Gazza & Mark, I know it would take a lot of work but PLEASE consider

[adruml]

Have to agree with Magnets on this one. I don't know too many who search by sub categories. Normally when searching "all categories" are shown and description put into the search box.

[Brunwulf]

Yep, I also agree with Gothicina and Magnets

[Saturdayat3]

I would go along with Mags too.

If you want something specific, you narrow your search and use key words. If you want to browse, looking under 1 heading would suffice. Also increases impulse buys.

[bykimbo]

Yep, I also agree with Gothicina and Magnets

Yes, an overhaul's needed, and fewer sub-cats, not more. It's messy and fiddly and there are too many empty buckets.

[raindropsies]

With the way things are, and the ways in which things could change I would like to add this idea into the mix.

If a sub cat or sub sub sub sub cat etc ends up with zero listings in it, why not simply make it a dormant category which then comes back to life when a seller lists in it. The pint of it being a dormant category would be it's never seen until it's got at least 1 item in it.

Or idea 2 on the same sort of idea is that if a cat / sub cat / sub sub sub cat etc has less than xx items in it, that and and sub cat below it becomes dormant in search results. Any items that are in the dormant category would simply be shown at the next level up category.

Hope I have explained it as well as possible on here like it is in my head

[Naturelady]

I like that idea raindropsies. What I did for the figurines category was go through the entire lot and write down all the "manufacturers names" then divided that into the appropriate categories. That way their should be no empty buckets unless people just stop listing.

[bykimbo]

With the way things are, and the ways in which things could change I would like to add this idea into the mix.

If a sub cat or sub sub sub sub cat etc ends up with zero listings in it, why not simply make it a dormant category which then comes back to life when a seller lists in it. The pint of it being a dormant category would be it's never seen until it's got at least 1 item in it.

Or idea 2 on the same sort of idea is that if a cat / sub cat / sub sub sub cat etc has less than xx items in it, that and and sub cat below it becomes dormant in search results. Any items that are in the dormant category would simply be shown at the next level up category.

Hope I have explained it as well as possible on here like it is in my head

It would obviously have to be visible to sellers, or they couldn't list in it. I think having a load of cats that pop up when selling that weren't visible before would be pretty confusing for new sellers. I'm also not convinced that one item is a good enough population for a category. I'd rather see a total rework, resulting in the removal of any cats where there are less than a couple of hundred items or so - other than in exceptional circumstances where a cat clearly needs to be there for some reason. Of course, first I'd like all the dead listings to be removed so that there were no false results. Sigh.

[madelaine]

Even the Porcelain, Pottery & Glass has its problems - like Wade in both places ... Wade is Porcelain...

[Juliebabe25]

What about removing all categories with less than say 100 items ?

I could see that ebid would need a full time staff member working on catgeories.

[lotsofstuff1962]

I'm trying to escape FEEBAY and use ebid. I get all my listings over here no problem, thanks to ninjalister. BUT, I am then asked to go through EVERY SINGLE ONE and try and stick them into an ebid category / subcategory, most of which have about 100 options and sub sub sub categories. It REALLY puts me off listing here, and so I give up at that point.

Is ebid a one (two) man band? Are there really only Gazza + 1 working on it? So, my listings stay on feebay for now.

Why not just replciate feebay categories and have done with it - they work! (even though the rest of the feebay set-up is very unpleasant.)