Originally Posted by
pearlygirl555
I'm a wee bit hesitant to chime in here, since this seems to be a heated discussion, but here we go.....
When we sell things online, *most* of our buyers are looking for something that matches the description in their head. They aren't thinking of the category something might fall into, they are merely looking for "tiger eye" or "sterling silver", etc. According to the tracking information through our website, they have entered some fairly narrow search parameters to find what they want, which leads me to think that *some* of the category distinctions wil always be less important than an accurate description of an individual item.
Those who buy from us in person have behaviors which are more to do with where they make their purchase. If they are at a pow-wow or craft fair they are more likely to purchase something that "catches their eye," while those who are at a metaphysical fair or health expo are looking for a particular stone; these are the same customers who buy from us online, and who have the narrow search definitions.
In my experience, then, online buyers will generally be able to find what they are looking for if we sellers give an accurate title to our listing, and flesh it out with the best description we can. As a seller, this is my aim. As a buyer, I assume responsibility for asking questions, reading the full listing, and doing whatever research is necessary to make sure the item I select is what I'm looking for. I'm (woefully) aware that not all buyers think this way, but I doubt that any revamping of categories will ever be able to spoon-feed every single buyer.