Postcards as a Main Category

[bunsock]

If postcards are not to be moved and, in truth, even if they are, we need an improvement on the current drop down for selecting categories!

I think the whole concept of Categories for buyers is wrong. To find items you need to understand the structure which a new buyer is unlikely to easily master, particularly if he is a passing casual buyer. See my suggestion at http://www.ebid.net/forums/showthrea...20#post1611820 as a more advanced finding mechanism

[tony41]

I think the whole concept of Categories for buyers is wrong. To find items you need to understand the structure which a new buyer is unlikely to easily master, particularly if he is a passing casual buyer. See my suggestion at http://www.ebid.net/forums/showthrea...20#post1611820 as a more advanced finding mechanism

I don't agree. To find items you only need to be able to see a Main category by name (Stamps, Tools etc) and click on it. Then you can browse or search. No problems.

[bunsock]

I don't agree. To find items you only need to be able to see a Main category by name (Stamps, Tools etc) and click on it. Then you can browse or search. No problems.

So how does a brand new buyer, who has never seen an auction site before, and wants to buy postcards know that the Main Category he wants to click on is "Collectables"? In fairness he might make a good guess at that one but there are many items where its not so obvious where to look, eg "Pets" under Main category "Home & Garden".

[tony41]

So how does a brand new buyer, who has never seen an auction site before, and wants to buy postcards know that the Main Category he wants to click on is "Collectables"? In fairness he might make a good guess at that one but there are many items where its not so obvious where to look, eg "Pets" under Main category "Home & Garden".

I thought your previous post was advocating removal of categories altogether. In that case how does a buyer find anything. The success or otherwise of his search will depend on the titles chosen by the seller and the search terms he uses. He is likely to find a lot fewer examples of what he is looking for than exist on eBid. In the case of a complete mismatch he will be redirected to Amazon (see seperate thread). With regard to your point about Pets, I have just searched for "Pets" using "Search eBid here" on the opening page. If you do so it is obvious where the main Pets section is, although, of course, there are a few oddball results (Pet Shop Boys and pets on stamps). Surely the hypothetical brand new buyer who has never used any auction site would use "Search eBid here.
If you look through this thread you will se that I have previously advocated that Postcards should be given Main Category status.

[adruml]

I don't agree. To find items you only need to be able to see a Main category by name (Stamps, Tools etc) and click on it. Then you can browse or search. No problems.

To find an item you only need to type in keywords you're looking for.
Not sure how many folks search via category but a search usually starts with keywords.
If and I say if I wanted a Postcard I would type in Postcard/all categories, see what subcategories thereare then narrow my search.
If a seller has wrong titles but we search by category would the listing still show in the category without postcard in the title?

[madelaine]

If you browse a category everything in there shows up - even the things that are in the wrong category!

[tony41]

To find an item you only need to type in keywords you're looking for.
Not sure how many folks search via category but a search usually starts with keywords.
If and I say if I wanted a Postcard I would type in Postcard/all categories, see what subcategories thereare then narrow my search.
If a seller has wrong titles but we search by category would the listing still show in the category without postcard in the title?

I use categories when I search.

[adruml]

I use categories when I search.

Good for you. I don't.

[madelaine]

If anyone uses categories (and I do as well as tony), then we need them and we seriously need something done about the horrendously long drop down menu for category selection

[HaleysComics]

I don't search by category, I search by keywords so that I find what I am looking for even if it is in the wrong category. But all buyers are different & have their own way of browsing, so there is really no right way.