ShipScript has been an eBay Community volunteer since 2003, specializing in HTML, CSS, Scripts, Photos, Active Content, Technical Solutions, and online Seller Tools.
No, the guide writer still fails to upload photos.
Firefox 52, XP
I have about 30 posted guides (although eBay is now hiding most of them because those old guides contain links or text no longer allowed under the new rules). I also have a dozen drafts. When I open any of those older guides or drafts, they open in the tool where they were started, so I see at least three different guide editors.
In my prior testing, I had found that I could revise a guide in its original format, but after saving, it then moved to a newer format. Thus, I had one opportunity to fix photos in the old format and then that opportunity was no longer available.
The guide author in an earlier post had returned to the oldest guide writing tool to upload photos, and he posts the link to get there (he calls it a new tool). It is the old freeform guide link, which I recognize from over a decade ago. That was the first format. Then eBay brought out the premade layout options, where paragraph blocks were provided. And finally, this new layout is where an auther can choose the types and numbers of content blocks.
Some months ago, an author successfully added photos by saving a guide and then returning to add photos. He later posted that the method no longer worked.
I just now tried to create a guide using the blue button at the bottom of that other guide, or at the top of the Guides page, which opens eBay's newest guide editing tool. Photos still fail.
Then I attempted to use the oldest original guide editor, and photos failed to upload there as well, whether on the initial screen or returning from a save.
http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?EditProductGuide
I closed and pulled it up again from my saved drafts and was presented with a different interim editing screen, newer than the original, which might be the editor that was used in eBay's second guide tool when an author chose freeform instead of preformatted. When I tried to upload from there, an overlay appeared for the upload, but failed to add a photo and then the overlay prevented returning to the guide editor.
So, my conclusion is that guides still don't work, but sometimes an author can get lucky and find a workaround that might be browser-specific.
There is a "tell us what you think" link on the new Guides editor, but that tool reports the survey is closed. It was probably closed years ago, which means the programmers have not touched the tool for years. For a long period of time, it was impossible to locate guides at all. My assumption is that eBay is abandoning guides through attrition and neglect.
@Anonymous
Got this letter this morning from eBay.
It could have been the result of this thread.
Dear shipscript, eBay is discontinuing guides and will be removing them from the site between now and April 12, 2018. We’re letting you know because it looks like you’ve created at least one guide.
If you’ve used guides to help bring buyers to your listings, we offer sellers even more effective ways to generate traffic. Learn how promoted listings and Promotions Manager will help you drive velocity.
Please save your work before guides are removed from the site April 12. Backing them up to your computer is as simple as copying and pasting them into new text documents. To keep your guides published on the web, consider transferring them to a web publishing platform, such as Wordpress or Blogger.
Thank you for contributing to guides.
Sincerely,
eBay Team.
