New Photo Viewing Format Limits the Use of Zoom

[amyo48]

Dear eBay Techs,

The new photo viewing format limits the use of zoom.

I have always told my viewers to use zoom to closely see details in the item that I am listing.

Now there is the +5 or +8 or what ever number of the photos that can not be zoomed in.

If the photo viewing format is staying like this than maybe the zooming in ability needs to change also.

Not being one for all of eBay's changes, I find this just one more stumbling block for the poor store keepers that are trying to sell their wares. 

If I have missed a way to zoom in on these last photos please let me know.

Thank you, Amy

[berserkerplanet]

eBay techs are not reading this.

What new "photo viewing format"?

Specific item number?

[Anonymous]

I'm glad you brought that up and thanks. I've noticed that on some of the items I've been interested in, I'm unable to use the zoom on the photos. I want to see what I'm buying as closely as possible. As a seller, I use an old digital camera and it looks like all of my items are zoomable. It could be the camera you're using but I have no answer for you. I DO wonder why some pictures work with the zoom and others don't.

[amyo48]

Hi,

All items.

There was always a main photo with the other photos small at the bottom.

At the end of this row of small photos was an arrow so you could continue to view the photo you wanted and then use the zoom option when that small photo was now being viewed in the main photo area. So you could click from 2-12 across the bottom.

Now the row of smaller photos is on the left side with the bottom small photo being a plus sign and the number of photos left to view.

When you click this square, you go into the slide show where yes the photos are large but there is no zoom here.

Hope this helps you to understand, Amy

[berserkerplanet]

You asked for help (or something), provided next to no information, made a Bigfoot sighting claim that there is a new photo display format - I see the same old layout in every listing with 6+ images I looked at, all had a gallery image, 6 thumbnails underneath, scrolling arrows, and zoom works fine on all of them in Firefox 31 and 52 - so it's incumbent upon you demonstrate what you are talking about with screenshots, browser info, context, something more to go on.

And again, eBay isn't here, is not listening to you, so you will need to speak slowly for us other user peons.

Even odds you are using Chrome browser, and maybe it updated which is the cause of the change you see. (again, you neglected to mention what browser you are using in your OP which is a critical piece of information for us or eBay if they were listening)

What you are describing sounds almost like a mobile (device?) view.

[amyo48]

Wow,

It sounds like I offended you with my last message - I certainly had no intention to do so.

I would be the only peon here as I have very limited experience working with anything but my computer - no mobile devices.

I am using Chrome but had no idea that they could make an eBay site look different.

I have attached a photo of the way the small photos are no longer on the bottom but on the left side.

Am I the only one seeing items in this format?

I do apprecaite all imput.

Thank you, Amy

[rfmtm]

You example listing looks normal in both the latest version of Firefox and Chrome, except Chrome only shows 3 thumbnails across the bottom and FF shows 6.  All will zoom.

[amyo48]

Hi,

The thumbnails are on the left side - not the bottom.

The ones showing along this left side will zoom.

However, when you click to see the rest of the photos and this takes you to the slideshow,

then zoom is not available.

When thumbnails were at the bottom, I always had an arrow so that I could look at 1-12 without going into the slide show.

This is no longer the case.

I guess it really doesn't matter - it is what it is.

Thanks though, Amy

[rfmtm]

All are on the bottom when I look at your listing and all will Zoom.  Never seen them on the side, so has to be the browser or some setting you are using.  Try a different browser and look again.

[amyo48]

Thanks ,

With Internet Explorer everything looks normal with thumbnails on the bottom.

With Chrome & Microsoft Edge the thumbnails are on the left!

If  anyone knows how to fix this I would appreciate the information.

I am lost !

I don't understand how this could suddenly happen?

Very happy that the world is seeing the listings the correct way.

Thanks again, Amy

[rfmtm]

What version of Chrome do you have? Are you on a PC or Mac?  The latest PC version shows them on the bottom, but only three at a time, not the usual six.  Try updating or reinstalling Chrome.

Edge has always had problems with ebay, with Chrome a close second.  Firefox appears to be the most compatible.

[berserkerplanet · Accepted solution]

I apologize for being short. I read "There was always a main photo with the other photos small at the bottom" and "Hope this helps you to understand," as an implication that I was unaware of how thing appear and work. And was coming off a very long, frustrating night of dealing with a group of criminals at the office complex stealing gas from a fellow tenant's vans and looking to be thinking about breaking into offices, and then the police, 3 security patrol outfits, and the Fire Department for the resulting gas spill.


I see your screenshot and it is something I've never seen, but I use neither Chrome, Edge, not IE (you can see why that browser info turned out to be so important - this is a browser related issue)

It's obviously a change to the layout and underlying functionality that eBay made - the +2 part indicates it isn't just a CSS layout bugaboo where the layout changes in certain browsers, but that the functionality has also changed. What you see is a function of your browser user agent - eBay sees (newer?) Edge or Chrome and serves up different code.

A workaround MIGHT be to spoof your Edge or Chrome useragent, but not sure it would do the trick, not sure Edge even has that ability, Chrome I believe it's a pain, and it takes some minor technical chops (there is no "easy button 1 step" tutorial I can give you for that - involves either manually editing internal browser settings, or using an addon/plugin if one exists. Probably fruitless since UA spoofing doesn't seem to be working in Firefox 52 for item listing pages - except for mobile user agents where it throws them into m.eBay.com mobile pages)


As rfmtm requested, tell us what exact browser versions and OS you are using - if not using the latest, eBay will not be particularly interested in your issue since it isn't widespread (they dismiss my obsolete Firefox 31 and Firefox 3.6.24 browser problems with eBay main and the forums with ""only 0.0001% of users use browsers that old" and "you need to be using the latest version" 🙂


It does sound like maybe eBay has made a change, and there is a bug in the implementation or a design flaw ("oops, we didn't think about not being able to zoom in the slideshow").

[greg5000]

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@amyo48 wrote:

Dear eBay Techs,

The new photo viewing format limits the use of zoom.

I have always told my viewers to use zoom to closely see details in the item that I am listing.

Now there is the +5 or +8 or what ever number of the photos that can not be zoomed in.

If the photo viewing format is staying like this than maybe the zooming in ability needs to change also.

Not being one for all of eBay's changes, I find this just one more stumbling block for the poor store keepers that are trying to sell their wares. 

If I have missed a way to zoom in on these last photos please let me know.

Thank you, Amy

---

I also noticed photos loading incredibly slow or not at all.  The main photo loads, but the additional photos take so long to load that you lose all interest in wanting to purchase an item. 

Looks like another update that makes the platform worse, rather than better.

[amyo48]

Good Morning,

My goodness - it does sound like you are dealing with a lot!

I appreciate the information, but you are talking Dutch to me.

I might need a grandchild to help with this one.

Or I may just forget it and move on knowing that most everyone has the normal layout.

Thank you, Amy

[eburtonlab]

@amyo48 

I may just forget it and move on knowing that most everyone has the normal layout.

It is possible that eBay is conducting a test, and only some accounts are the guinea pigs lucky recipients of this new alternate format. Or it may be the new format that just has not been rolled out everywhere just yet, in which case we may all have that to look forward to, soon. If that is the case, perhaps eBay will address the zoom issue before it is rolled out to everyone else.

Unless you have some sort of browser plug-in that changes how your eBay galleries are appearing, I am not sure what else it could be.

I still see the "normal" version with the small gallery pics with the arrow at the end (no "+2") located underneath the bigger picture, and the zooming works fine (provided the pics are all large enough to allow zooming). That is the case for me currently using the latest versions of Firefox, Chrome and Edge.