think the new categories will make their shopping experience much more user friendly.
magazine guy
I'm not sure I follow you? For people that follow both the BIN listings & the GGG listings, they can still browse the main category [all sub categories combined], without going into the sub categories, can they not? The same goes with Search.
So IMO it gives buyers the best of both worlds. For those that want to look at "everything" they can, and for those that want to filter out a lot of the items they are not looking for, they can.
posted on April 14, 2001 01:21:39 AM
My favorite, limited editions, disappears from collectibles and was snagged by Disneyana. I guess they have a copyright on the word!
posted on April 14, 2001 02:09:12 PM
Reddeer: I haven't looked at all of the changes yet either, but from what I have seen I think some of the changes are bizarre.
Since I can't seem to follow the logic, and often waste a lot of time wading through what has to be more than 2000 categories and subcategories, I think the next step for eBay is to have a search for the categories. There may already be such a thing, but if there is I haven't been able to find it.
posted on April 14, 2001 02:54:26 PM
Smw ....... Please keep in mind this thread only relates to the Collectibles categories.
I've already begged the Collectibles Manager to ask those in charge to get rid of all the duplicate categories in Antiques, Pottery & Porcelain, etc-etc, which hopefully will happen in the very near future.
I know there's a few problems with some of the new categories in Collectibles, and if you have any specific complaints please post them here. I'm going to have the person in charge of this area read this thread again in a few days.
I understand that adding more sub categories to the Collectible categories makes a sellers job more difficult at times [decisions-decisions] but I truly believe it will make the site more shopper friendly for buyers who are looking for specific items.
As we all know there's nothing worse than wading through a bazillion items when you're looking for specific widgets.
I know some sellers think that most serious collectors use the Search feature, but many of the new users do not. Not only that, but the Search feature isn't always working properly [if it ever is???] and even the serious collectors will browse the specific categories looking for items.
posted on April 14, 2001 02:58:35 PM
Hmm....I didn't get an eggcup category for Easter. Not that I was really expecting it.
My opinion on this is that there are way too many categories. I think it is a plan to make us spend extra money to list in more than one. But I guess I will get used to it like I do with anything else.
Maybe I just hate stuff so nicely sorted out? I miss the old ebay!
posted on April 14, 2001 05:33:42 PM
I know I can never have the "old ebay" again. I realize that ebay has grown and there may be a need for new categories. But I just wonder how far do they intend to go?
For example in Collectibles there is Animal which is broken down into dogs, cats, etc. Then they are all broken down into breeds. What is next? Colors of each breed? Sizes? Then these can all be broken down into subcategories like figurines or prints or clocks, etc. with a certain color of breed.
My exaggeration of today can be achieved by ebay in a lot less than 5 yrs.
Yes, and IMHO breaking the Animal category down into the numerous current subcategories was a major move in the right direction.
At the moment there are 792 items listed under Scottish Terrier. That's 16 pages on the one breed.
The way it used be set up there was a bazillion items all tossed under one BIG honking Dog category.
Unless you were depending on the Search feature, finding specific breeds was next to impossible. Browsing the New, or GGG listings was next to impossible, unless you had several hours to spend each day looking for the breed you collect.
Put yourself in the buyers shoes for a moment. Which would you rather have, a category that has nothing but the one breed of animals you collect, with 16 pages of listings?
or
One huge category called Dog, that has a bazillion pages of listings with every breed of dog known to mankind?
At the risk of sounding like a whiner and being the first to post in dissent, I have to say that my first experience (different from an overall impression) has not been a good one.
The first and foremost complaint I have is the manner in which this change has taken place. While they have certainly made it clear that they were going rollin new changes to the collectables catagory and even laid out the general plan, They surely shoould have given at least 7 days notice so that at the very least, those who cared to could wait to list till the changes were in place so their items wouldn't get shuffled around and arbitrarily have their catagories switched.
Instead, in their usual arrogant manner they just make the switch , (its not even on the announcement board at this writing!) without care as to haw it affects the ongoing auctions, thousands of which may be in their last hours.
Which brings me to my second complaint, if the first isn't bad enough.
I had an employee badge in a catagory formerly called: Coll.-Fraternal Groups-Employee Badges. It has just been moved to Coll.-Historical Memorabilia-Fraternity Groups-Other Fraternity Groups!
In essence my employee badge has been taken from the "Employee Badge" catagory and has been placed in an "Other Fraternal Groups" catagory.
Furthermore, and this is pretty ridiculous I think, I just had three peices of vintage electronics (in the 1910 to 1930 range) Moved from the Coll.-Radio-Tube catagory to the new Coll.-Hardware, Furniture & Fixtures catagory!!!! That makes sense, I mean, anyone looking for radios and phonographs would certainly start by checking the Hardware, Furniture and Fixture catagory!
One day left in the auctions by the way.
Bottom line is I would find a way, as would the buyers, to work within these new constraints, as baffling as some are, but I sure would have appreciated some warning in the form of a set roll out date so I could have studied them [the new catagories] to benefit the auctions that I would be about to list instead of having them jammed up @$$ in the middle of breakfast. I see it as ubelievable arrogance and greed that they did it this way so they wouldn't lose the income from those who would have the intelligence to wait before they embarked in the new layout.
They continue to lose what little respect I have left for them.
posted on April 14, 2001 06:49:00 PM
Reddeer, I didn't say it was a wrong move for them to break the animals down into breeds. I was just wondering how many subcategories they had planned for the future.
To use dogs as an example, I am a buyer of German Shepherd dogs and a good many of them have been purchased on ebay. So now I have my own category. My thoughts on this? I used to scoop great deals because until you collect German Shepherd dogs you have no idea how many spellings for "shepherd" that sellers can come up with. Now most sellers will put them in Animals>Dogs>German Shepherd. Kind of takes away some of my fun.
I compare this to going into a collectibles store and everything is categorized on it's own little shelf all neat and clean for a high price or if I go to a junk store and the same stuff is there kind of hidden in a pile for a lesser price.
To be fair about the "new" categories I will use them as a buyer and seller before I make my final judgment. Happy Easter.
Edited to get rid of a really weird smilie in the middle of my dog sentence.
Edited again to get rid of that smilie!
[ edited by shaani on Apr 14, 2001 06:50 PM ]
[ edited by shaani on Apr 14, 2001 06:51 PM ]
No argument here, I agree 100%. I too had items tossed into categories that made no sense whatsoever to the item I was selling.
I also hoped that eBay would post something on the AB so that sellers could at least be prepared for the SNAFU the change would cause. I was not impressed, but I was also not surprised.
I also don't understand why Radios was tossed into that new area, it seems assinine to me?
