Select Category

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Select Category chooses eBay’s own category for the listing. It is the single most
consequential field on a listing: it decides the item specifics you are asked for, the fees you pay, and
where buyers find the item. The control walks you down eBay’s tree one level at a time.

No screenshot. This is a control inside the listing editor’s Categories section, not a screen of its own, and that
section is photographed whole in its own guide. Every part of the control is named below.

Where to find it

In the listing editor’s Categories section.

How the levels work

One dropdown appears to begin with, holding eBay’s top-level categories for the listing’s site. Choose one
and, if it has children, a second dropdown appears beside it. Keep going until you reach a
leaf — a category with nothing below it. That is the one eBay lists the item in, and
reaching it is what sets the rest of the editor working: the item specifics for that category are fetched
and the sections that depend on it redraw.

Control What it does
Select Primary Category The label on every level of the main chain. Each entry reads name [id].
Select Secondary Category The same control, used for the optional second category eBay allows.
The clear (×) Clears that level and every level below it, and you start again from there.
Nothing is settled until you reach a leaf. Stopping half-way leaves the listing without a
usable category and without item specifics. If the last dropdown you filled in produced no new dropdown
beside it, you are there.
The tree belongs to the site. Change the site in
Account & Site and the category has to be chosen again — the ids
are not the same between marketplaces.

How to choose a category

  1. Set the eBay site first.
  2. Open the first dropdown and choose the broad area.
  3. A second dropdown appears — choose again, and keep going.
  4. Stop when no further dropdown appears. The editor now fetches the item specifics for that category.
  5. Fill in the item specifics in Item Specifics, and save.

FAQ

Q: The last dropdown took a moment to close.
A: Choosing a leaf sets the whole editor rebuilding around the new category. That is
the pause; it is doing the item-specifics fetch.
Q: I cleared a middle level and lost the ones after it.
A: That is deliberate — the levels below belonged to what you cleared.
Q: My item specifics are wrong for the item.
A: They come from the category. A wrong category is the usual cause; choose the
right one and they are fetched again.
Q: Do I need a second category?
A: No, and eBay charges for it. Use it only when the item genuinely belongs in
two.
Q: The tree looks out of date.
A: Refresh it — see Refresh Categories
in the desktop application.

Support

For further assistance you can:

← Back to the User Guide index

Or go to Support, the FAQs, or contact us.

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