Another request for handmade as a top level catagory please

[squern]

When you search for an item, you think of the item first, and then any distinguishing characteristics.
So, if you wanted a pair of black shoes, you would essentially looking for a pair of shoes, and to meet your needs, those shoes would be be black. They would have other characteristics too: size, style, and so on, but all the characteristics are secondary to the requirement for shoes.

Nobody wakes up thinking, "I need a pair of handmade shoes". The need is for shoes is primary, and everything else follows.

If the category is "Handmade", there would follow an enormous list of everything that could be possibly be hand-made - it would run into thousands. So it would have to be broken down alphabetically into sub-categories, and sub sub-categories.

After having arrived in the "handmade" section, you would be faced with a list of categories which would approach the original eBid category list.

Thus arriving at where you started from, more or less.

Do people really think, "I want an X, but I only want one made by hand." ? Surely the thought sequence would be, "I want/need an X. What is available in the colour or size that I need?".

[Maelbrigda]

For shoes I would agree with you but if i were looking, for example, for a gift for a new baby, I would look for handmade, then knitted goods, then baby items. Same with greeting cards, I would browse the handmade section to see what was available.
Most items sold in a handmade catagory fall under only a few headings: Cards and stationery, Jewellery, Wooden items, Gifts and knitted items.

[squern]

I make carver's mallets out of recycled lawn bowls.
They would qualify as "handmade".
I list them under Collectables/Tools, and Crafts & Sewing (!!!!!)/ woodworking.

The people who buy them are looking for a mallet with which to strike chisels, but the fact of it being handmade is irrelevant to their need.

In your search for a gift for a baby, you would come across one of my mallets (handmade), but I doubt that you would buy it for the baby, because it would not fulfil any of your, or the baby's, needs. The fact of it being handmade is irrelevant. Nobody would buy a handmade mallet, who didn't need a mallet.

That is why "handmade" cannot be a primary category - it is only a characteristic.

[purplestevie]

So ebid should be different and call it homemade rather than handmade

[gazza]

The idea isn't something we've dismissed, it would just take a bit of thought before we could implement it. We would need a subcategory structure laid out and ready to implement before we could think about adding a Handmade top level category. What sort of categories would users like to see underneath the top level?

Also any current handmade categories we have on eBid would need to be removed and relocated to there new home. There are only a few currently so that wouldn't be too much to do.

Gazza

[Maelbrigda]

Art, Cards & Gift Wrapping, Gift Ideas, Home & Living, Jewellery, Knitted Items, Sewn Items, Mobile Accessories, Weddings

and this is only my items. I'm sure others can add more or refine these.

[madelaine]

Do we want them divided by craft or by function of finished item?

[purplestevie]

Might be a good idea to have a look at a couple of other sites for ideas?

[madelaine]

Etsy doesn't allow new items which are not handmade so their structure is not much help. Their search is rotten as well.

[Maelbrigda]

yes i am pulling out of Etsy for that reason. A search of even my item titles often does not bring my items up. I am letting them run to the end of their time and not renewing