Leaving the Item Category Mid-Stride

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Hey again:. Much shorter post.

We are finding with the new Ebay changes to “Categories”, we are noticing that some of the new sub-categories under the main categories are lacking a close match to what we are listing.

OK.. Ebay now has the Home & Garden, with Home decor, under that as a sub-category. Ok, so far so good. Then next comes, a 3rd sub-category, wall art BUT from there the next sub-category doesn’t even come close to what we are trying to place in a category.

So we go back to the Major Category and try to find a more fitting Major Cat. but nope Home and Garden is it.

So what is the opinion on selecting only the first 2 or 3 levels of a category then just stopping there and not finishing out with the remaining sub-cats that Ebay is suggesting.With the above example, there is no sub-category after wall art that fits. We see wall plaques, signs, etc. but nothing that fits.

So is it OK to just stop short and leave the category mid-stride and not work all the way down? Or would it be better to go back to Home & Garden, then Home Decor and let everything fall in the “OTHER” final category.

Everything in our store could be classified under “Other” or “Collectible”. Somebody somewhere will at times probably collect every item ever made.

Just a question about categorizing things that Ebay doesn’t seem to have a category for, in some cases not even close.

mike at MDC Galleries

[sonia]

Hi Mike,
I hate situations like that. What I end up doing is searching for other items like mine, and picking the category where most of the solds seem to be for that type of item. For example, I sell painted needlepoint canvases sometimes – the ones that are made out of linen or other fabric. Well there is no category for these canvases that don’t come in a kit, but I found all the other ones like it in the “Plastic canvas” category, so that’s where i put mine. It annoys me every time I do it, but I think it’s better to put it together with its “friends” than putting it alone in “Other”, even if that’s more correct.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Hey Sonia: Thanks for the reply. I understand what you are saying, try to match what we have with where someone else has put there’s. But can we just “stop” halfway through the category selection and not go any further down the sub-category list and just leave it at that?

Home & Garden, Home Decor, Wall Art and just stop even though there are several more arrows [sub tiers] to that category. Will Ebay put it there and if a customer is searching by category find the item at that level of search.

The item is a brass-metal stamped, round plate like wall hanging of fruit. We have all seen those type of wall decor in kitchens. Well the next sub-category is “signs” and so forth. We have many art items like this that Ebay just doesn’t get to the “final” correct category at the end, so can we just stop mid-stride and leave it there, and then fill in what Item Specific are presented to us as “required” or “recommended” at this level?

As for going with what others select, there are so many mis-categorized listings due to so many people not even knowing what they have, I think many just guess, so why should we follow suit.

Using other people’s choices that are over 30 to 45 days old, were selected PRIOR to the recent and continued changes by Ebay. Just in the last week Ebay has altered Home & Garden Categories and added more Item Specifics than ever before. So many of those other sellers selected categories, some are not even correct any longer.

This just made me think of something. Ebay used to make a stink about Sellers putting things in the wrong category, so what about now that they have dropped some categories, added new ones and combined some? Will they penalize Sellers for still having a listing in a now defunct category, when it now being MIS-Categorized is Ebay’s fault? Maybe Ebay is moving everybody’s newly mis-categorized listings due to their re-organizing and taking the liberty of moving Sellers listings into what Ebay thinks should be the correct category? Who knows? Ebay is up to about 5 major categories is has been messing with making changes and who knows how many more categories they are going to mess with on their “Structured Data” quest?

mike at MDC Galleries

[Sharyn]

Mike – I think that you have to chose a category that ends. If you pick wall art, and it has how ever many sub-categories, then you have to keep going until you get to an ending category. The software doesn’t allow you to pick mid-category if it doesn’t end.

Is that what you are asking?

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

That is exactly what I am asking. Because of Ebay’s tinkering with all these categories, in some cases from the mid-point forward, the drop downs presented start to not fit the item we are listing.

In my example with the round, raised relief, stamped image of fruit that hangs on a kitchen wall, the category for wall decor then jumps to signs and plaques. Nothing about what we have. Something more useful than “signs” which isn’t even close would be something like wall decor, or wall sculpture, metal something but certainly not “signs”.

We have stopped mid-stride on some over the course of the past week and so far they have listed. I’ll have to see where these mid-stride ones are going. guess I should have checked that right away. Duh.. I am going to re-name “Multi-Tasking to Multi-Distracted”. 🙂

[Sharyn]

If you go to change the category, then leave the choice “hanging” in a non-ending selection, then I bet it is listed in the original sub-category from before you tried to change it. I’ll be surprised if it is any different.

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