What Am I? Chopped Liver?

[Tropical_Trish]

July to end January = 6 months and a little bit.

My current opinion is that whoever decides on whether to add or deny a suggested new category has very limited selling / buying experience.

When listing, I would rather just list in a category for 'that type of item' rather than a category 'no correct category so stick it in xyz as that is close enough' category.

I so agree with your comments Sarah.
The cats available are laughable, if it was in the least bit funny, that is, which it isn't.

When I'm listing something that doesn't have a proper category, I too stick it into something that is close enough to warrant that it doesn't get poofed into cyber space because it's in the wrong cat.

TBH, I don't bother anymore asking for another cat to be added, I have neither the time nor patience to wait 6 months or longer for my request to be acknowledged.

[madelaine]

I so agree, Trish.

I returned to read this thread and, tbh, I wish I hadn't. I find that some of my requests have (finally) been added but what is needed for stamps is an organised recreation which is not going to happen.

I'm going back to not reading this forum at all, which was a happier state for me.

[JDStamps]

Why cant the powers that be ASK the sellers in certain categories to regulate them? I would be more than willing to help with the stamps category, which has so many ridiculous categories added, and IMO is missing several very important ones.
I appreciate that category selection is subjective for sellers, we all want to display our goods to their best advantage. But six months+ to get a category on is just not good enough.
Why not look at the stats for higher categories, see who is selling, ask them to join a selection panel and route all requests through them- the current system just does not work.
I would be willing to spare one day a month to do this, I'm sure there are other experienced sellers who would as well as it will benefit all users, sellers and buyers, and ultimately the powers that be who will make more commission.

[madelaine]

Such a good idea, JD! I'm still smarting from being told that organising under British Commonwealth was out-dated!

[somersethedge]

The "problems" with some requests is that

1) In some cases the only listings that would appear in a new cat or sub cat would be only from the person who asked for it in the first place

2) a cat would be divided into so many sub cats that it would end up looking like the cats on the "Belgium site" which IMO makes it even harder to find the right cat when listing. Which in turn would end up with a lot of listings in the wrong cat's, which would then end up being deleted by the boys if they were reported.

that's not to say that some requests are not a good idea but just not all requests should be granted

[astral276]

Such a good idea, JD! I'm still smarting from being told that organising under British Commonwealth was out-dated!

I've seen the stamp category re-organised before under the directorship of a so called 'expert', only for a short while later another 'expert' roll up stating that it is all wrong and it needs changing again. This can continue ad infinitum.

If such categories need re-organising, then better done that they match an authoritative reference (e.g. Stanley Gibbons in the UK) rather than what some self professed expert thinks it should be.

Different countries have different references they work to, so some categories (e.g. stamps) would need to be different on different sites. How that would work for international sales I have no idea (I'm not an expert ).

[somersethedge]

As a point in case....

On the "Belgium site" French Postcards are divided into 100+ cats and then further divided into up to 8 sub cat's which means there are 800+ cats just for the one country. It can take Pam ages to find the right Cat for me to list the card in.

[madelaine]

If such categories need re-organising, then better done that they match an authoritative reference (e.g. Stanley Gibbons in the UK) rather than what some self professed expert thinks it should be.

That is what I was asking for.

I also acknowledged that this has international limitations but, as a start, it would ensure that there is a category for every possible country.

Unfortunately, it is possible for everyone to claim to be expert. However, it doesn't take much to check up a bit.

[JDStamps]

I've seen the stamp category re-organised before under the directorship of a so called 'expert', only for a short while later another 'expert' roll up stating that it is all wrong and it needs changing again. This can continue ad infinitum.

That's why I have suggested a Panel rather than one person- given guidelines to work with by the powers that be, re sub category totals, time scales , etc, a Panel is more likely to view categories objectively, especially if they have a proven track record of sales in that area.

The reason that stamp categories are such a mess is that they are trying to cater for all sides- nice idea but it wont work. Ebid is a UK venture, so I would suggest using Stanley Gibbons as a benchmark-other sites use other methods but eBid is not just another site.....

I'm no expert, just an enthusiastic but concerned seller who would like a level playing field for all consumers, with a more efficient method for requesting categories; even a polite 'No' is better than being kept in the dark for months on end.

[astral276]

I'm no expert, just an enthusiastic but concerned seller who would like a level playing field for all consumers, with a more efficient method for requesting categories; even a polite 'No' is better than being kept in the dark for months on end.

Changing/Updating categories is clearly a low priority task taken on when workloads allow, they are then done as a batch job. If the answer is 'No' then the requester is told then. If they had the time to research and answer each individual request at the time it was made then they would have the time to action it then - they clearly don't have that time.

It would seem some slack time has been found in recent days - as you may have noticed Gazza suddenly appearing in the forums more frequently than he has of late, and some of the backlog items being addressed.