Bots creating descriptions???

[di25535]

Will ebay sellers be held responsible for the errors in description summarizations done by eBay bots?   

I have little faith that a bot can accurately represent, for example, an 1825 antique lead mold with ruffled edges......in 250 characters.

I'm not selling on Twitter....

[jandsknight]

I think you're saying the 800 characters would go between the carats in the first line of code   ..."Product"><span property...

and the rest of your description could go between the carats in the following code  </span></div>

Is that correct?  I know enough html to edit a program but can't create much from scratch.

[sundayvisit]

Are we allowed to make our 800-character html bracketed info something like this:

"Attention bidders on mobile devices: eBay bots are now auto-editing sellers' item descriptions. They are likely to omit pertinent information that I want you to see. Please go to a non-mobile device to read the item description that was actually written by ME before you bid on this item. Thank you."

[shipscript]

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@jandsknight wrote:

I think you're saying the 800 characters would go between the carats in the first line of code   ..."Product"><span property...

and the rest of your description could go between the carats in the following code  </span></div>

Is that correct?  I know enough html to edit a program but can't create much from scratch.

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@jandsknight

Here is how you would add the special codes to you listing, using the HTML tab of the description editor.

Welcome to my listing and other nonsense.

<div vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof="Product"><span property="description">

Then your 800 characters go here.

</span></div>

The remainder of your description goes here.

[tealt]

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@shipscript wrote:

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@jandsknight wrote:

I think you're saying the 800 characters would go between the carats in the first line of code   ..."Product"><span property...

and the rest of your description could go between the carats in the following code  </span></div>

Is that correct?  I know enough html to edit a program but can't create much from scratch.

---

@jandsknight

Here is how you would add the special codes to you listing, using the HTML tab of the description editor.

Welcome to my listing and other nonsense.

<div vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof="Product"><span property="description">

Then your 800 characters go here.

</span></div>

The remainder of your description goes here.

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Will a PC user see what's between the div tags?

Is there a way to make what's between the div tags invisible to a PC user?

[shipscript]

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@ramonv wrote:
"The item description summary is pulled verbatim from the seller's description. So, the information is from the seller, not created by eBay."

So ebay bots will pull FULL sentences, and not just key words? Because if you just pull words out of context, the description is created by ebay, not the seller.

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@ramonv-majorleaguepins

eBay has been generating this "summary" for a couple of years now. The summary is indeed verbatim full sentences from the description. Unfortunately, the bots have not been very good at guessing which blocks of text to choose. They seem to look for blocks of text with the best keywords, and I seem to always get shipping terms displayed. That is the message I took to the mobile apps team last september, requesting they give us HTML tags to pick our own best paragraphs. So I am happy to see they are  finally planning to roll out the tags. 🙂

[clarkphilatelics]

Will the preview feature make into the eBay API in the same timeframe?

[jandsknight]

Thank you so much, shipscript.  I have learned so much from you before and today I learned again.

[georgestobbard]

I already have some customers who are too careless or impulsive to read my full descriptions or view all my photos before deciding to purchase an item.   And most of what I sell is used or vintage, so I'm always careful to point out flaws if there are any.  I can't always do that in 800 characters or less.

eBay, please please please do more to tell your mobile shoppers that they fully responsible for reading the seller's entire item description before committing to their purchase. Sellers should not be held responsible for what appears in the 800-character version if a buyer fails to read the long version.

[georgestobbard]

I was thinking the same thing. I'd love to see a disclaimer (written by me or provided by eBay) on all listings to remind mobile users to READ THE WHOLE DESCRIPTION AND LOOK AT ALL THE PHOTOS.