eBay Mess

[Matt]

Maybe I'm just suffering from not having morning coffee, but it seems eBay has done away with the categories in the sports card space and has vaporized the "pre-1930s" category. If anyone figures out a reasonable way to browse vintage card listings on eBay, please post it here.

[leftygrove10]

I noticed the same thing this morning.... Hopefully it's a temporary problem, maybe just a "glitch" in their system...

[Matt]

Brad - thanks for the confirmation. I'm afraid it's not a glitch as there are dozens of complaints on eBay's forums regarding the same issues with other categories. It's unfathomable to me that eBay makes these decisions not knowing that it will make using their site more difficult, so I must assume that they are aware of the issues but because controlling your search experience this way will allow them to guide you to results they want you to see, my guess is that they felt the change was important enough to force on the system, assuming that since they are, by far, the biggest game in town, people will suck it up.

[thegashousegang]

I was doing some early morning searching, and tried refresh after refresh...thinking that maybe after 100, ebay would have regained some common sense. Not to be...

[milkit1]

this could be a good thing for us deal searchers

[Matt]

Originally Posted by milkit1

this could be a good thing for us deal searchers

Maybe for a few days until sellers realize that buyers can't find their listings and stop posting.

[slantycouch]

Originally Posted by thegashousegang

I was doing some early morning searching, and tried refresh after refresh...thinking that maybe after 100, ebay would have regained some common sense. Not to be...

I think you could refresh all day and find that eBay still has no common sense.

[Wite3]

Horrible...try to search t206 next year with the new topps issue. Or Allen and Ginter or Goudey....all you get is a bunch of new stuff with a vintage issue every 30th listing. I sent my email...

Joshua

[painthistorian]

On the phone again w/ ebay this time a supervisor was more open to reason and will try to push this up higher, they are getting a lot of calls regarding this subject, EVERYONE! keep calling!...nothing will get done unless everyone bombards these guys with complaints...this is the single worst change e bay has done ever and this one, i am calling every day, 7 X a day for however long it takes to overturn this stupidity, they never forget how ridiculous this is...this is a plea to all that want to see this reversed, CALL E BAY- 1-866-442-3229...hit -0-)- several times if you do not have a pin #, eventually a live operator will ask you for your user ID, then bombard them...

Guys with LOTS OF FEEDBACK & OR LARGE SALES VOLUME- time to PRESS BUTTONS, smaller guys, we need you too!

Thank You......Larry

[scottglevy]

I happen to know the guy that started iOffer ... I just wish they could gain a little more traction in the collectibles market.

[paul]

This is beyond unbelievable. It does not make browsing for prewar cards more difficult. It makes it impossible. There are literally 200,000 "baseball cards" on ebay now. I do not have the time or patience to browse through 200,000 cards, mostly post-2000 to find the prewar cards I'm looking for. And I can't even imagine someone looking for post-2000 cards has the stomach to wade through everything else.

I've been on ebay since 1998, very actively buying. No more. And not because I'm mad. It's just impractical now. It's like going to a thousand flea markets and hoping that you'll find what you want.

I am also cancelling all my current auctions on ebay. Again, not because I'm mad. I just can't expect to get anything close to the value of my cards. Who the hell is going to find them unless they do a search for the specific card I'm selling? This is, pardon my French, totally f'd up. I cannot imagine that ebay will last more than a month with this system. At least not for sportscards. Maybe buyers of golf carts prefer one category.

[paul]

Well, I just cancelled my auctions. I only had two running. Here is the message I sent to most of my bidders (slightly different for the other card). I couldn't send it to all of the bidders since ebay has a limit of 5 messages per day that you can send to your bidders. (Who knew?) So they'll get the message tomorrow. What a bunch of crap.

Dear Bidder,

Thank you for bidding on my E95 Mathewson. I apologize, but I am cancelling all of my ebay auctions. The reason for this is that ebay has complete changed the organization of its entire websites. Effective today, ALL BASEBALL CARDS ARE NOW LUMPED TOGETHER IN A SINGLE CATEGORY OF 200,000 CARDS! As a result, collectors of pre-war baseball cards will not be able to find my card unless they are willing to wade through 200,000 cards. I had no idea this change was coming, and never would have listed my card if I knew that my card would not be targeted specifically to likely buyers. That's why I picked the "pre-1930" baseball card category -- a category that has now disappeared.

Again, I apologize for the inconvenience. You can reach me at pstewart@kmob.com. Thank you for understanding.

Paul