Home
Buy on eBid
Sell on eBid
eBid Stores
My eBid
Upgrade to Seller+ Lifetime
eBid Help
Close
Login to Your Account
eBid Community Forums - Chat & find help from others in the eBid Community
Page 1 of 5 12345 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 41

Thread: Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz

  1. #1

    Default Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz

    The "Other" category in loose gems is getting filled up with gems that could be grouped together along with very closely related gems. In the case of gems that are all forms of quartz, it would seem to simplify things were they all grouped as subcategories under Quartz. Something on the order of the subcategories below would take care of all the main quartz gems:

    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Agate
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Amethyst (purple)
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Ametrine
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Aventurine
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Carnelian
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Chalcedony
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Chert and Flint
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Chrysoprase
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Citrine (yellow-orange)
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Eisenkiesel or Hematoid (red)
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Heliotrope or Bloodstone
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Included/Rutilated
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Included/Phantom & Negative
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Included/Tourmalinated
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Included/Other
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Jasper
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Milky (white)
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Morion (near black)
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Onyx (layered)
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Prase (green)
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Raw Crystals
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Rock Crystal (colorless)
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Rose (pink)
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Sard (red brown)
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Smokey (brown)
    Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz/Tiger's Eye & Hawk's Eye

    For me, this would make it easier to search related stones. The same could be done with the beryls (aquamarine, emeralds, etc.) and feldspars (labradorite, moonstone, sunstone, etc.) and garnet (almandine, hessonite, rhodolite, etc.) and I'd be happy to provide a list of subcategories for those if you see value in grouping the gem types under the main group headings. Thanks.

  2. #2
    Forum Saint madelaine's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Highworth, Wiltshire, United Kingdom
    View madelaine's Feedback (+5856)
    All-About madelaine
    View madelaine's Listings
    Forum Posts
    11,769

    Default Re: Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz

    Far too many categories, most of which would be empty
    Madelaine

    4 shops for Cats Protection & Prospect Hospice
    My Postcard Shop
    BK Stamps for Philatelic listings
    & Yarnalong for craft patterns
    and
    Lotzabitz -anything that doesn't belong in one of the other shops.

  3. #3
    Forum Master
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Scarborough, North Yorkshire, United Kin
    View tony41's Feedback (+10027)
    All-About tony41
    View tony41's Listings
    Forum Posts
    1,782

    Default Re: Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz

    Quote Originally Posted by madelaine View Post
    Far too many categories, most of which would be empty
    I agree. Surely the answer is to use appropriate keywords in the title so that prospective buyers can search for what they want.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz

    Quote Originally Posted by tony41 View Post
    I agree. Surely the answer is to use appropriate keywords in the title so that prospective buyers can search for what they want.
    So why have categories at all?

    Frankly, some people do browse categories (as I often do when coming to a new site), and not having some sort of hierarchical order is off-putting. With the low number and variety of loose gemstone listings currently here, yes, some of the proposed categories would now be empty. The current situation is that quartzes are scattered across the list, either in individual categories instead of under quartzes (under which they are properly categorized), mixed under the generic "Quartz" category (where some people will not bother to look), or even worse under the "Other" category where important gemstones like agate, jasper and heliotrope are lost to browsers with short attention spans (i.e., who assume that if there is not a sub-category for a gem type, then it is not available).

  5. #5
    Forum Saint
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Woolmar, Queensland, Australia
    View Oldandintheway's Feedback (+385)
    All-About Oldandintheway
    View Oldandintheway's Listings
    Forum Posts
    3,336

    Default Re: Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz

    There are over 5,400 natural mineral species not counting their sub varieties.
    To construct a search list as you describe, would be a herculean task for the site operators, take up massive band width, AND I guarantee, would be incomplete!
    Add organics, synthetics, imitations, composites, extreme rarities, new discoveries/makes & the like, you'll see it would be a never ending job & ever expanding list for "someone" to maintain. MOST (not some) of these sub-cats, would be empty IMHO

    The answer as stated before, is to have the proper key words in the listing title.
    Yes a basic search can be done using the current system, but if I were looking for a particular variety, I would title search in your store for the item.
    Most of my sales have come from google searches of buyers looking for a certain gem/mineral i.e. they'll just search for CITRINE, not Quartz & start looking for subs.



  6. #6

    Default Re: Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz

    Yes, there are thousands of *mineral* varieties, but only a small fraction of those are species recognized and used as gemstones. To be exact, CIBJO (the World Jewellery Confederation) classifies a total of 156 recognized gemstone species and varieties (approximately 3 dozen of which are collector-only types that are either too fragile or not produced in sufficient quantities for the jewelry market). Grouping some more common gem varieties under their main heading, such as I proposed for the quartzes, would produce a collapsed list of around 60, expanding to about twice that with all the subcategories exposed.

    And while someone looking for a particular gem type may well use search, that is NOT how folks browse who are not narrowly looking for a particular gemstone. It is not how I shop and I've heard from another person in my brief time here who also found navigating the loose gemstones categories daunting. What you seem to think is a "herculean task" hasn't been for sites I've run, and I expect that it would not be here, either. As to a problem maintaining listings, the number of listings, not the number of categories is what impacts maintaining (it actually might make some tasks, such as patrolling, easier).
    Last edited by rocks2dust; 23rd February 2017 at 08:43 AM.

  7. #7
    Forum Saint madelaine's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    Highworth, Wiltshire, United Kingdom
    View madelaine's Feedback (+5856)
    All-About madelaine
    View madelaine's Listings
    Forum Posts
    11,769

    Default Re: Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz

    The solution, for you, rocks2dust, is to structure your shop(s) that way and then promote your shops and those who browse will be browsing your shops rather than the categories (which will be largely empty)
    Madelaine

    4 shops for Cats Protection & Prospect Hospice
    My Postcard Shop
    BK Stamps for Philatelic listings
    & Yarnalong for craft patterns
    and
    Lotzabitz -anything that doesn't belong in one of the other shops.

  8. #8

    Default Re: Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz

    Quote Originally Posted by madelaine View Post
    The solution, for you, rocks2dust, is to structure your shop(s) that way and then promote your shops and those who browse will be browsing your shops rather than the categories (which will be largely empty)
    I will ask again: "Why have any categories at all?" I would rather use my shops to further differentiate, rather than make basic category distinctions. We have categories for a reason, and again, this is about people browsing through ebid, not necessarily about people browsing my shop.

    Currently, over a quarter (26.4%) of all gemstone listings reside in the "Other" category. There are not now categories for many important gemstones, and some of the current categories are confusing duplicate or non-standard gem names. Many of the existing categories are "largely empty" also, and the presumption that more specific/accurate categories will remain unpopulated is a chicken and egg scenario: if you don't provide a category for an item, it will be either dumped into the "Other" category, placed into a category where it really should not be, or a potential seller may decide that ebid may not be a good place to sell an item.

    It also affects where sellers place their items. Loose Diamonds & Gemstones currently has only 3 subcategories that have over 100 items. Of those, "Other" has 462 entries, compared to the next largest "Amethyst" (at 268, which includes a large percentage of non-amethyst items, presumably because the seller could not find an category for the item and simply chose a category near the top of the list). The current categories not only are missing important recognized gem varieties, but include both confusing duplications and categories that depart from internationally accepted standard designations for gemstones. It isn't as if the wheel need be reinvented, as there are indeed standard names used for gemstone species and varieties, nor do the categories need to become a chaotic a hodge-podge that later has to be addressed (as is the case of one large competing site where the category cleanup has taken over a decade to slowly implement, including resorting to some heavy-handed yanking of listings, resulting from a lack of forethought early on). If I go to other categories, such as Stamps, the categorization is both more granular and rational than is being used for Loose Diamonds & Gemstones. Is that not useful for shoppers? Of course it is.

  9. #9
    Forum Saint
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Woolmar, Queensland, Australia
    View Oldandintheway's Feedback (+385)
    All-About Oldandintheway
    View Oldandintheway's Listings
    Forum Posts
    3,336

    Default Re: Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz

    It's over to the site operators then!


  10. #10
    Forum Master
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Scarborough, North Yorkshire, United Kin
    View tony41's Feedback (+10027)
    All-About tony41
    View tony41's Listings
    Forum Posts
    1,782

    Default Re: Loose Diamonds & Gemstones/Quartz

    Rocks - don't use Stamps as an example. The categories are in need of complete overhaul.

    Also, loose diamonds has a total of 1,430 items. Stamps has a total of over 500,000 items. Many single country categories have over 2,000. By your logic, these countries should have dozens of sub-categories.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Follow Us
New To eBid?
Register for Free