We’re updating some of our categories and item specifics to make your listings easier to find.
Starting 12 October, you’ll see updates to the following categories.
Collectibles & Art
Jewelry
Musical Instruments
Parts & Accessories
Sporting Goods
As these updates go into effect, you may see temporary impacts to your listing experience or to the visibility of listings in the affected categories.
This is a result of listings transitioning to the updated item specifics and category structures. Your affected listings should return to normal within 48 hours, though you may see irregularities on some listings for up to a week. We recommend checking your item specifics and categories in affected listings after these updates are complete.
These updates also include new item specifics in the above categories, which will be required 22 February 2022. Starting today, these item specifics will be available as you list, with the “Required Soon” tag. Learn more →
Keep an eye on this page over the coming days—we’ll be sharing up-to-date information on affected categories and listings, and answering any questions you have.
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---Update as of 14 October---
We’re continuing to work through this change and want to thank you for your patience. We also wanted to provide answers to some top concerns and questions:
Why was I charged fees when my listings were moved to a different categories/subcategories?
We determined that a technical issue impacted a small number of listings, which resulted in incorrect charges (including insertion fees) for some sellers. The issue has been fixed and we will be crediting impacted sellers as quickly as possible. No calls to Customer Service are necessary as credits will be issued automatically.
Should I edit my listings if they’re in the wrong category, have been moved to another category, or have wrong or missing item specifics?
No. Recent category changes require updates to many thousands of servers and data changes to nearly every aspect of our platform. This level of adjustment takes time, which is why we asked for your patience while the process runs. We expect most data updates to be completed within 48 hours, but they can take up to a week (i.e., through to 19 October). After that, if you have an item specific in mind that you think would work well for your listing, please consider adding it as a custom item specific.
Why isn’t my item coming up in search?
The category change update is still in process. We anticipate search issues will resolve when we complete most data updates during the next 24-48 hours.
There are more item specifics now than ever before. Do I need to fill in all of them?
No. Item specifics that you have already filled in will be maintained as the category moves are completed during the next week. In addition, new soon-to-be-required item specifics are being added and will become required by 22 February 2022. As always, the more item specifics you fill out, the better visibility your listing has to buyers.
For Parts & Accessories, when will fitment/compatibility charts start working again?
There was an issue with parts compatibility not working properly as the category changes rolled out, which has been resolved. You should now be able to see the options to add fitment compatibility when editing your listings.
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---Update as of 21 October---
We apologise for this delayed update. Thank you for your patience while our teams worked to finalise category changes.
All listings have been moved to their final destination categories. You may now proceed with checking your categories, revising items, and updating item specifics where needed.
Some item specifics have been renamed, and the value you originally provided has been copied over to the new item specific, so you don’t need to re-add these item specifics. We encourage you to update your listings with item specifics that are showing as “Required Soon.” These will become required on 22 February 2022.
All other item specifics are either Recommended or Optional. Learn more about item specifics.
Some categories were retired and replaced by product-based categories. You and your buyers can still find the items you’re looking for. Simply browse to the product category of your choice and use the filters to refine your search.
More information about key category changes:
- Dolls & Bears. The categories based on Brand/Material/Theme/Character/Franchise/Product Line/Type of doll have been retired. Former categories have been replaced by left-hand navigation filters in the new Dolls & Doll Playsets category. You can access the filters by browsing to the product category of your choice and using Brand/Vintage/Material/Theme/Character/Franchise/Product Line/Type filters to refine your search.
- Pottery & Glass. The categories based on Brand/Origin/Production Style/Production Technique have also been replaced by filters. You and buyers can now filter by the Brand/Origin/Production Style/Production Technique/Time Period Manufactured.
- Postcards. The categories based on Location/Theme/Subject have been retired and replaced with two main categories for Topographical and Non-Topographical postcards. The former categories have been replaced by left-hand navigation filters in the two new main categories. For example in Topographical Postcards, you can filter by Country and Region.
- Jewellery & Watches. The categories based on Main Stone and Metal Type have been retired and replaced by product-based categories under Fine Jewellery. Use the filters for Main Stone and Metal to refine your search.
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---Final Update, October 29---
The category changes announced in our Autumn Seller Update have been completed.
Now that all category changes are complete, while you might still see some adjustments to searches, it is okay to update or edit your listings without concerns of losing data or having it moved again.
We appreciate your detailed feedback on this roll-out. We'll continue to adjust the process based on the input we’ve received here, and we'll take all these suggestions into consideration for future updates.
As this project is now complete, this post is being locked from further comments.
Resources and observations
We’ve heard from you that updating your Item Specifics in time for the February 2022 requirement date may be a challenge.
A useful tool that can help is located in the Seller Hub under Active Listings section. There is a drop-down box labelled ‘Download’ which will generate an Excel document for ‘Missing Required or Recommended Item Specifics’. You can read more about this tool here.
Should you come across any inaccuracies within the new Item Specifics we ask that you report those directly to sdsupport@ebay.com so our team can investigate. We also ask that you continue to share suggestions on changes you'd like to see going forward here, selecting the Categories and Item Specifics option.
