Custom Item Description--I don't want to use part of my regular description

[tealt]

In an answer on another thread, Justin suggested that an 800-character Custom View be created using the beginning of my "regular" description.

I don't want to do that. 

Question:

Can I create a separate 800-character Custom View block of html that WILL appear on a mobile device, but NOT on a PC?

Comment:

If eBay doesn't provide a character counter when a seller creates one of these Custom Views, this is going to be a colossal pain in the rear!

[tealt]

Justin also suggested that an 800 character Custom View block contain a sentence like: "If you are viewing this item on a mobile device, please click on the Item Description link."

That's fine for a mobile device user, but sounds rather stupid (confusing?) if the potential buyer is viewing the item on a PC.

[shipscript]

@tealt

You can use CSS to show or hide content, based on the where it is viewed. However, on the mobile device there is the short summary, and then a click away is the full content, so identifying the device will not necessarily solve the problem.

My suggestion would be to put  [more...] and the end of the selected block.

And yes, you can select a summary block of text from anywhere in your description by surrounding that text with HTML codes in the HTML view of the description editor.  That code is shown here:

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/sprupd16/view-item.html#tab=faqs&faq=faq-vi-q10

or below:

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

...content...
</span></div>

[tealt]

---

@shipscript wrote:

@tealt

You can use CSS to show or hide content, based on the where it is viewed. However, on the mobile device there is the short summary, and then a click away is the full content, so identifying the device will not necessarily solve the problem.

My suggestion would be to put  [more...] and the end of the selected block.

And yes, you can select a summary block of text from anywhere in your description by surrounding that text with HTML codes in the HTML view of the description editor.  That code is shown here:

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/sprupd16/view-item.html#tab=faqs&faq=faq-vi-q10

or below:

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

...content...
</span></div>

---

I'm just a poor non-techie, and didn't understand most of what you said.  What is CSS?

I don't want to surround any of my regular description with the div and span html tags.

I want to create a completely separate text for my 800 Character Custom View that is different from the "regular", full description.  I want that Custom View to be invisible to PC users.  Can I do that.  How?

[tealt]

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I'm just a poor non-techie, and didn't understand most of what you said.  What is CSS?

I don't want to surround any of my regular description with the div and span html tags.

I want to create a completely separate text for my 800 Character Custom View that is different from the "regular", full description.  I want that Custom View to be invisible to PC users.  Can I do that.  How?

[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."

[labs118]

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@tealt wrote:

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I'm just a poor non-techie, and didn't understand most of what you said.  What is CSS?

I don't want to surround any of my regular description with the div and span html tags.

I want to create a completely separate text for my 800 Character Custom View that is different from the "regular", full description.  I want that Custom View to be invisible to PC users.  Can I do that.  How?

---

Oh don't feel so alone.
ebay must think everyone is up on all the tech
They seem to forget some are just old people who started selling before we needed pictures, before online payments, before  smart phones.
They think everyone buys via mobile.
For some reason my Paypal emails tells me less of my ebay sales are mobile then PC
But as always we just learn to conform 

[Anonymous]

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@shipscript wrote:

@tealt

You can use CSS to show or hide content, based on the where it is viewed. However, on the mobile device there is the short summary, and then a click away is the full content, so identifying the device will not necessarily solve the problem.

My suggestion would be to put  [more...] and the end of the selected block.

And yes, you can select a summary block of text from anywhere in your description by surrounding that text with HTML codes in the HTML view of the description editor.  That code is shown here:

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/sprupd16/view-item.html#tab=faqs&faq=faq-vi-q10

or below:

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

...content...
</span></div>

---

Hi shipscript,

We are are rolling out a change that will already include [more...], so it should be unnecessary to include in descriptions.  

Here's an example:

Thanks!

Justin

[shipscript]

 @Anonymous

If we use 42 characters of the summary to add <span style="display:none">[more...]<span> , the message will not appear within the full description. Will the tags be stripped from the summary, thus displaying the text as [more...] within the summary? [edit, thanks I see this is moot, but still curious about the tag effects]
 

If we want to pull content out of a paragraph without creating a paragraph break, can we separate the special tags like this so only the red text appears in the summary?

<div vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof="Product">
    This is the item of your dreams. It contains
    <span property="description">
        everything you ever wanted
    </span>
    and more.
</div>
 

[Anonymous]

Hi shipscript,

Tags will not be counted as part of character count, except for cases when they add characters or space (i.e. <br>, &nbsp;).

Thanks for selling on eBay,
Justin

[tealt]

What?

Could you please translate your reply above to Shipscript into language that we poor non-techies can understand.

I sell, antiques, vintage, and used, and I absolutely refuse to allow eBay bots to create any description that mobile users see for my items.  I'm having enough trouble already with people buying via their smart phones.

So...

Will eBay provide tutorials, examples, or easy-to-understand answers which will allow me to create descriptions that include an 800 Character Custom View which does NOT appear as part of the listing a PC user would see?

[fern*wood]

None of this makes any sense to me at all so I really wish someone would dumb this down for those of us with no knowledge of html, css, or whatever else you are talking about.

It sounds like blank lines between my sentences will use up my 250 word limit. Do I have to remove all of those?  What does 800 word limit apply to?  Does my link to my other items mess up the count?

[labs118]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@shipscript wrote:

@tealt

You can use CSS to show or hide content, based on the where it is viewed. However, on the mobile device there is the short summary, and then a click away is the full content, so identifying the device will not necessarily solve the problem.

My suggestion would be to put  [more...] and the end of the selected block.

And yes, you can select a summary block of text from anywhere in your description by surrounding that text with HTML codes in the HTML view of the description editor.  That code is shown here:

http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/sprupd16/view-item.html#tab=faqs&faq=faq-vi-q10

or below:

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

...content...
</span></div>

---

Hi shipscript,

We are are rolling out a change that will already include [more...], so it should be unnecessary to include in descriptions.  

Here's an example:

Thanks!

Justin

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@Anonymous
Justin
You have a large amount of skeptics here with anything ebay does with mobile
Sellers are waiting how long now for you people to fix the free shipping glitch on the mobile, not just on accepted offers but on out right purchases & auctions
ebay isn't taking the heat from the upset buyers, they aren't eating the shipping cost and you guys can't get that fixed.
Worried about bad buyer expriences so we have to ship quick & make sure we have our stock . How do you think all our customers feel about ebay mobile glitch on this?


Why should any of us feel warm & fuzzy about you description program ???
I can see the snads already

[labs118]

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@smick55 wrote:

None of this makes any sense to me at all so I really wish someone would dumb this down for those of us with no knowledge of html, css, or whatever else you are talking about.

It sounds like blank lines between my sentences will use up my 250 word limit. Do I have to remove all of those?  What does 800 word limit apply to?  Does my link to my other items mess up the count?

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Yep what ever happen to just listing our items????
Glad it's not just me

[readabouthorses]

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@smick55 wrote:

None of this makes any sense to me at all so I really wish someone would dumb this down for those of us with no knowledge of html, css, or whatever else you are talking about.

It sounds like blank lines between my sentences will use up my 250 word limit. Do I have to remove all of those?  What does 800 word limit apply to?  Does my link to my other items mess up the count?

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It isn't words ... it is characters. Big difference. You can't say much in 250 characters.