A Major Gripe

[madelaine]

Or possibly, as I once heard from a very bright man "Perhaps we are both right?" (he was wrong.. cleverer than me but that time, he was wrong!)

[firstballs]

Having read some of the post i notice a fall in the anger that is directed to the dark side

You see some people on here forget some major things about the dark side when it first started, epay was full of fake goods when it first started its what made the site noticeable it started a whole new need for net crime divisions

it is sales that made ehay not authenticity your not going to create a eutophia anywhere close to the vast size of epay if its not going to have all the early faults of epay

Misuse of a catagory in a major way yes should result in removal of auction but removals without reason is going to lose you a seller not gain you a buyer or seller as Mad said if only three people working the site then they may not have time to send reasons

What needs to be done is that people need to contact the people running the auctions first state that they are using wrong catagory show them right place to list and wait and see

Dont just Say wrong catagory there is no point if you are only person in a catagory as it only means there is very few items on the site so maybe its good to have additional items (obviously yes in right catagory)

Thing is i think we get mainly the same people doing the same rounds on the forums (another bad thing cause the more people see your name the more they ask where is others??)

there are simple solutions to all the problems being had here 1 just be happy more items being listed dont report everything report and remember sellers reported may not use site again

and that will maybe reduce numbers in the site
Pointless mobbing not going to help the site it will reduce site use always seek two prespectives yours and the other person involved

Some people that use any site dont have a clue what they are doing and just need some help reporting them may make them quit and yes that leaves you alone in a catagory but it doesnt give buyers options beyond just you so they may not buy



And yes everyone selling fakes should be banned but you know if you did that on epay do you have a clue how much less money they would actually make a year ??

[somersethedge]

Thing is i think we get mainly the same people doing the same rounds on the forums (another bad thing cause the more people see your name the more they ask where is others??)

and from what I have seen that is the same thing on the dark side, same old faces in tread after thead jumping on you when you ask a question, at least here you cant hide behind a posting ID you know who is talking. I gave up using the dark side forum's from all the abuse I got.

are you also saying that all the regulars here should not post replies to all the questions asked as you would see their name on here too often.

I for one would not know half the things I found out how to do here if it was not for the regulars

[firstballs]

I agree with you i think i am pointing out a problem and not really sure how to fix it lol

I think the main issue in the post is that the catagory issue should be considered a bit more by the regs
as its a bit of a simple solution to report everything but the main point i am making is not really regs shoudl post less i think you focused on the wrong point

[somersethedge]

I focused on the bit I didn't quite agree with

but on saying that, why should you have to scroll through pages and pages of wrongly categorised items to find the right ones..... a lot of the time it is not the seller miscategorizing the item it's the "I dont give a dam where it's listed so long as it is listed"

[firstballs]

My suggestion on items being listed is "the more the merrier the ebid"
better to have 1000 wrongly catagorized items than not to have the extra 1000 items

That being said common guys just drop your items in right place

[ArtisanUK]

I'm not sure you're right there firstballs. If those 1000 wrongly categorised items stop 100 new sellers coming onto the site, then you could be losing 10,000 new items?

The person who contacted me the other night said she did not want to waste her time listing in the art categories because even she got bored scrolling down the repro. Presumably her mind-set is that if she is going to get bored then so are her potential customers so why should she waste her time listing in the first place.

Also you wouldn't lose those 1000 listings, all that would happen is that they are moved into the correct category. I think you also have to realise that if you browse those particular auctions nearly 100% of them have 0 sales. Surely that should tell you that the people searching the auctions aren't interested in buying their products?

I see absolutely nothing wrong in reproduction items being sold in a reproduction category.

[ChoiceAntiques]

I can't emphasize enough how important it is that reproductions be placed in their proper category. It is a major, major turn off to all to permit them to be routinely listed in antiques, vintage and fine arts categories as well as a red flag for the entire site as a whole. I say this at some risk, but, frankly, the practice has been historically looked upon as simply underhanded by buyers and sellers alike in the antiques community.

Aside from the question that it is grossly unfair to a seller of genuine fine art, antiques and vintage collectibles to find their listings buried under page after page of reproductions which rightly belong in their own proper category elsewhere, a far greater number of potential sellers are turned away by the practice than can ever be gained by allowing it to continue.

Please, none of us wish to offend another community member, but, IMHO, there is an integrity issue at stake here for each of us which impacts the eBid image as a whole.

[Gothicina]

If Gazza & Mark are like me & many other users they don't know a great deal about Art & Antiques, so they need to be guided by the people who do, otherwise they may well make changes that don't do what you want.

Gazza has already said that although he's happy to split Art & Antiques that alone will not solve the problem with reproductions.

Can you not between you come up with category formats that will provide a proper place for all items including the reproductions?

Then when you have done that it will be much easier & quicker for them to be implemented.

[ChoiceAntiques]

My own experience is primarily with antiques, but I also have an appreciation for "fine art" as knowing it to be one-of-a-kind works created directly from the hand of the artist as opposed to "copies" of fine art. It would be most helpful to have Fine Art and Antiques separated entirely. If that is done, maybe (?) the following categories and subcategories would work well for everyone:

Antique (Pre WW II)
Vintage (1945 to 1980)
Contemporary (1980 to Present)
Reproduction (All Period Copies)

If these or other similar dating parameters are adopted as suggested above, then all Fine Arts category listings would then appear as follows:

Fine Art: Folk Art: (time period added per above)
Fine Art: Paintings: (time period added per above)
Fine Art: Photographic Images: (time period added per above)
Fine Art: Prints: (time period added per above)
Fine Art: Mixed Media: (time period added per above)
Fine Art: Sculpture: (time period added per above)

Likewise for Antiques which would also be constrained under the same time periods.

Just a thought, but it is at least a start to, hopefully, improving the site and perhaps some of you who routinely use these categories would be kind enough to give your input also?