Why is it so hard today to find an appropriate category for items

[1956glyn]

Today is a nightmare trying to list items.

Firstly a Stuart crystal photo frame.     Oh boy i tried so many variations of those words and kept getting totally inappropriate categories......from actual minerals and crystals to art work 😞

Secondly.....9ct gold earrings.    Again totally inappropriate categories.    I believe after much messing around i have listed them in fine jewellery rings.......no category could be found for earrings.

Oh well whether my listings are in the right category or not i am beginning not to care...just listed them in the closest appropriate category. 

After spending ages trying to actually find the 100% categories.......i gave up!

[style_wise]

Because you are so conscientious, perhaps you were making your search too detailed? Sometimes it helps to simplify things and come from the Buyer's side.

When I put 'photo frame' in the main search bar I can see this result:

Home Decor > Photo & Picture Frames

When I put 'earrings' in I can see 14c gold would be best in:

Jewellery & Watches > Fine Jewellery > Earrings

[cooksongold]

Fine Jewellery > Earrings is browse node 261990

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/261990/i.html?_nkw=earrings&_from=R40

Home, Furniture & DIY > Home Decor > Photo & Picture Frames - browse node 79654

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/79654/i.html?_nkw=photo+frame&_from=R40&_oac=1

[theelench]

I had the same sort of problem when I listed vintage glass after the old categories were swept away.  Most of what I wanted to list, vases, candlesticks or bowls, ebay automatically decided should be put in Home Decor & DIY > Decorative Tableware.

It took me a while to discover that there is a Collectable Glassware category at all and then only by looking at what other sellers had used, as once ebay sees anything that might be put on a table, that's what it should be listed as.  So a vintage powder bowl from a dressing table set was directed towards that category.

In the end I just lied in the "Tell us what you're selling" box until I got an accurate category.  I'd change 'powder bowl' to 'dressing table tray' to get 'Collectable Glass > Trays & Sets'.

I did find that once I had a category that I was satisfied with and using Sell Similar a few times ebay would remember my previously used categories and offer them to me along with the tableware category that it seemed obsessed with. 

But I do think that one reason for the decline in collectables sales is that the new categories are so imprecise and then rely on I.S to winnow (in my case vintage glass) a few hundred items out of 100,000+ in a category like Home Decor.  Whereas when there was an 'Art Deco Glass" category and separate sub-cats. for the main manufacturers, putting either Art Deco glass or any makers name in the search box gave quicker and more accurate results and better sales.

[1956glyn]

Thanks.    When i was trying to list the earrings Ebay kept trying to put them into costume jewellery only.   There was no category listed for  earrings 😞

Similar problems with the photo frame.     I searched for the correct categories for ages 😞

Maybe it was yet again........another Ebay glitch

[jckl1957 · Accepted solution]

I don't think this is a glitch - that suggests it is temporary and they will fix it.

It's been like this for at least a year - this is what I just got when I put in 'vintage bead necklace'

The most annoying thing is, and I am sure you can remember this, it used to work well.  More often than not, the first category offered would be the one you chose.

[theelench]

I agree it did work well in glass.  There was Date Lined Glass with various sub-divisions for different eras, such as 1919 - 1939 - Art Deco.   There was Pottery, Porcelain & Glass > Glass > Art Glass and P, P & G > Bagley, Sowerby, Davidson.  Most of the glass I sell and buy fitted into one or other and were self explanatory so most sellers used them and their sub-cats. now, they would be scattered through 100,000+ ads. and reliant on IS to be found.