calhoun07

I was going to bid on an auction for a DVD today when a small voice inside me told me to REALLY read the description this time. That's when I realized that no where in the description or in the title of the auction did this state this was a DVD. So I looked at the top of the screen and saw this:

Listed in category: Entertainment > DVDs & Movies > VHS > Other


Why does DVD have a sub-category for VHS??? I soon discovered that there are a ton of VHS tapes purposely listed in the DVD section of Ebay. It's bad enough having to plow thru VCDs and DVD-Rs when looking for something in DVD on Ebay, but now we have VHS to contend with? Doesn't the inferior format have it's own category?

marty888

The over-all category is DVD & Movies - then you can refine it to DVDs only, Laserdisc, VHS.

It does require you to pay attention to what you are doing. Don't blame eBay, please.

calhoun07

Thanks for telling me what is already obvious. And I do pay attention. In fact, here is a screen image from Ebay on my computer:



You will note the DVD part is in purple, the other links are blue, the purple indicating where I have clicked, the blue indicating I have left those alone.

The question is why does Ebay compile these formats under one heading? I thought VHS had a separate category (apparently not!), but the fact that it doesn't isn't the answer. They should have their own category. You don't do a search for CDs and find listings for LPs. Why can't they organize the Entertainment section of their site better?

Oh, and I did notice your tone in your reply. Being a condecending ass is really unnecessary here.

Troy Stiffler

I hate buying DVD's on eBay. Around 80% of them are stupid-foreign bootleggers anyways.

Watch what you buy. Pay very, very close attention to EVERYTHING. If it says "region 0", don't buy it (with a few exception). If it says "DTS" when there's not a DTS version out, don't buy it.

Personally, if I were you, I'd say to just stay away from buying DVD's on eBay.

BigT

There is a separate section for VHS, but that doesn't mean that a VHS can't be posted in the dvd section also. Be aware that Ebay has recently added a section, in blue, above the auction description, that displays stuff like Format, Sub-Format, Condition, etc. The seller can fill this section out differently than the category the item is actually listed in. Ebay allows posting the same auction in more than one category (for a fee, of course) and I'm certain that this heading is in response to complaints like yours - make it more obvious what is being sold when the item is being listed in multiple categories.

tonyc3742

Also, I filter out
-chinese [most legit DVD's I'm interested in don't have Chinese subtitles]
-vcd [my DVD player does support VCD, but 99% of these are copies; it's one thing to pirate stuff, it's another to sell pirated stuff.]

That usually filters out 20-50% of the listings, especially regarding anime dvd's.

I have noticed some truly wacky stuff come up with I'm doing searches for DVD's, stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with DVDs, movies, etc. Advanced search is your friend, but it's a shame it's got to be that challenging to find what you're looking for.

marty888

Not obvious enough. This condescending ass would like to point out that VHS is not a subdivision of DVD as you stated ("Why does DVD have a sub-category for VHS??? ") but both DVD and VHS are subdivisions of the general category DVDs and Movies.

codecomplete

This is too funny. There's too many people blaming companies for their own stupidity and then are too stupid to understand it when someone explain things to them.

menaz

Couldnt have said it better myself. I always do searches for DVDs on ebay, and the way they have it setup, I always have 0 problems getting the results I want. On occassion, I will get the seller that decided to be slick and list a VHS in the DVD section, but hey, thats life, deal with it.

Y2K Falcon

Maybe I'm just being lame, but...

Why isn't the category structure like this??

Entertainment > Movies >

THEN the subcategories under "Movies" by format...



Is this what the thread starter was wanting ebay to do? Makes sense to me!

young

b/c that makes too much sense.

nevertheless, the "DVDs & Movies" heading is accurate.

cheapskate

Makes sense to me also...

Saying "DVD's and Movies" is kinda like saying "Blue and Colours" and listing Green, Blue, Red, Purple underneath...

But what do I care... I never use Ebay anyway