ShipScript has been an eBay Community volunteer since 2003, specializing in HTML, CSS, Scripts, Photos, Active Content, Technical Solutions, and online Seller Tools.
@nyccowgirl7 wrote:
velvet@ebay tyler@ebay
I contacted CS months ago about photos importing and being rotated incorrectly - I was told that this was a known issue and should be resolved soon. All my photos are taken with an actual camera, not a phone, and rotated to the correct placement before import. It is not consistent as to number / orientation of which ones import incorrectly.
It's very frustrating, and even more so because I can't seem to get anyone to actually even try to assist with the issue. I asked during a Seller Update and was told to email someone - my email bounced & the error message said I was not authorized to send to an internal address. Please help.
Hi @nyccowgirl7! I was working with @casuallyattractive here and I didn't hear back from them. Hopefully that means they haven't run into this since we last talked. If you can provide me with screenshots and URL's from the listings that upload photos sideways, I can get a ticket filed with the tech team.
The default orientation of all photos is landscape, with the camera button on the right or with a phone or tablet dimple or button on the right. All other orientations on those digital devices will set a flag within the image information fields so that the photo will be displayed in the orientation the device was held, rather than in the default orientation.
Generally, when you rotate a photo thumbnail in a computer directory or album, only the flag is rotated so that the photo displays the way you want in tools that recognize the flag.
eBay's uploader strips off the photo information, including the orientation flag, so if only the flag is rotated, then the computer rotation of a photo becomes meaningless.
Using eBay's browser uploader, where the browser recognizes the flag, is not a sure bet either. However, rotating an image within eBay's uploader (all the way around, if necessary) will cause the image pixels to be rewritten to the correct orientation before transfer to eBay.
One sure way to rotate a photo for eBay is to rotate it in an image editor so that all of the pixels are rotated and so the rotation flag is not needed (and can even be stripped off).
The important thing to remember is that the orientation flag is not used by eBay, nor is any of the exif data that comes with an image (date, time, location, camera settings, orientation, etc). This textual information is stripped off in order to make a smaller image file.
@shipscript wrote:
The default orientation of all photos is landscape, with the camera button on the right or with a phone or tablet dimple or button on the right. All other orientations on those digital devices will set a flag within the image information fields so that the photo will be displayed in the orientation the device was held, rather than in the default orientation.
Generally, when you rotate a photo thumbnail in a computer directory or album, only the flag is rotated so that the photo displays the way you want in tools that recognize the flag.
eBay's uploader strips off the photo information, including the orientation flag, so if only the flag is rotated, then the computer rotation of a photo becomes meaningless.
Using eBay's browser uploader, where the browser recognizes the flag, is not a sure bet either. However, rotating an image within eBay's uploader (all the way around, if necessary) will cause the image pixels to be rewritten to the correct orientation before transfer to eBay.
One sure way to rotate a photo for eBay is to rotate it in an image editor so that all of the pixels are rotated and so the rotation flag is not needed (and can even be stripped off).
The important thing to remember is that the orientation flag is not used by eBay, nor is any of the exif data that comes with an image (date, time, location, camera settings, orientation, etc). This textual information is stripped off in order to make a smaller image file.
Thanks for the details @shipscript! If I understand you right, it's not that something is broken per say, it's just that the way we strip photos before they come over can cause the rotation?
velvet@ebay wrote:Thanks for the details @shipscript! If I understand you right, it's not that something is broken per say, it's just that the way we strip photos before they come over can cause the rotation?
Exactly! Almost. Stripping the flag doesn't cause rotation, it prevents rotation.
But sellers will see it as you have stated.
Rotation has been a problem for over a decade.
When eBay moved image editing into the browser, the browser's onboard "canvas" tools allowed sellers to fix rotation problems within the browser uploader. This could be handled with any of the editing tools that touched the image and caused the image to be rewritten within the browser (crop, brightness, rotate, etc), prior to transfer. So with sellers using more of eBay's editing tools, fewer rotation problems have appeared.
If we look back at the thread you linked, we will see hints at solutions that work, due to the underlying realities described in my prior post.
Even the seller @casuallyattractive, who successfully uses drag/drop instead of a file finder on his Mac, is interacting differently with his browser's built in editor, using the browser's "canvas" feature to directly load photo data (stripped of any exif) instead of loading an image file name.
@shipscript wrote:
velvet@ebay wrote:Thanks for the details @shipscript! If I understand you right, it's not that something is broken per say, it's just that the way we strip photos before they come over can cause the rotation?
Exactly! Almost. Stripping the flag doesn't cause rotation, it prevents rotation.
But sellers will see it as you have stated.
Rotation has been a problem for over a decade.
When eBay moved image editing into the browser, the browser's onboard "canvas" tools allowed sellers to fix rotation problems within the browser uploader. This could be handled with any of the editing tools that touched the image and caused the image to be rewritten within the browser (crop, brightness, rotate, etc), prior to transfer. So with sellers using more of eBay's editing tools, fewer rotation problems have appeared.
If we look back at the thread you linked, we will see hints at solutions that work, due to the underlying realities described in my prior post.
Even the seller @casuallyattractive, who successfully uses drag/drop instead of a file finder on his Mac, is interacting differently with his browser's built in editor, using the browser's "canvas" feature to directly load photo data (stripped of any exif) instead of loading an image file name.
Thank you for the additional explanation @shipscript!!! I'm going to book mark this thread so I can refer others here if I see them mentioning sideways photos. You're a Rockstar when it comes to things like this!
I tested on the eBay Classic Business tool with Firefox browser on Win10.
I used Windows 10 File Explorer to rotate an image to be sideways. I then revised a listing and dragged the sideways thumbnail into one slot and browsed File Explorer for the same sideways filename to upload to another slot. Neither one rotated to match the flag. They maintained the same old landscape orientation in which I held the camera.
Next, I used "Photos", the follow-on to "Windows Photo Viewer". When I rotated there, it rotated the view in File Explorer (even before saving). So it just sets a flag. Even when I rotated and "saved as" a new filename, it only set a flag. Next, after rotating, I cropped the image and saved as a copy. That caused the image to be rewritten so that it uploaded to eBay exactly as its thumbnail appeared in File Explorer.
Thus, if "Windows Photo Viewer" doesn't work with a simple rotation, it should rewrite the image if you perform any other editing on the image.
I tried Windows' built in "Paint" to rotate and save as a new file, and it uploaded to eBay just fine. Windows "Paint 3D" will save as a new rotation without a flag, and without much of the other exif data. Looking closely at the pixelation quality of the Paint and Paint 3D images, they did not seem to have more compression (lower quality) than the original, so perhaps they use the same jpeg quality as the original. (Cameras output 96 to 98 quality, while eBay would like at least 90 or higher).
On Windows, I use free IrfanView because I like the level of detail it maintains when resizing, and its ability to change image types and to delete exif data. But it is menu driven and some may prefer icons.
There are other popular editing tools like Photoshop elements or Corel Paintshop, that would work just fine to save a new image.
@nyccowgirl7 wrote:
Thank you again for the extensive detailed info - I do use Irfanview but with the option now for photo editing tools within ebay's listing flow, it seems like a lot of extra work to first manipulate the image in another program before adding to my listings. I guess for the time being I will just skip the step of rotating them in Windows before uploading to ebay.
Still don't understand why this is a new issue for me given the info that you have shared about image data. I know it did not happen previously because when it started I noticed immediately and called Customer Service to report it.
I maintain my request above for a left rotate arrow to be added to the photo editing tools in the listing flow! It would definitely save some time.
Hey @nyccowgirl7! I have passed on your request for that left rotation option and thank you to @shipscript for the additional help and information.
