A guide to listing collectibles

[TexasTreasures]

The collectibles category is probably one of the most confusing , as far as knowing where to put things. I made up this guide to give you an idea of where things might logically be placed.. This is based on where we believe people are most likely to look for those things, and you may not totally agree. This is just what I have found to be the logical place for things, after many, many years of categorizing my own collectibles. As always, the decision is up to the seller for the most part, but hopefully this will give you an idea, based on where most sellers are listing their similar items. And of course, there are many many cross collectibles that could go in any of several categories!

Advertising: Almost anything goes, here. If it has a company name printed on it, is used to attract customers (such as fast food toys), came in a box of cereal, its advertising.

Animals : Again, pretty obvious what could go here. If people collect cats, cows, etc, theyre going to look here. Plush toys however, are still toys and should be listed under toys. Someone looking for a specific beanie bear is most likely going to look in plush toys, bears and dolls. This is done for everyone, as buyers are likely to leave the category if they are looking for figurines and see beanies for the first 4 pages.

Animation Art, Characters: Any animated characters, pictures, plush toys of cartoon characters, anything with a cartoon character on it. Keep in mind though, that anything that is a cross-collectible might sell better in the other category-for instance, a roadrunner cookie jar might be more appealing to cookie jar collectors than to animation collectors. There is a specific category for Japanese Animation art!

Arcade, Jukeboxes & Pinball: : pretty self explanatory-arcade would include arcade cards or vending machine toys, jukeboxes, reproduction jukeboxes, arcade signs, etc.

Barware : Anything you would use in a home or commercial bar-glassware, signs, swizzle sticks, coasters, decanters. (remember, decanters could also go in advertising if they are from a company, or breweriana, or bottle and jars!)

Bottles, Jars, Jugs & Caps : Includes decanters, Avon bottles, perfume bottles (until we get a vanity items category), milk bottle caps, soda caps, jugs,

Breweriana, Beer : Anything to do with beer or brewing-equipment, beer bottles, signs, mugs, steins, advertising for them.

Casino : anything to do with card playing, cards, signs, souvenirs of casinos, casino advertising.

Christmas, Holidays : Pretty obvious-remember though that vintage cards might not sell as well there as they would in paper.

Coins & Paper Money : Self descriptive-although this is not the place for play money, pens made of shredded money, cancelled checks.

Cultures : This is one of the very hardest categories to describe. Culture (to me) means something that is part of a societys genuine way of life, not something made commercially to sell as a souvenir of a place or society. For instance, a cornhusk doll made for a child is part of the culture. A plastic or porcelain doll made by a company to be sold as a souvenir of New Mexico is not part of the culture. A photograph of Quanah Parker is part of the culture, a mass produced Trails end statue is not. Genuine Native American pottery is-made in China with Kokopelli on the side is not.

Decorative Collectibles: Almost anything goes if you put it in your house to look nice-but there may be more suitable and less congested categories for it. Art pottery such as Mccoy, Roseville, will be more visible and more likely to be looked for in Glass and Pottery>art pottery. A new set of bed sheets is not considered collectible, and belongs in Home and Garden>bedding!

Disneyana : any authentic Disney product

Historical Memorabilia : The second of the two most difficult categories-and its similar to culture: if it is a genuine part of history such as war ration books, an invitation to the Queens Coronation, a history book or pamphlet, anything that tells us about the history of that era is memorabilia. A mass produced statue of a confederate soldier is decorative, not historical. (I know thats open to debate, but there had to be a boundary set somewhere!) There is also a subcategory for all fraternal organizations, unions, scouts.

Japanese Animation Art : any of the Anime, Manga, etc., regardless of the product itself-this includes clothing, linens, jewelry, anything with those characters

Kitchenware & Housewares : Vintage and collectible housewares and kitchen items. Not for new appliances, there is a category in Home and Garden for them. Again, if you have pieces of dinnerware such as Lenox, Franciscan, etc-there is a dinnerware category in glass and pottery-thats where people will look for replacement pieces.

Knives, Swords & Blades :self explanatory

Linens, Fabric & Textiles : Collectible linens, fabrics-new linens have a category in house and garden, fabric by the yard has a category in crafts.
Militaria: anything to do with the military-photos, books, badges, uniforms.

Nonsports Trading Cards : self explanatory

Photographic Images : this will generally be vintage photos. There is a category for new art photos in art, an entertainment memorabilia category for celebrity photos.

Paper: any type of paper that is collectible for some reason, but does not fit in any other category. This would include vintage calendars, greeting cards, wills, deeds, letters, brochures, school annuals, report cards, receipts-just a lot of stuff! There is a category in flowers and gifts for new stationery, greeting cards, and calendars.

Pins, Buttons : self explanatory

Postcards : postcards and postcard booklets. New greeting cards, stationery, etc, have a category in Flowers and Gifts>stationery

Religions, Spirituality: anything to do with an established religion-books, clothing, jewelry, figurines

Rocks, Fossils, Minerals : Collectible rocks, shells, fossils-however, if they are part of a piece of jewelry, they are jewelry and belong in that category.

Souvenirs: Anything that is made to be sold as a memory of a trip, vacation, or event. This includes commemorative plates, brochures of a park, tickets to an amusement park. There is however, a special category in sports for items commemorating sporting events.

Stamps : Postage stamps-not trading stamps!

Tobacciana : because there is no other category for it, this not only includes collectibles but lighter fluid, pipe cleaners, etc. If you see some new form of wacky tobacco listed, let us know, as we may not recognize it!

Transportation: Anything to do with railroads, highways, travel, maps, signs, car plates, advertising about travel or highways, pretty open as long as it has to do with going somewhere. There is however, a category for diecast cars and trucks in toys category.

I hope this helps! Remember, these things are always open to interpretation of the individual seller, whether we agree with them or not. As long as it's not very obviously miscategorized, it's their choice.

[TexasTreasures]

By the way, if you have something you are not sure of, feel free to ask me-or if you thought of something I left out-I'm sure I did!

[thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat]

Knives swords and blades is not as cut and dried as you think. When I look there I see only the hunting, or military type of knife. I have a lot of vintage and antique kitchen knives. Do they go in the knives cat or in kitchenware?

[TexasTreasures]

Personally, again based on where I think folks would look-I'd put mine in kitchenware. But there actually are some kitchen knives in there.

[PegsBUTTONS]

Pins, Buttons : self explanatory

not really..it should read Pins, Pinback buttons
I sell collectable sewing buttons and would like them to be in Collectables and feel because the above states Buttons that my buttons belong there..but around Christmas time a moderator told me they didn't belong in Pins,Buttons and moved them to CRAFTS
Peg

[TexasTreasures]

I think the owner told you to list them there if you wanted to, I know I've seen some of yours there recently.
The category is confusing, if it means clothing buttons and pinbacks..that's an odd combination. And I really agree that a collectible sewing notions category would be nice, and solve some misunderstandings. I list vintage buttons and sewing notions myself, and never know where to put them, so they end up in crafts>sewing as that is where I hope people will look when they don't see a collectibles category for them. You might suggest it in the suggestions forum-the owner reads those regularly and takes each suggestion under consideration. If enough people ask, he might do it. I already have asked, myself!

[PegsBUTTONS]

no the moderator TOLD me to move them..it was Christmas eve or Christmas day (which I thought was a odd time to hit me with that)and I was out of town and checking my mail..I told her I wasn't at home and couldn't do it then ..then a couple days later I received a email from her and she told me she moved them..now I see others are listing buttons in that category so I will list my vintage ones there and newer ones in crafts..and yes I have asked twice to please have a category for them under collectables..and I get the standard reply "we will consider it" or something like that.
NO the category doesn't mean clothing buttons but a button collector looking under collectables would think so..I did!
PINS AND BUTTONS..to me that means pins and buttons..that is why I think if they don't want BUTTONS it should state PINBACK buttons and then of course I never would of listed there.. and the CRAFTS category doesn't even have the word BUTTONS.
I do love eCrater..Peg

[TexasTreasures]

Maybe the owner will eventually see the need for a separate subcategory for collectible sewing items as others ask for it. That one really is a mess right now and I'm sure confuses shoppers. But he has said to allow clothing buttons to be listed in the pins category, so feel free to list!

But the thing we all have to remember is what we teach our kids about personal responsibility. One person does something that really isn't correct, such as listing their clothing in the art category. Then the next person comes along and says 'well, she did it, so I can too'. And everything ends up in the mess it was when the owner first decided to get moderators. It tooks weeks for them to clean up the categories. They made sellers mad. But they did what was best for the Ecrater sellers as a whole, in order to keep from losing our Google relationship. Dimitri has given each of us a wonderful opportunity to establish a business of our own, and with that gift comes the responsiblity of cooperating with him to keep Ecrater a viable place to do business for everyone.

[TexasTreasures]

Just bumping this back up for new members!

[mainelybuttons]

I am with pegsbuttons, we need a seperate category for collectible sewing buttons, I don't have anywhere near the items that Peg has, but it is confusing.
Mainelybuttons

[down2biz]

I am in agreement with mainelybuttons & pegsbuttons...
I think it would be helpful to both buyers & sellers to have a category for collectible buttons.
When I was listing my vintage buttons...I wasn't sure were to list them, especially since I also have a few collectible pinback buttons/pins listings, also.

[TexasTreasures]

If you want to suggest a category, the Suggestions forum is the place to do it. I think you already all have, though.

[TexasTreasures]

Moving this up for the new members.

[TexasTreasures]

Someone just suggested a guide for the collectibles category-here it is for you again!