using photobucket for their html worried about losing all any suggestions?

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i have 6,500 listings on ebay with multiple images in the description area courtesy of photobucket html code since photobucket is so bad im worried i may lose all pics from all listings saving just images doesnt help since i would have to put each one back on each of the 6,500 listins that are active SO....does anyone know of a site where i could in bulk move all my listings html and gallery photos included so if the worse happens i have a backup with everything i need to just bulk move the listings to ebay to replace the ruined listings? i would also need something that is always connected to ebay so that daily changes in inventory on ebay are also carried over to the storage area where my backup listings are located? any fixes to my problem?

[*eponymous*]

As long as you have sufficient bandwidth from your ISP (high-speead unlimited data, or a reasonable amount of data...whatever your need is, consult with your ISP to make sure you won't go over limits, etc.)

Buy and register a domain name (1 yr, 2 yr, whatever works for you) and then set up for a website with a dependable web host (google that) and name it the same as your eBay selling ID (you can buy a small site, with templates or without, with image gallery software, one page, two page, capacity for your uploads of photos, etc - you can always change it if it's not enough or too much for you).  Control over your photos and the ability to be your own photo host by using image gallery software available (there is a good selection of free software).

All that is worth more but costs much much less than PB and is more affordable than any of the services out there that I am aware of...but research it for yourself and see what's best for your business.

It might sound daunting, but it is really not difficult - a learning curve, sure, but totally doable.

[shipscript]

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I believe photobucket is asking $400 per year for continued commercial hosting.  You can get your own domain for about $15/year and your own website for about $100-150/year and can host your photos there. 

Additionally, eBay is recommending that self-hosted and third-party hosted content (images and stylesheets) be delivered from a secure server (https) because eBay will be moving in that direction. That would require purchasing an SSL certificate (around $100) or acquiring a do-it-yourself free certificate.

If you obtain your own website and name its folders the same way you name your photobucket folders, you can retrieve your PB images and upload them to your website keeping the same image names and folder paths. Then, to revise your listings, you would only need to change the domain part of the image path.  This could be handled in bulk using eBay's BEAR (bulk edit and replace) tool:

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Replacing-Active-Content/tutorials/m-p/27105433#M13

Or you could use the Bulk Active Content Editor described in that same thread, which can also be used to download all of your descriptions.

This will not solve your question of inventory management.

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okay im not a computer whiz so think i get this? maybe not?  how do i  send  all my ebay listings with photos currently linked to photo bucket onto one site in bulk? do i lose all the linked photos when photobucket demands the 400.00 a year to ransom my photos?  do the listings with images ebay gallery and the linked photos  go to my own site intact or do i lose all the links to photobucket regardless of what safeguards i take now? i may have 12 linked photos in one listing so the time it took to put them there and then losing them or having to put them there again is like doing 3 years worth of work all over again  

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okay im pretty sure i got that sort of but... big question and largest hurdle is keeping my listings and photos intact together when i move them having photos all moved and safe and then having to put the photos back on the listings would be like doing 3 years of work all over again  if i make sure all photos currently linked to photobucket are also in ebay photo gallery would i at least keep the gallery pics hosted by ebay  and just lose the really large images in my description that are linked to photobucket? and that is not a loss to take lightly when customers have the ability to see in detail every last item on the ad it helps them tremendously  and would be a huge loss to me since making money on ebay is like pulling teeth as it is  thanks in advance for answer

[*eponymous*]

Thanks, as always, for your informative post @shipscript

I did not know there is a DIY SSL!

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right now im downloading my albums to desktop to upload to go daddy? will that 

enable me to  as you say keep the same image names and folder paths. Then,  revise my  listings, you by changing the domain part of the image path.  This could be handled in bulk using eBay's BEAR (bulk edit and replace) tool:

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Replacing-Active-Content/tutorials/m-p/27105433#M13

[shipscript]

@ads.ink

If you have acquired a domain name and a GoDaddy web hosting account, you can upload your saved photos to your webspace. You don't need to actually have a website page, so don't pay to have one created unless you want one.  All you need is to create folders on your webspace that match the folder names you have on Photobucket.

I wrote a guide outlining the aspects of setting up a website account, but the material is now several years old and I've been unable to edit the guide:

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Setting-up-your-own-Website-for-Image-Hosting-/10000000177043852/g.html

For uploading your content to your website, I recommend using free FileZilla (another guide I can't edit.)  You can drag and drop entire folders onto your webspace from your desktop. 

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Send-files-to-your-website-with-FileZilla-FTP-/10000000177184816/g.html

One thing to keep in mind is that Photobucket has automatically resized your photos down to no more than 1024 pixels on the long side, thus most users have not been worried about their upload sizes.

However, with your own hosting, if you are taking photos with your largest camera setting, it is imperative that you downsize any new photos that you plan to directly upload to your webspace in the future.  The last thing buyers need is photo-bloat with megabyte images that take 10 minutes to load, and you certainly don't want to hit any storage or bandwidth limits.

Then on to your revisions.  Once you have the images from photobucket loaded onto your own webspace using the same folder and path structure, you can edit your listings to change the domain part of the URL.   If you have pure images without links back to photobucket, the find/replace process can be handled in BEAR. If your listing contains links, then you may need to use the Bulk Active Content Editor with wildcard filters that will remove the links while changing the image URLs.  I posted such a filter on the Active Content forum.

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its useless trying to download from photobucket every album you try to download has to verify you are not a bot? ive decided the most important thing is to make sure all listings have all images in the gallery section as quite a few dont just the links in the description have been doing that and find that it takes 2 hours to click on and add images to 200 listings i have to fix 2,000 listings how many hours is that? and is ebay going to require us to go listing by listing removing the broken links? 

[cliff4199]

Any good suggestions for picture gallery apps to use with one's own domain?

[usadetectors]

I had the same problem for a few weeks, Contacted Photo bucket support. It worked for a while, then images stopped showing again, after I complained about it again then images started showing again in my eBay Listings and so far still working. I Hope you can contact their support to help you out if you still have this problem, Good Luck !