WHEN will ebay begin using the new 250 character summary on Mobile?

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

WHEN will ebay begin using the new 250 character summary on Mobile?

If there's a date given in the Seller Update, I missed it.

[wheeledtoys · Accepted solution]

On my phone there has been a desrcition summary on the item landing page for quite a while (months, at least).

Full description is viewable by clicking the "view desrciption" link (when you can find it).

[jeromyismoving]

Something similar has been in use for a long time already.

[brian_burke@ebay]

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@jeromyismoving wrote:
Something similar has been in use for a long time already.

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That's correct - the seller summaries were introduced last year and we have continued to expand them. With this change, coming this summer, sellers will gain control over the what is included and be able to expand the amount of information from 250 characters to 800 characters.

If you have not looked at your listings on a mobile device I encourage you to do so.

Thanks for selling on eBay.

Brian

[weaim2pleez]

Is there a way to test if our current description template contains active content? thanks

[labs118]

brian_burke@ebay
You have said in many posts on this update so far today to look at your listing on mobile
Please understand. There are some old time ebay members as well as new members that don't have a smartphone
Maybe cannot afford a smart phone and the extra charge of data service that comes along with it
There are also those that do not know how to work a smart phone
I think all of you should be aware of the fact that everyone does not live by all high tech means. Not every person is on facebooks, twitter, Etc.
You are all just assuming everyone that sells on ebay should have a mobile device with internet. Just doesn't work like that.
Please try to remember this when you are trying to help sellers navigate thru these ebay changes.
Thank you

[tealt]

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@labs118 wrote:

brian_burke@ebay
You have said in many posts on this update so far today to look at your listing on mobile
Please understand. There are some old time ebay members as well as new members that don't have a smartphone
Maybe cannot afford a smart phone and the extra charge of data service that comes along with it
There are also those that do not know how to work a smart phone
I think all of you should be aware of the fact that everyone does not live by all high tech means. Not every person is on facebooks, twitter, Etc.
You are all just assuming everyone that sells on ebay should have a mobile device with internet. Just doesn't work like that.
Please try to remember this when you are trying to help sellers navigate thru these ebay changes.
Thank you

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Google has a Mobile Friendly Test Page which can be accessed via a PC:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

Of course, no guarantees that Google and eBay have the same idea about what's mobile friendly.

[sandypurins]

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@brianbse wrote:

That's correct - the seller summaries were introduced last year and we have continued to expand them. With this change, coming this summer, sellers will gain control over the what is included and be able to expand the amount of information from 250 characters to 800 characters.

If you have not looked at your listings on a mobile device I encourage you to do so.

Thanks for selling on eBay.

Brian

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brian_burke@ebay

Does eBay provide a way for sellers, who do not have a mobile device, to see how their listings are displayed on a mobile device?

[shipscript]

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@weaim2pleez wrote:

Is there a way to test if our current description template contains active content? thanks

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@weaim2pleez  Yes, you can test by hand today on this page. Your listings do have active content and that page will show you how they will perform with the scripts removed.  I also have a prototype bulk tool if you want to message me.  eBay will probably have a visualizing tool available in a few weeks.

http://www.isdntek.com/ebaytools/ActiveContent_support/ScanActiveContent.htm

[labs118]

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@sandypurins wrote:

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@brianbse wrote:

That's correct - the seller summaries were introduced last year and we have continued to expand them. With this change, coming this summer, sellers will gain control over the what is included and be able to expand the amount of information from 250 characters to 800 characters.

If you have not looked at your listings on a mobile device I encourage you to do so.

Thanks for selling on eBay.

Brian

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brian_burke@ebay

Does eBay provide a way for sellers, who do not have a mobile device, to see how their listings are displayed on a mobile device?

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Thank you Sandy because they keep assuming everyone has a mobile device with data

[shipscript]

@labs118

Here is a screen shot of my 3-year old test listing, so you can see the real listing and then the iPhone version here.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/This-is-a-GTC-test-please-do-not-bid-oo-/380647614391

I don't know what version of the iPhone mobile app is shown here, since I haven't actively updated it. But the general concept remains.

The two panels are the two views of the listing. The left panel has all the item specifics, including the small description summary about half way down (notice that it is inanely extracted from the fifth tab of my terms).  When you click the arrow, a new page displays the full listing description as seen in the desktop version (shown on the right). 

But notice how tiny the text is because this old listing has not been optimized for mobile. The terms group about half way down defines the page width and everything else shrinks in proportion. Most old listings have this problem. So if the HTML is not mobile-optimized, eBay suggests abandoning the HTML, and the plain text will display at a readable size. 

But it is not too difficult to make a pretty page that displays correctly in the mobile description page.  Also, the content on the right is organized using Javascript, so you can see that Javascript functions on mobile devices. When eBay starts removing Javascript, you will see my terms tabs revert from tabtop-shaped content into inline plain text term blocks, since I set them up that way. It will be interesting to watch.

[sandypurins]

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@tealt wrote:

Google has a Mobile Friendly Test Page which can be accessed via a PC:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

Of course, no guarantees that Google and eBay have the same idea about what's mobile friendly.

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The Google Mobile Friendly Test Page displays only the top part of the listing. It doesn't show the item descriprion or anything below the blue Buy It Now button.

[sandypurins]

@shipscript

The Google Mobile Friendly interpretation puts the blue "Buy It Now" button before the item description as shown below. If this is what the buyer really sees, I can understand how some (many?) buyers would never even read the item description...

[tealt]

Sandy, yep, that's what I see when I view another seller's listing on my iPhone.

The BIN/Bid button is right below the "gallery" photo. 

You have to scroll down to see the Condition Description (aka Seller Notes) and a link to the whol description.

Sigh.

[shipscript]

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@sandypurins wrote:

The Google Mobile Friendly interpretation puts the blue "Buy It Now" button before the item description as shown below. 

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@sandypurins  Thanks for the screen!

A phone can access eBay without using the Mobile App, so Google is giving you the browser version rather than the eBay App version. They differ only slightly.   I don't know what version of the App is on my phone, but both the top navigation and the bottom row of buttons (watch/buy) and navigation bar are tacked to the screen, and the page is scrolled under them. So if the page is not scrolled, my screenshot would have shown something similar to yours.

            

By the way, I don't actually use this device. I just confiscate it when I need to test something or capture a screenshot, LOL.