While eBay sellers were scrambling to update their listings due to eBay category rollups in Music, Movies and Games categories, eBay announced a 2-day promotion in those very categories. Some sellers objected to the timing of the promotion since they were struggling to update thousands of listings to add in new category numbers.

In addition, sellers who launched auctions in those categories prior to March 16 learned those auctions now show up with "category unknown" messages. Richard Chemel, who sells movies on eBay, said he paid a listing fee to be listed in a category, and feels eBay should issue him and other sellers a partial refund. Buyers who browse categories will not be able to find his auctions, Chemel said.

eBay eliminated subcategories in a number of areas, including several in the Entertainment category, and made instead "meta-categories." For example, sellers previously might list an item under "Entertainment: DVDs & Movies: VHS: Action & Adventure: Adventure." Now, that item would go under "DVDs & Movies: VHS." eBay wants buyers to use its Item Specifics feature to search by Genre and Sub-genre.

However, most third-party listing tools, with the known exception of Zoovy, do not support "Pre-fill Item Information," which can help sellers populate Item Specifics fields. However, even Pre-fill Item Information (also called Catalog) does not support the Genre and Sub-Genre fields. Sellers must fill in five fields under the new system. Chemel said this adds significantly to the time it takes him to launch auctions. "It normally takes me 40 seconds to launch an auction, now it takes me almost a minute. Time is money," he said.

Chemel pointed to an auction for a VHS movie called "Sahara," starring Brooke Shields. He launched the auction on March 14 using Turbo Lister and used the Pre-fill Item Information feature. However, he hadn't filled in the Genre and Sub-genre fields. Chemel said he was aware eBay would be rolling up the DVDs & Movies category, but did not know it would be done on March 16. He said he and other sellers got no advance warning of the exact date eBay would make the change. Buyers searching for Brooke Sheilds movies may find his title, but will not find it by browsing since the auction has no category assigned to it.

Many eBay members believe there is no way for buyers to browse DVDs by category. The same is true in the Music category, where sellers complain buyers are not finding their auctions.

eBay did not return calls (placed this morning) by press time.