Hey Code,

I was wondering... Would it be possible to rethink/update the auction categories where we list all our items? I think it might make the site a bit less confusing and easier to navigate for new members especially. In fact, there was a post you made a long time ago, asking for ideas from others on things we wanted changed, and several people commented on this if I'm not mistaken. Back when Gothic Auctions was alive there was a post where people were commenting on having a hard time finding things on this site (especially the sub-categories that no one can even see unless they are really looking). For instance, When you click on "Home Decor", you would never even know there was a section in that area for Candles and Incense unless you clicked on the "Misc" section link.

I think a lot of categories could be completely done away with to be honest. Example: The "Weird Stuff" section has 4 categories within it, 3 which are pretty much exactly the same (What the hell?, Strange and Bizarre mean pretty much the same thing, right?), and there are only 12 auctions currently listed in all of those combined. Another example would be the Food and Drink section. There is almost always ZERO listings there. Not to say they shouldn't exist, but perhaps they could be a category in the Misc section, or perhaps you could add a cookbook/recipes section to the Books section, as most of the time the only things I see listed in the Food and Drinks section are recipes 97% of the time. Perhaps if you added some of the less popular sections to the Misc section, the Misc section would also look more full, because there are currently only 7 total auctions there right now.

Doing away with the sections that don't get used, or placing those sections under the Misc category where there are already hardly any auctions would A.) Make the Misc section look more full, and B.) Would not make the site look like we are struggling so bad to fill categories. It's kind of depressing I imagine as a first time seller, coming to this site and seeing that there are several sections with no items listed. It makes it look like not many people use the site, which turns good sellers away, because they don't want to invest their time here, when they should!

There are also a few sections that I've just always found confusing to be honest, and I tend to steer clear of them even still when I list. The Gifts and Collectibles section is one of them. When comparing this section to some of the sections in the Home Decor category, I honestly can't decide where I should put things at times. I mean, any item could be a "Gift" really, right? And many "Collectibles" are also "Knick Knacks", or "Statues/Figurines" (which once again, you wouldn't even know those sections existed unless you clicked on the "Wall Hangings" link in the Home Decor section, which is an odd place to find those sub-categories). It has also always confused me that there is a "Lots" category in the Gifts and Collectibles section, when we already have an entire section for Lots (both standard and progressive). And no one ever posts anything in the "Wholesale" category either.

Then, there is always the $1.00 section. While this was actually asked for by a lot of us, I'm not entirely sure if people realize the impact it has on the other sections of the site. When there are sometimes over 100 auctions posted in that ONE section, just think of how the numbers in other sections are affected by it. For instance, if someone posted 50 make-up auctions in the $1.00 section, and let's say there were only 10 current auctions listed in the actual Make-Up section... It would appear no one sells make-up at all on this site, when in reality there were 60 make-up auctions posted. I think a better solution would be to do away with the $1.00 section entirely, and then allow people to search by the starting bid prices. If people could search every section from lowest starting bid to highest, like pretty much every other site (Ebay, Amazon, Etsy, etc...), there would be no need for the $1.00 section.

Anyhow, sorry about the length of this post. I could spend all morning giving suggestions of things to delete, move, or create, but I'm really just trying to explain the issue and how much this could improve the site, especially for new members and sellers who are looking for online venues to sell their goods.

Is this something that can be done, or that you have considered? If so... do you need help?! Would it help you if we all worked together on this forum, sharing ideas, coming up with new categories, voting in polls on here if needed? I would be more than happy to organize it and I'm sure others would pitch in and help, and the outcome would be what was voted on by Goth Auctions members. It would cut out a lot of the work you personally would have to take care of, and I could send you the end results to change/update as you wish. At least it would give you something to work with instead of having to figure out what is or isn't needed/wanted by sellers all by yourself. (And, I know you are a busy man, so if we can take some of the work load in order to have something like this done, I'm sure no one here would mind helping!)

Let me know your thoughts!

-Aly-

Simplify!

I totally agree. There are many catagories that can be weeded out.

The Adult section can be simplified to just ADULT, really no need for subcatagories when so few things are ever listed in there.

Music doesn't need 4 subcatagories, it doesn't even need subcatagories. The Video/DVD section could be streamlined to just being called MOVIES (with adult movies staying only in the adult section). Arts & Crafts can be streamlined to one catagory.

Food & Drink can just be abolished entirely. Misc can lose it's subcatagories and really just be miscellaneous.

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll review all of this and see what I can do as soon as time permits.

Thanks!

Can't wait to see what you come up with CodeVore!!

Can men's and unisex clothing be streamlined into just men's and unisex as the two main categories? (Due to the small amt of items normally posted in those areas, it would be easier when viewing to group the listings together. It would also help sellers from having items lost in unviewed subcategories.)

Thanks!

CodeVore - As part of a recent discussion in the Chat away section, could you please add a category entitled "Luxe" which would be intended for sellers to list designer and high end items for prices which are more appropriate for those items. Logic is that this way buyers looking for cheap stuff are not alienated, but it also instantly signals to other buyers that there is higher end stuff to be found here, too.

A good idea may be considered to put some sort of qualifiers on sellers who sell in this category and/or a minimum start price, to discourage counterfitters, but not sure how that would work exactly. So, it's a start just to have the category.

I still don't see a need for a 'luxe' catagory. :P

But the other above suggestions totally need to happen.

I feel the same way. I think a "luxe" category would confuse people, especially new sellers. It would end up being another section that doesn't get much use, as the only people who would really understand why it was there or what it was for, would be the people from the forums who wanted it. You will still end up with high end items in other places of the site, listed by people who didn't even know what the "luxe" section was, so the category really wouldn't be as effective as hoped, as everyone would still have to weed through the other sections to find high end items that were not posted in the "luxe" category.

A solution to this, however, would be what I mentioned in the original post... Make a feature that allows search results to be shown based on the price of the item, just like every other site. After you search for an item, you should be able to have a drop down box that will display the results how you see fit... lowest price first, or highest price first. Selecting the highest price first would allow people to see the higher priced items.

It would be awesome if we had that feature. You could then choose to see lowest price first, highest price first, recently posted auctions, or ending soon, etc.

-Aly-

My thoughts exactly. Right now sometimes I struggle to pick a catagory for an item, just because there's far too many catagories. I'd rather generalized ones, so that smaller catagories don't get ignored, and from the main page it makes the site look 'fuller' if there's less catagories with much larger auction #'s. Plus theres less confusion with where to put an item.

With 'Luxe' there's too many factors. What counts as Luxe? Opinions will vary. Do I put Dior make-up in the make-up catagory, or the Luxe catagory? Do I put my Betsey Johnson skirt in the skirt section or the Luxe section? Does a $50 item count as Luxe, or does it need to be in the 100's? Will people who don't think they can afford it completely ignore that section? I regularily sell higher end items, but if we had a Luxe catagory, I wouldn't use it.

GothAuctions isn't eBay. It doesn't need dozens & dozens of catagories because we don't cater to MILLIONS of users.

Would still love to see this.

Not to mention adding the useful subcategories in men's clothes that are needed.