FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU ASSHOLES.
I will never ever buy anything from you that I find listed in the wrong category, you fucking assholes! All you do is destroy the whole fucking purpose of fucking categories and the very nicely designed refinements that Ebay has built. And for WHAT? If I was looking for your FUCKING STUPID ACCESSORY/PART, rather than the THING ITSELF, I’d look in the ACCESSORY/PART CATEGORY FOR IT, NOT THIS ONE.
When you INSIST on shoving your FUCKING listings for ACCESSORIES and PARTS into the category for the THING ITSELF, you just create hundreds or more often, THOUSANDS of obnoxious listings that FUCK UP MY ATTEMPTS TO FIND WHAT I REALLY WANT.
I tried to read all the all-caps words together to see if they made their own message, but it doesn’t really work. I’m going to try anagramming now. Be right back.
While I can’t muster quite as much rage over the issue, this is very annoying. It makes sorting by price useless. If I’m looking for computers, I’d rather not dig through 14 pages of “recovery disks” and laptop keys.
And not only does eBay not make any effort to move misplaced items or discourage this, they actively encourage it. You can actually pay extra to have your item listed in multiple categories.
On the other hand, it’s better than Amazon’s search, which doesn’t really work at all.
It’s particularly irritating because you might miss a really good deal buried in the much lower priced accessories/parts. So Fucko Offo to all of 'em!
(Although, to be honest, I do sometimes appreciate finding items I didn’t know existed before because they are coming up next to related items- today I was looking for vaccuum cleaners, and scattered in with the bazillion handheld-computer keyboard vacuums was this, which is cool.)
I read something a while back about a guy who would snap up stuff on eBay that was in the wrong category or that had a misspelled product name and then sell it for a profit in the right category with a correct product name.
And then there’s people who comprehend the difference between totally-out-of-place listings that make no sense and the entirely deliberate listings I’m talking about which are placed to exploit your interest in the Thing Itself: Looking for an iPad? Well, here’s all the gewgaws you can buy to go with it, choking up the whole iPad category, making it vanishingly unlikely that anyone interested in the iPad gewgaw (which is also listed in the gewgaw category…) will be missed.
When I was looking for a new desk, I did searches online. Just HOW is a doorknob supposed to be a desk, or even a desk accessory? I did finally find an absolutely awesome desk at a thrift shop, for an awesome price. It was around $25 to $35, I can’t remember exactly. The point is, though, that I would have been willing to buy a desk for several hundred bucks if I could have seen JUST the desk listings. Not desk lamps, not doorknobs, not assorted hardware.
I need to just start my search at that thrift shop. It is full of awesome. I got an Ethan Allen dining table and 5 chairs for $225, and that set goes for about ten times that price.
For the guy who’s doing it as a business, finding an ipad listed under “tables” is lovely. For the guy looking for a cheap table, it’s not convenient to wade through page after page of tablecloths, table pads, table legs, placemats and candelabras, and the ipad is of zero interest to him.
eBay actively encourages you doing that by asking you to purchase multiple category listings to plop the item into
eBay actively encourages you doing that because they’ve never (to my knowledge) removed a listing for having it appear in the wrong category.
So it appears your ire is mostly directed towards eBay and not the seller.
It’s really easy to screw up the category when you’re working off a template. You can create a listing for one thing in the correct category, change the listing for item #2 and completely forget to move the category button over if the items are of a similar nature.
Ah, OK, I understand now and misunderstood before. I hereby withdraw my prevous snark and return to a neutral position (I can’t fully get on board with the pitting because apparently the sellers are obeying eBay’s rules, so this is just one of those things you have to put up with to buy stuff on eBay.
Wait! There are easier ways to search. For example, looking for a new laptop, you can just enter Computer and Categories = All, and it finds 222,901 listings. Then look at the list of subcategories down the left side of the screen and pick, e.g.:
PC laptops/netbooks
Laptop
Brand = Any
Screen size = 15-15.9, 16-16.9, 17+
Processor Type = Intel Core i5, i7
Processor Speed = 1 GHz or more
Memory = 4 GB or more
Condition = New, Manufacturer Refurbished
Check out the 18 computers it finds for you!
Then repeat as desired for other combinations of features until it finds something decent but actually affordable.
