eBay Shoppers' Saved Searches in Shambles

It's one thing to make things harder for sellers, many of whom feel they have no choice but to jump through hoops. It's another thing to create obstacles for buyers. But that's what some are saying eBay has done this week with category changes, rendering some "saved searches" useless.

Sellers have been bemoaning the changes eBay rolled out this week - for example, yesterday's letter to the editor was from a seller of antiquities whose items were lumped in with modern day figurines, he said. 

In the comments section, a reader provided an example of the problem sellers face: "The "Asian Antiques" subcategory still exists, so there is a place to list an 18th century Qianlong Chinese vase. But if you have an 18th century Meissen vase to list, it goes with the Hummels into "Collectibles.""

A comic book seller wrote yesterday and included a link to an article about changes eBay made to comic book categories, calling it "a complete mess" for his business. The article in Bleeding Cool titled, "eBay Changes Categories, Comics Collectors Despair" explained how it was impacting comic book collectors:

"(eBay) moved all the comic book eras (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Copper, Modern, etc) and all the genre types (Horror, Superhero, Funny Animal, etc) down from categories into checkboxes. And as a result, making many collectors' saved searches and alerts, useless. And making finding specific comics a lot harder, all placed into one catch-all category."

If collectors can't find what they're looking for, it impacts sellers.

There are also reports that the changes to Item Specifics are causing chaos for sellers in affected categories.

Sound like déjà vu? Sellers in Clothing categories were seriously impacted when eBay changed Item Specifics in October 2019.

 

An eBay moderator responded to some of the reports from sellers this week, writing in part:

"We're sorry to hear that you have had a frustrating experience today as a result of the category changes. Holiday & Seasonal, Action Figures, Comic Books, Sports Trading Cards and Books were all affected by category changes launched today. These areas were all part of the 2021 Spring Seller Update 

"In these areas we have transitioned existing category structure into more flexible item specifics. For example in comics the age and character-based categories have been deprecated and replaced by product type categories. These distinctions will now be available as filters which allows buyers more flexibility in what they search for and allows us to maintain and update Item specifics on an ongoing basis without the need for future disruption. For example, in comics you had to choose a comic tradition and then an age whereas now in one category you can see all things Spiderman, then select what Era(s) you want to view."

Another potential problem for sellers: the potential for surprise fees. A seller on the eBay boards reminded colleagues that if eBay moves their listings as a result of a category change, then "Generally speaking, when your item(s) is moved to a new category with different final value fees, it will adopt the final value fees of that new category."

"One example- If you listed anything in a category that included free Gallery Plus and those listings were moved into a different category that doesn't offer free Gallery Plus- each of those listings will result in $1 listing upgrade fee," the seller said. 

The seller, "coffeebean832," returned and pointed to another thread where a seller reported that very issue: "My items are in the Collectibles category and eBay just charged me $158.00 in Gallery plus fees!!! This has always been a FREE service in Collectibles - so last night when they re-listed my current comic strips after the 30 days were up - this giant fee was charged. Someone on eBay staff please help!"

In that case, it appears the charge may have been a glitch, according reports in subsequent posts. Either way, the threads show it's vital for sellers to check their listings and review their invoices carefully.

eBay acknowledged that this week's transition was rocky and apologized, writing in part on Tuesday: "As the category changes roll out there will be some fluctuation in the item specifics and left-hand navigation filters. This should settle down in the next 24-48 hours. We apologize for the inconvenience in the meantime."

Part of the problem was that eBay had announced the changes to category and item specifics in early March, but never issued a reminder, so sellers felt blindsided two-and-a-half months later. We read several posts by sellers who said eBay should have reminded sellers of the changes that were announced, such as the seller who wrote:

"I did read/skim thru the Seller update when it came out. BUT, there is no reason you cannot communicate better with Sellers when changes are actually eminent and about to occur."

One seller on the thread said they welcomed the changes in Holiday & Seasonal categories, however: 

"Honestly, it was desperately needed. The old categories were an absolute MESS, and I say this as someone who also sells holiday/seasonal/Christmas stuff on a regular basis. There were ten times more categories than were actually needed, and the end result meant that it was next to impossible at times to decide which category you should use to list a particular item when it could logically fit into about six different ones."

But the majority of comments we're seeing from sellers are more in line with what this seller had to say (we added paragraph breaks for readability):

"I have 1,235 comics on eBay. I've noticed you've deleted what I've written in the Condition Description box unless I check it.  So if I said it had a crease on the back, it isn't seen unless I individually update all 1,235 comics? 

"And all this other silliness: character (it's usually in the listing title), condition (that's usually in the listing title or in the Condition Description), and more. Are you asking me to update 1,235 comics with silliness such as "type of cover" (it's a comic book, it's a softcover, that's the ultimate description). 

"There appears to be no universal update for the subtle descriptions that I need to explain my grading of the comic. 

"I'm looking for a reasonable explanation why you did this, why you didn't tell us, and what I can do to my vast amount of listings without spending the next few weeks doing it individually. 

"I don't think this is better. I think you will see a serious drop in sales, therefore a serious drop in eBay revenue. 

"Why are people who have never listed on eBay, never in particular listed comics, making decisions that seem baffling. The old system worked even though not all the listings were shown when asking for e.i. D.C. Tarzan #210. You say all listings will now be shown. If that were true it would be great, but I doubt it. There's more wrong with this "eBay update for comics" but let's hear what you have to say about this first."  

Sellers of items in some of the categories impacted, like comic books and sports trading cards, list thousands or tens of thousands of items, making the challenge of revising them one by one feel insurmountable.

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