Could some one please fix the category search on listing.

[golden-history]

When listing eBay would suggest the category for you off the title in which you have written but as of about a week ago it simply stopped working it now shows more often than not entirely random ones or simply you can not find the category you know it should be in. 

[theelench]

I sell vintage glass.  Although I haven't listed anything for a while I've found that since the new categories arrived the problem you're finding has always been the case.  Trying to get ebays suggestions to show me the category that I want to list in has always been pretty hit and miss.

I think that, although the title is used for (say) "bowls" the suggestions offered were based as much on which categories had been used most by other sellers.  It can be hard work to get anything but the most commonly used categories out of ebay as suggestions.

For example, trying to list a Trinket Bowl from a dressing table set all ebay's suggestions are based on the Home & Garden >Decorative Cookware / Tableware category.

What I wanted was (something like) Pottery, Porcelain & Glass > Collectables > Trays & Sets.

I found that the easiest way round this was to lie when asked "What are you Selling".  I'd type "Glass Dressing Table Tray" to get Trays & Sets as a suggestion, then change my title later on the listing form. 

[bravergrace]

I think that instead of basing its suggestion on the words you type, it sometimes just uses one or two, ignoring any less common words.  

So if you type ANTIQUE GLASSES CASE FROM BOOTS THE CHEMIST, it's likely to suggest Victorian shoes or a medicine bag. 

As it's hard to navigate away from eBay's suggested category, it soon gets filled with inappropriate items - and that reinforces the AI for future suggestions.  It creates a vicious circle where it's awkward to list things in the correct category, and even if you do, customers searching for your item will be directed by the same AI process to the wrong category.

Eventually, all pipes will be listed in one category, whether they're tobacco pipes, sewage pipes or pan pipes. 

Anything with "glass"  in the title will be listed in one category, whether it's a glass eye, a set of beads or a set of patio doors.   

Anything with "horse" in the title will be listed in equestrian fodder, whether it's saddles, My Little Ponies, horse brasses, racing books or a pommel horse. 

The specialist categories (like "vintage" or "pottery") will be redundant, full of old listings that never sell because eBay directs all buyers to the "more popular" categories.

It's already pointless to report items listed in the wrong categories because eBay uses the same principle to determine the "right" category as it used to misdirect sellers there in the first place.

[golden-history]

It has never really been this bad for us, But lately it has become terrible, As in list a Vase and it is coming up with Welding tools is one instance. 

[golden-history]

Here is a prime example. 

[theelench]

I agree with you, virtually all the glass I list is from the inter-war period and is Art Deco.  The IS for Art Deco is under "Style" when listing glass.  There is no IS for the generally accepted date line for Art Deco (1910-1939), the IS for dates are in decades, which doesn't match. 

When trying to list an "Art Deco Bagley Blue Glass 'Wyndham' Trinket Bowl" the search homes in on "Glass and bowl", ignores Art Deco, Bagley and blue and comes up with the two most commonly used categories for Glass and Bowl, which are Home Decor and Decorative Tableware.  Both have hundreds of thousands of listings from which a buyer is supposed to winnow out my bowl using IS.

The search on the other site I use is Key Word based and will search for every word in my title and in any combination  -- Art Deco, glass, Bagley and blue included.  Without counting them I would guess that if a buyer types any of the 10 - 20 different combinations of those words in the search box, they will hit some word in my title and my item will be shown to them.

Ebay starts from "glass and bowl" and only searches for the others if the buyer ticks the specific filter box for any of the rest.

I've always put my falling sales on ebay down to my refusal to promote one-off, sometimes rare, items but can see that as the most commonly used categories become wider and more mixed, it becomes more difficult for buyers to find what they want.  I've been saying for quite a while that I sell more elsewhere than on ebay simply because buyers can find my stuff there, but not on ebay.  After a decade of selling here I can't find what I want on ebay and have mostly given up even trying.

I'm also convinced that over the years ebay has profiled my buying habits.  I more often bought small items like a single trinket bowl (between £5 - £15) but occasionally would treat myself to something from my Wish List (£100 -£200).  But how often would I only see something in that price range and that I would have bought after it appeared on the Sold page?  Another reason that good sellers of high price items were some of the first to leave, fed up with seeing their really rare items sell for one or two bids when, like myself, knowing that if the items had wider visibility, they would have had far more interest.

[bravergrace]

Sorry, I don't do screen shots, but here's what I get when trying to list "milk jug".  It's quite different from yours: and for me it's the same on two browsers, using two IDs, one of which hasn't had any jugs listed in the last 10 years.

Category

Done

Search results

10 suggestions are available.....

Home, Furniture & DIY > Cookware, Dining & Bar > Tableware & Serving > Milk Jugs & Sugar Bowls

Home, Furniture & DIY > Cookware, Dining & Bar > Tableware & Serving > Jugs & Pitchers

Pottery, Ceramics & Glass > Decorative Cookware & Tableware > Cup & Saucers

Pottery, Ceramics & Glass > Decorative Cookware & Tableware > Jugs & Pitchers

Pottery, Ceramics & Glass > Decorative Cookware & Tableware > Tea & Coffee Pots

Pottery, Ceramics & Glass > Decorative Cookware & Tableware > Bowls

Collectables > Fantasy, Myth & Magic > Magic > Tricks

Home, Furniture & DIY > Cookware, Dining & Bar > Tableware & Serving > Teapots

Antiques > Asian/Oriental Antiques > Japanese > Porcelain

Collectables > Advertising Collectables > Soft Drinks Advertising > Coffee Advertising

The only "collectable" categories I am offered are magic tricks and coffee advertising.

The only "antique" category is Japanese porcelain.

In fact, out of the 10 categories, 6 are patently incorrect (unless my magic milk jug is a bowl-shaped teapot designed for making coffee).