eBay Category & Item Specifics Changes 10-12-21
Update: eBay has put out an official reminder in the community as well.
We’re updating some of our categories and item specifics to make your listings easier to find.
Starting October 12th, you’ll see updates to the following categories.
- Collectibles & Art
- Jewelry
- Musical Instruments
- Parts & Accessories
- Sporting Goods
As these updates go into effect, you may see temporary impacts to your listing experience or to the visibility of listings in the affected categories.
This is a result of listings transitioning to the updated item specifics and category structures. Your affected listings should return to normal within 48 hours, though you may see irregularities on some listings for up to a week. We recommend checking your item specifics and categories in affected listings after these updates are complete.
These updates also include new item specifics in the above categories, which will be required February 22, 2022. Starting today, these item specifics will be available as you list, with the “Required Soon” tag.
Keep an eye on this page over the coming days—we’ll be sharing up-to-date information on affected categories and listings, and answering any questions you have.
Reminder: eBay announced changes to categories and item specifics as part of the Fall Update that are rolling out today, October 12th, 2021.
Liz Morton
I'm seeing a lot of activity on the eBay community and across social media from sellers who are struggling with issues related to category and item specifics changes going live on the platform today.
@AskeBay is there issues with the Categories RN? A lot of my seabed searches have lost there categories and when listing a few appear to not be there?
— B (@Bikesandhills) October 12, 2021
@eBay WHY did you eliminate categories in the hobby search??? It is now impossible to find what I need. I hope this is a glitch and not forever.......if so 23 years of using ebay is DONE!
— Dave_Van (@DaveVan28376843) October 12, 2021
eBay support on Twitter has indicated things should be back to normal in the next 24-48 hours.
@Michael52816050 Hi there 👋 There are currently updates being made on categories and item specifics and this is causing some issues. It should be back to normal over the next 24 to 48 hours ~Chelsey
— Ask eBay (@AskeBay) October 12, 2021
Several community members reminded other users it may take some time for eBay to iron everything out.
A REMINDER that when they announced this.......they said they would move items from deleted categories into new categories......but then possibly move them again in to the proper categories......So DON"T try to make any changes for a couple of days........it will just be a waste of time...........
This is from the Fall Update: "In the week following our October 12 release of new item specifics, you may see changes to the structures and item specifics names in the categories listed above. We’ll automatically adjust your affected listings to reflect these changes."
Frankly, I would do nothing to any effected listings until at least a week has gone by....
And, no, this should NOT be happening in Q4, but ... we are stuck with it. Might as well try to deal with it as efficiently as we can.
It's troubling to see sellers reporting possibly being charged additional fees because of these changes. I'll be keeping an eye on this one - I would hope eBay would give a "courtesy credit" for any additional fees that result from non-seller initiated changes to categories.
It also looks like eBay may have forgotten to enable eBay Standard Envelope as a shipping option for one of the new postcard categories.
I'll update this post as the day continues and any new issues are reported. If your business is being impacted by these changes, let me know what you are experiencing in the comments below!
