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

[adruml]

Reading the concerns on this subject the thought that comes to mind is...How many folks use categories to search for items?
Improving eBids search engine (which I understand eBid is working on) I beleive would make the need for additional categories/sub categories a minimal need. However, if everyone feels searches are performed via category then eBid definately needs to add and improve. Just my thoughts here.

I feel if you are looking for stamps in general you plug in stamps into the search bar. If you are looking for a more specific stamp say a german 1954 stamp then that's what is plugged in to the search bar.

For me this holds true for anything I search. When I am looking for guitars I will put in guitars into the search bar. Off to the left that search can be narrowed down more. You will be surprised how many guitar related items are in the "electric guitar" category that aren't electric guitars. If I am looking for a specific model I just type that into the search bar and the options come up.

Improving our search engine will in fact lessen the need for too many categories.

[madelaine]

Adruml, you don't collect stamps do you?

[adruml]

Adruml, you don't collect stamps do you?

No I do not. Am I missing an important part of the category needs?

[TiasTreasures]

[QUOTE=adruml;1380603]No I do not. Am I missing an important part of the category needs?[/QUO

I'm not a collector, but I learned how to find stamps while listing the 6,000+ that we're offering here. I had to find them to get accurate pricing. It wasn't worth it for me to invest in a current copy of Scott's catalog and I knew their prices would be inflated anyway. My first search was always on eBid, then on several other sites that have a lot of stamps for sale.

I don't recall ever using the categories to find a stamp. I entered the country name and keywords and searched under "stamps". I didn't bother using the dropdown list because that only has a few countries and it was faster to type it in than to check if it was on the list. Worked fine. If the stamp was here I found it.

[adruml]

[QUOTE=TiasTreasures;1380614]

No I do not. Am I missing an important part of the category needs?[/QUO

I'm not a collector, but I learned how to find stamps while listing the 6,000+ that we're offering here. I had to find them to get accurate pricing. It wasn't worth it for me to invest in a current copy of Scott's catalog and I knew their prices would be inflated anyway. My first search was always on eBid, then on several other sites that have a lot of stamps for sale.

I don't recall ever using the categories to find a stamp. I entered the country name and keywords and searched under "stamps". I didn't bother using the dropdown list because that only has a few countries and it was faster to type it in than to check if it was on the list. Worked fine. If the stamp was here I found it.

That's pretty much how I search for anything but I'm not the only one performing searches. It would be interesting to hear how everyone else searches for things.
I understand we need to categorize our items and I know how I feel when my only option left is "other". I always think in the back of my head the item won't get noticed being in the "other" category but then I revert back to how I search for items and realize it doesn't matter.

[TiasTreasures]

There was one notable exception. My last resort was a site called All World Stamps with what appeared to be the most complete listing of stamps on the internet. It uses Stanley Gibbons catalog numbers (which I didn't have) and it doesn't have a search machine, so I had to use the categories. Which happened to be a complete list of every country in the world. Selected the country, paged to the year, found the stamp and its value. That site definitely does not coddle its customers, but apparently is quite successful.

[madelaine]

Yes, you have missed the point, both adruml & Tia... when buying one doesn't just look for one stamp. One looks for a class of stamp - what can I afford? What is there? That's when browsing decently constructed categories would help sales.

[MPS16]

..... Selected the country, paged to the year, found the stamp and its value. That site definitely does not coddle its customers, but apparently is quite successful.

It is Stanley Gibbons catalogue information.

[madelaine]

There was one notable exception. My last resort was a site called All World Stamps with what appeared to be the most complete listing of stamps on the internet. It uses Stanley Gibbons catalog numbers (which I didn't have) and it doesn't have a search machine, so I had to use the categories. Which happened to be a complete list of every country in the world. Selected the country, paged to the year, found the stamp and its value. That site definitely does not coddle its customers, but apparently is quite successful.

You have just pointed us to a site with a decent category structure!

[adruml]

Yes, you have missed the point, both adruml & Tia... when buying one doesn't just look for one stamp. One looks for a class of stamp - what can I afford? What is there? That's when browsing decently constructed categories would help sales.

I just took a casual glance at the category "stamps" over 100,000 items came up. I could have narrowed the search by value but chose not to. Once the entire category came up I had options from the drop down menu plus options off to the left.
I do not sell or buy stamps nor have I ever searched for them, this will be a first. When you state you were looking for a class of stamp what does that mean exactly? Is it the difference between postmarked or not? Different priced or...?

I mostly sell cymbals and guitars. I went into our advanced search: musical instruments; guitar; acoustic and came up with several names of Acoustic guitars however there was no subcategory for 12 string acoustic guitar. My point is/was when I go to regular search and type in 12 string acoustic guitar (what I was looking for) whatever eBid has for 12 string guitars came up but there is no sub category for them.

I just don't beleive folks search via categories unless they are forced to it just isn't the best way to search. Even if I don't know exactly what I want but know I want a guitar (any type) so I just type guitar in the regular search and all my options come up. I then have the option from the scroll down menu to search high to low, low to high ending soonest, etc. I also have options to my left which I can use to narrow my search but if I needed the searched narrowed in the first place I would have just typed in what I was looking for in the first place.

I see quite a few posts in the forums about categories and I can't imagine the extreme importance to micro manage sub categories but like I said it could very well be important I just don't understand why.