Ebay's lame categories
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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:03 am 
 

I am really sick of seeing miniatures in all categories I search in. I also find ebay's division of D&D to be poorly organized as well.



eBay would benefit from having a new "top-level" RPG category called "Miniatures" (to go along with Fantasy, Science fiction, Horror, Superheroes & Others.



The D&D categories are hardly used at all - eveyone just sticks it in either Other or Accessories (individual cards? Please :roll: )



A simple division would be:



1st edition

2nd edition

3rd edition

Mixed Lots

Other



Or



Advanced D&D

D&D

3rd edition

Original D&D



What do you guys think? I am going to send a suggestion to ebay. The link is:



Security Measure



I figure the "add a new category choice". However, my suggestion would just be one . . . I thought if we could come to some agreement and all send in a submission (just copy and paste a general statement) then it might actually effect an (eventual) change.



What do you all think? :?:


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:41 am 
 

beyondthebreach wrote:What do you all think? :?:

Glad I'm not the only one.  It is so difficult to remove all the mini chaff out there.  I can always tell when they've released a new series -- I need to add yet another negative keyword to my searches.   :roll:

"Original D&D" isn't a large enough or unamibiguous enough category for many people to use.  You'd see a lot of red boxes in there.

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:55 am 
 

beyondthebreach wrote:I am really sick of seeing miniatures in all categories I search in. I also find ebay's division of D&D to be poorly organized as well.

eBay would benefit from have a new "top-level" RPG category called "Miniatures" (to go along with Fantasy, Science fiction, Horror, Superheroes & others.

The D&D categories are hardly used at all - eveyone just sticks it in either Other or Accessories (individual cards? Please :roll: )

A simple division would be:

1st edition
2nd edition
3rd edition
Mixed Lots
Other

Or

Advanced D&D
D&D
3rd edition
Original D&D

What do you guys think? I am going to send a suggestion to ebay. The link is:

Security Measure

I figure the "add a new category choice". However, my suggestion would just be one . . . I thought if we could come to some agreement and all send in a submission (just copy and paste a general statement) then it might actually effect an (eventual) change.

What do you all think? :?:




Thanks BtB!!   I sent this concern to eBay some months back after I discovered that some of the overseas eBay sites are set up differently for AD&D / D&D items.   My recommendation was different (although I prefer what you have here).   Their response was that unless they receive additional feedback, that this would remain unchanged.   Please let me know if you need any support working with eBay.



Also, can any of our overseas chummers (thanks Al) comment on the catagory structure they have?

  


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 10:56 am 
 

I always do an "Advanced Search" with the words "Miniatures" and "Miniature" as exclusions.

  

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 1:03 pm 
 

Yes, this is a very annoying problem.  Quite frankly I can't stand looking at the listings without the aid of Auction Sieve...

  

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 1:22 pm 
 

There should be a search option for 'Ignore nasty plastic minis'.


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 2:57 pm 
 

mbassoc2003 wrote:There should be a search option for 'Ignore nasty plastic minis'.

There is.  Unfortunately, it is quite long, and still lets few get by, and might block some false positives:

-mini -minis -miniatures -miniature -minature -minatures -figure -figures -aberrations -abberations -angelfire -archfiends -deathknell -gol -"of legend" -harbinger -harbringer -underdark -plastic

If you don't like minis at all, you can add:

-pewter -lead -citadel -warhammer -ral -rp -25mm

Sadly, most of my searches hit the character limit before I can get any fine-grained control established.  :evil:

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 3:08 pm 
 

I use this -miniatures, -figures, -miniature, -minis, -minatures, -earrings, -earcuff, -caste, -chessex

I have been meaning to add the lines but have not remembered when I cared enough to do it. The -earrings, -earcuff are from when there were people selling dice earrings....they may still be doing it....at least I don't know  :lol:


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 3:28 pm 
 

While I often leave out miniatures with searches, it still bothers me that there isn't a category to keep them "isolated".  Currently, there are 7474 items listed in the Roleplaying category. 1278 of them contain the word miniature or miniatures.

That is 17% of the items listed . . . . way too much. I would bet that a large amount of the RPG collecting crowd aren't all as savvy as the Acaeum regulars at filtering their searches either . . . :?


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 4:20 pm 
 

It's also a problem when looking for other games too. I usually search for D&D stuff and then check for Avalon Hill/SPI/MB games and there's waaaay too many minis to filter through on each occasion. I think you have a great idea!

  

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 5:37 pm 
 

YES!  I suggested something like this about a year ago and everyone seemed to throw up their hands and say eBay will never change anything, they're clueless.  If we swamp them with a concerted response then they might respond as their current setup is just ridiculous; they seem to think D&D is a CCG.   :roll:

How about:

Original D&D
1st Ed. AD&D
2nd Ed. AD&D
3rd and 3.5 Ed. D&D
Mixed
Miniatures
Other

Let's coalesce around one set of parameters and then everyone hit them with the same suggestion.  They'll remain clueless unless we tell them.

  


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 5:50 pm 
 

dathon wrote:How about:

Original D&D
1st Ed. AD&D
2nd Ed. AD&D
3rd and 3.5 Ed. D&D
Mixed
Miniatures
Other

How would this help with mixed lots or clueless sellers?

Am guessing "Other" would be the best place to look for "bargains" :)

  


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 6:08 pm 
 

I am not sure exactly what categories I would set, but I defintely agree that mintures need there own category.  I have auction sieve, but my paranoia usually gets the best of me so I scan through the old fashoned way and I am always seriously annoyed whenever some jack-ass miniture seller takes up like 4 full pages of EBay listings with his latest auction. Then you have to look through carefully as to not to miss some poor seller who actually had the audacity of trying to list his own meager 3 or 4 auctions at the same time that ends up getting lost in the shuffle of the individually listed mini auctions. :x   I can't for the life of me figure how this is a good idea for anyone.


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 6:48 pm 
 

IMHO, the simpler the better.  I'd be very surprised if eBay were to take the effort to establish categories for OD&D, 1E, 2E, 3E, etc.
I seriously doubt they care.

However, they might be willing to separate miniatures and its mind-boggling array of variations and misspellings.

My guess is that the best we can hope for is a category for D&D and one for miniatures.

However, I'll gladly abide by the consensus on this forum and petition them.

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 6:48 pm 
 

Hell with it, I'm going to take the unpopular view here:

1. eBay does, in fact, change its category structure on a regular basis (anyone who gets eBay news over an RSS feed has received dozens of these notifications over the past few years), and it will listen to requests for change. Granted, there haven't been a lot of changes in the Toys & Games category recently, but it was only a couple of years ago that there were wholesale changes to the entire category.

A polite, well-reasoned e-mail is the way to go here, perhaps one that points out the particular difficulty of weeding out D&D Miniatures in generic searches. Will eBay eventually act on this? I have no idea — eBay is bigger than all outdoors, and collecting D&D stuff is a niche within a niche within another niche. We are not their top priority ...

2. While recognizing that eBay's D&D-related categories could stand some improvement, I have ZERO sympathy for anyone who bitches about eBay searches yet won't use AuctionSieve. Let's review:

*it's free;
*it works flawlessly on MacOS, Windows, Linux, and Unix;
*it can set up searches that are 50 times more powerful and 100 times more helpful than any generic eBay search;
*it's free;
*there's been a link to it on this very site for just about forever;
*it was made by an Acaeum member, for crying out loud!
*and it's free.

If you're waiting for a better piece of eBay-related shareware, you'd better pack a lunch ...

http://www.auctionsieve.com/

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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 7:00 pm 
 

I agree - ebay does and will make changes.  Guido's reply from them shows that . . . enough squeeky wheels will get the grease.



I have been thinking about categories . . . one problem is D&D (without the "Advanced").  Where does this fall . . . if there is a category called just "D&D" or Dungeons & Dragons it will create confusion.  Original D&D will create confusion as well.



Here is a link to how comics are listed:



eBay listings



The reason I mention this is that something similar could be done:



1st Edition (pre-1986)

2nd Edition (1986-1999)

3rd edition (2000 - NOW)

Mixed Lots

Other



Again, Miniatures should have it's own Top level category.  Let them divide it into sub categories if they want. . .


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 7:11 pm 
 

Xaxaxe wrote:2. While recognizing that eBay's D&D-related categories could stand some improvement, I have ZERO sympathy for anyone who bitches about eBay searches yet won't use AuctionSieve. Let's review:

*it's free;
*it works flawlessly on MacOS, Windows, Linux, and Unix;
*it can set up searches that are 50 times more powerful and 100 times more helpful than any generic eBay search;
*it's free;
*there's been a link to it on this very site for just about forever;
*it was made by an Acaeum member, for crying out loud!
*and it's free.


Did I mention that I am not big fan of the interface either. :)


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Post Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 7:17 pm 
 

bclarkie wrote:Did I mention that I am not big fan of the interface either. :)

I kinda presumed you were still using it, to pounce so many of those eBay BIN bargains, Brian.

  
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