mam98031 • Volunteer Community Member • Buyer/Seller since 1999
My listings recently stopped showing some template photos that I have used for 23 years. I suspect it has to do with the HTTP / HTTPS issue here on eBay. Yes, I understand this is an old issue or change, and thought everything was running fine until recently. I use Sixbit listing software with a customized template. My image host is IMGUR. All of the links show photos on my IMGUR account only with HTTPS: links. I found no way to change them to the HTTP:, if my thinking is correct. ? I have included 2 screenshots for reference of what I see now versus what is showing on my Sixbit template. Does anyone know of the fix for this? Should I be using a different photo host or ? I don't know much about hosting, except when it is working don't change anything. Many thanks for any suggestions from the community board!
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Have you checked with Sixbits, it is likely they know if this is an old issue coming back now.
I'm thinking it's either eBay blocking the pics due to some link inserted by the image host, or it has something to do with the images themselves. The added link issue does pop up rather infrequently, sometimes it can be related to old, pre-eBay restiction, listings being reused. And there was a time when 'referral' images were blocked or restricted - something to do with size or number or attached links.
eBay listings CAN have links... but the links must stay "on site" and cannot link to another seller's account. Even the three IDs that I sell with cannot link to each other, but I can (and do) add links to help buyers find more of my similar inventory. The html code is not a big deal, and with SixBit you can put it in a snippet and not have to worry about typing it over and over.
The template for my elongates is just a few lines long, but includes snippets that include other snippets that have the actual text/code I want to use. At work, I've added a generic "Check out our Store" type link into all the templates we use for listings. and I have a series of snippets to link to select inventory -- like one for beauty products, several for different brands of tools, and so on. When I'm working on the Item, I can add the snippet via the WYSIWYG description editor from a list displayed to the left. I could do it via the straight text editor, but I don't always remember the name of the snippet, or if I actually made one. 🙂
If you're using the SixBit provided hooks to the individual images, then the problem is almost definitely with your ISP/Image Host. You can look at the generated html to check that out - how you look depends on where you look. The Description WYSIWYG editor has an html view of the code for the Description. If it's in the template, it's a bit more complicated.
Unless there are folks here who want to follow all this dry SixBit stuff, I'll do most of this thru the DM I received.
-Bob.
@toomuchstuffagain35 wrote:You could try sending a DM to @rosachs and see if he has any ideas. He's a very experiences SixBit user.
Thank you for the referral! Back when the Internet was slow and people connected thru their land-line phones, templates needed to be lean and pictures small -- buyers didn't want to wait very long at all to see something on their screen. When the smartphone app came along, those lean templates translated better from desktop to phone. The phone screen is much much smaller than a standard desktop screen, so again, keep it lean. There are pluses and minuses to embedding images in your Description text - moreso with the phone app than with the desktop, again due to screen size. It's actually easier for buyers to see your images if you -don't- embed them in your description. If I recall correctly, buyers using the phone app have to specifically click/touch to see the full description. Leads to a lot of "I thought..." Return Requests. 😞
-Bob.
