One of the top requests we get from book, music, and DVD sellers on Bonanza: where are the genre-specific categories?
The answer is: in your booth! Custom booth categories let you define your own categories within your booth so that buyers can browse through your booth inventory the way you want them to. Note that custom booth categories do not change the Bonanza site category (otherwise, we wouldn't be able to index your listings and buyers would never be able to locate them in search, meaning you get no sales). Below, we'll describe the way it works. This is considered a fairly advanced maneuver that should probably only be executed by professional booth owners (and smart alecks who enjoy funny booth categories).
Watch a short video on how to create custom booth categories.
Why not just add to the main category list?
Because of our emphasis on relentless simplicity, we have striven to keep our category levels to a minimum. The benefits of this are numerous: (1) it is simpler for sellers to choose their item categories without having to traverse a deep hierarchy; (2) it's easier for buyers to see all browsable categories on one page; (3) no redundant categories, which you'd have if there were a "Blues" category under "CDs," "Tapes," and "Records." Ick.
So how do booth categories work?
With booth categories, you can create categories specific to your booth so that buyers can browse your inventory exactly the way that you want them to.
To do it, you just add all the categories you want your booth to have in the "Categories & sorting" page in the "Selling > Booth settings" area.
Then, when a buyer enters your booth, the normal list of categories posted on the left side of your booth homepage will be replaced by the categories you put in your custom categories box. Note that order does matter. The order that you enter your categories will be the order they appear in your booth.
Also note that your custom categories won't be saved until you click the "Save all of my changes" button.
Can I create custom sub-categories?
Yes! Adding sub-categories allows you to create a hierarchical structure for your products; in fact, if your customers do want that that "Blues" category under "CDs," "Tapes," and "Records," you can set it up for them.
To create sub-categories, drag a category below and to the right of another category. By dragging categories like this, you can create a tree of your custom categories. If you want to raise a category up a level in your tree, drag it to the left.
How does Bonanza know which items fall Into which custom categories?
Bonanza offers the option for sellers to have Bonanza automatically assign custom categories to your listings, or for sellers to manually assign categories in the batch editor.
For categories that are automatically assigned by Bonanza, we'll try to match your item's title to one of your category names. If we can't find a match, your item will only be displayed when a shopper views "All Items" in your booth. When a user clicks on your category, Bonanza searches your booth for any items that contain the name of that category in the title, description, or category of the item. Thus, if you are creating custom book categories for "romance" books, you must ensure that the word "romance" appears somewhere in the title or description for the book.
Note that, since we search item categories, if your booth has items that were categorized as "Books" and "Electronics," you can still setup custom categories called "Books" and "Electronics," and items in those categories will be filtered out when the user selects that category.
For categories that are manually assigned, you will want to go to the "Selling > Batch edit items" page and select your listings which fall under the same category, then select the custom category from the drop down in the toolbox at the top of the page. Apply the changes to your selected listings.
Using custom categories in Webstores
If your booth uses custom categories, your Webstore will, too. Just like in your booth, custom categories let you define your own categories so that buyers can browse through your Webstore the way you want them to. We recommend that Webstores use custom categories for the best buyer experience.