Using eBay's suggested category in File Exchange

[vip-marketplace]

Hey guys!

I list about 300 new items every months in almost as many categories using file exchange.

When listing items individually directly on eBay, you can easily get the item's category using eBay's suggested category.

Using file exchange, I don't get that suggestion. I have to research manually what the optimal category would be for each item and then find the category number using their category table. It's really painfully boring and time consuming to do.

Is anyone aware of a better way to get my categories / use ebay's suggested category even using file exchange?

Thanks!

[recped]

Try looking at this old thread and scroll down to Post #16 (the first suggestions are old and no longer work).

The link in #16 does get you a csv file but I don't know if it's up to date.

Also check this document:

http://pics.ebay.com/aw/pics/pdf/us/file_exchange/SMP_FMC_User_Guide.pdf

On Page 52 there is a link to a Category List download (probably the same file) but because it's part of the general instructions it should be up to date.

[vip-marketplace]

Thanks but it seems you forgot to link the old thread you are referring to.

[recped]

Whoops!

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Tools-Apps/eBay-File-Exchange-Category-Code-Finder-Spreadsheet/td-p/23...

[vip-marketplace]

Thanks!

But they're really just linking to the category number table I'm already using.

I understand I poorly explained my problem (English isn't my 1st language). What I'm looking for is a way to find category numbers (or name) in bulk for thousands of listings based on my items' title (get eBay's suggested category for all my file exchange items).

Because currently I have to copy paste each of my items title in eBay to see what category other sellers are putting the item in and then look up that category name in the table to find the corresponding category number.... hundreds of time.

[recped]

Can't help you on that...

BUT

I would say that personally I would NEVER rely on eBay to suggest the proper Category. I have no idea how reliable it would be as I have not listed directly on eBay for almost 20 years.

Their track record for "suggestions" isn't great.

[vip-marketplace]

Yeah you're right but my plan was to review the titles and categories side by side and edit those that seem a poor fit.

From experience around 90% of eBay's suggested categories would be the right one.

[kawartha-ephemera]

Be aware there are many category additons, changes, deletions, name changes etc. currently underway .

These changes are not little tweaks here and there but rather major changes with accompanying changes to item specifics. Knowing ebay I would advise exercising extreme caution right now.

I don't have a link handy but buried somewhere within the Spring 2019 Update was a file download link to a file detailing all of the changes.

At the time I did download the file and I was stunned at the magnitude of the category changes. These changes either have just been rolled out or are in the process of being rolled out at this time.

[tyler@ebay]

Hi @vip-marketplace - I checked with our File Exchange experts and they confirmed that what you're looking for isn't possible with that program. You'd need to find and input the category numbers manually. 

Sorry!

[pocomocomputing]

Post your question in the eBay.com USA forum called Tools & Apps. Dollybeauty and shipscript eBay members are very very knowledgable on file exchange and maybe able to help you. They respond same day and sometimes in a couple of hours. They may have some tips or a workaround method to make finding and adding the category easier.

[lucitabby]

Yes, a lot of changes right now. For example, just yesterday, Cookbooks is no longer - now has been switched to Books-Non-Fiction.

[vip-marketplace]

Thank you! I just posted the question in the Tool & App section of the forum as you suggested.

[cumos55]

Item Specifics for books on eBay  has changed dramatically over the last series of days

A seller must include important words in the title of a listing...

..... words that present information about the content of a book

[hlmacdon]

Excel and vlookups can make this process easier. Create two worksheets, one with your file exchange data (ie: your drop ship distributor data feed) and for the other start creating a table of keywords/description components and their ebay category number. For example Keyboard (column a) and eBay's category number for keyboards (column b), then repeat for as many items as you can. The vlookup gets inserted as a formula on your data feed worksheet then tries to match against that table which will the category numbers for you. Review then export that worksheet to a csv for file exchange. This is more or less what I've had to do when importing millions of products from distributor drop ship datafeeds in the past since any category mapping they have in the source data file is irrelevant for the client since they have their own category structure. If the product is easy to identify a category from parts of the item description/title/brand it makes the work pretty easy and you can just add to that master lookup table each month. That is really all that ebay is doing with the suggested categories anyways.