Item Specifics Genre for DVDs and Books

[around_again_records]

Hi: Does anyone know how I can get a list of Item specifics for DVDs and Books. I am particularly interested in Genre and Sub Genres, but would like to know them all. 

[kawartha-ephemera]

Sorry, missed the dvds and books part of your question. The link I posted only applied to the most recent changes which did not cover media.

[kawartha-ephemera]

@around_again_records 

Check your inbox.

[femmefan1946]

If the title doesn't seem to fit the genres/subgenres  in the dropdown menus, you can add your own usually.

Be sure to click on Add.

It's my impression after selling books here for years, that Author and Title are more important than genre.

[around_again_records]

I hope you are right femmefan because genres are sure getting messed up with the UPC code, and now it seems that genres are being delegated according to the Title/Listing Header, also causing the wrong genre to be selected. I usually catch this when I am making the listing, but when I look at my listings in ebay and use the selections on the left hand side to select a genre, the results are a complete mess. Drama with Sports for example. So of course I figure I screwed up but when I check the listing I have it right, it is the search results that are wrong.

If anyone uses the ebay selections for searches, I don't see how they will find anything that they are looking for, and will probably leave annoyed and confused with the ridiculous search results.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

This is what happens when programmers attempt random mass editing AFTER listings have been created. Had a similar thing happen to me years ago when an address database was ported over to another system. Corrupted all the data and ended up having to re-enter the entire data-base from scratch. One weekend I'll never get back!!! Now if there are inaccuracies will seller's be on the hook for NAD'd due to no real fault of their own? Sorry for the inconvenience doesn't really cut it in this situation!!!

-Lotz

[reallynicestamps]

I deal in books.

There are not UPC codes on books and the choice there when it turns up on a Sell Your Item form would be Not Applicable.

The ISBN number which is pretty consistent on books since about 1980 and intermittent before that * often brings up the eBay Catalogue listings for that number including a stock photo.

It's well worth reading the Stock Listing which tends to be long, because some publishers use the same ISBN for several printings /editions/covers. If you sell SF/F books all  I have to say is "Ace".

*I've seen in on books from 1969-70, but the number was not recognized.

[around_again_records]

I should have said UPC/ISBN
I use UPC on DVDs and ISBN on books

Glad you have good luck with the ISBNs. I find a lot still not showing, and also a lot of ISBNs that put book in wrong category. I Used to get a lot filed under Cookbooks. That seems to have resolved, but now a lot show up under Textbooks and Education. I catch the ones I can when I make the listing, but when they get messed up in the eBay side categories, there is not much I can do. I've wasted a lot of time going back and checking my listings, only to find out that the listing was good. That gets tiring very fast 😞

[reallynicestamps]

I had a few that listed under Cookbooks too.  I was paying enough attention that I was able to correct them though (I hope).

But I start with author and title, rather than ISBN so that's rare.

More often my problem is that Canadian and British ISBNs are not accepted at all.

Then I go to Not Applicable and stop worrying about it.

Those British editions are often sought after in my categories because they sometimes has alternative content.

[ypdc_dennis]

For dvd's the info is generally adequate, most buyers don't search by ebay genre. But I will add it to my title if there is space especially for more niche stuff like anime. And you still need to check for stupid errors, like spelling mistakes, number of discs, wrong region coding (although sometimes that is the fault of a publisher like ADV Films using the same UPC for their region 1 North America release and for their region 2 UK release). Trust but verify is my approach to ebay's dvd data.

Books are a bigger problem, especially for the older stuff. Buyers usually do not hunt by ebay genre, but for some collectibles I will put the publisher name as part of the title. I try to wear my hat as Buyer when selecting what I put in my listing's title.

I generally start with ISBN if known. For the 1970's that often requires fudging from the publisher's number. A typical DAW Book might have 451-UY1109-125 which translates to 0879971096 using a secret decoder ring (www.hahnlibrary.net/libraries/isbncalc.html).

Then I check to see if the ebay data is of any use (when listing DAW Books I have been amazed at how many have been written by Penguin staff).

Using sell similar for a batch of similar books reduces some of the correcting effort required.

Here is an example of how some buyers search...

[around_again_records]

LOL, love the search example

The reason I started wondering and worrying about the mixed up genres was not so much the initial eBay search, but the way the listings show on a sellers individual page. Usually, I don't have that many items listed all at once so it's not a problem scanning through them all, but there was just a free listing promo and I relisted a lot. So now if anyone actually checked my other items, I'm thinking it would be easier to select a genre to make it easier, but when i tried this on my listings the results (for DVDs) were all over the place, Sports with Drama, Drama with Sports, Documentaries with Exercise and Fitness - that sort of thing. If I was a customer I would find this very annoying and would conclude the seller was a bit of a goof up if they could not even keep their listing sorted out. Of course one thing led to another, and although I did find a couple where it was my mistake, most of the listings were correct, but the results when selecting genres were all mixed up. I haven't figured that out yet, which is why I made the original request to find a list of ebay Genres and other item specifics because sometimes I get a dropdown box with a list (which does not always seem to be the same) for me to make a selection and other times I just get a text box to type the information myself, sometimes I get both 🙂 LOL creating a listing these days has actually become quite an adventure.