ShipScript has been an eBay Community volunteer since 2003, specializing in HTML, CSS, Scripts, Photos, Active Content, Technical Solutions, and online Seller Tools.
If you use this desktop application for Apple computers to list items on eBay you should consider checking your listings.
This is not displayed within the product's html editor mode or its WYSIWYG preview mode. As your listings are uploaded to eBay by the application it inserts a hidden HTML division at the end of your listing's existing HTML.
You cannot view this code in the regular text display of your eBay description as its a division of HTML code that uses the CSS attribute "hidden" to intentionally hide it in the listings.
You will need to switch over to the HTML view of your description and typically scroll all the way to the bottom to see this.
This code will vary according to the version of the product you used to upload a listing to eBay.
This example is from build 859 of the product under version 7.0.21
<div style="position: absolute !important; top: -5px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden !important; font-size: 1px !important; line-height: 1px !important;"> _gsrx_vers_859 (GS 7.0.21 (859))</div>
This example is from build 1480 of the product under version 9.1.1
<div style="position: absolute !important; top: -5px; width: 1px; height: 1px; overflow: hidden !important; font-size: 1px !important; line-height: 1px !important;"> _gsrx_vers_1480 (GS 9.1.1 (1480))</div>
The company is inserting this code so they can track listings uploaded to their site using their product.
To find all listings uploaded with build 859 they, or anyone else, can search for "gsrx_vers_859".
To search listings uploaded with build 1480 they, or anyone else, cane search for "gsrx_vers_1480".
gsrx_vers_1480 for sale | eBay
To search for multiple versions they can search for "gsrx_vers_"
This is not disclosed in their terms of service, product license, website or any any other documentation.
The preference panel of this product includes the option of including a small logo at the end of your listings if you want your listings associated with this product. This intentionally gives you the wrong impression that your listings cannot then be associated with this product in any way.
That is a false impression as the company includes the hidden HTML in your listings so your listings are associated with this product, which is entirely against your wishes. If you had wanted your listings associated with their product you would have included their logo by your own free will.
https://www.iwascoding.com/GarageSale
The company is using this tracking information to display a counter of the total listings on eBay that were uploaded with their product.
Further more, they are displaying a list of products uploaded with their application in various countries. The gallery images shown for those listings are the intellectual property of the sellers on eBay who uploaded them. They were not uploaded to eBay to promote another product.
https://www.iwascoding.com/GarageSale/Reviews.html#ListingsCreatedWithGS
1. This is intentional deceit by this company to hide hidden HTML in your listings for tracking and eBay data mining. Anyone else can also search for the hidden HTML and find users of this product.
2. This violates the wishes of the users of the product who do not want their listings associated with the product.
3. It violates the privacy of users of the product. It is no business of the company or anyone else what listings are uploaded with their product.
4. This uses the intellectual property of sellers without their permission to promote their product.
You will need to find the particular version of the code in your listings and then do a bulk replace of the HTML division they placed there. If that does not work you will have to edit each listing one-by-one.
This has been going on at least since 2019 as version 7.0.21 was released that year; however, I stronger suspect it dates back to even earlier versions. As older versions no longer are able to upload listings to eBay this will need to be checked in other ways.
eBay has known about this for at least a year and done nothing - not even posting a message in the forums to inform users.
"This has been going on at least since 2019 as version 7.0.21 was released that year"
I think you may find that all listing tools insert code to help identify and troubleshoot issues with listings created by the tools (first with white-on-white in the early days of eBay, and then with CSS for the past 15 years). Many will place copyright notices within the codes they upload when any part of the code was created by the tool, as well as inserting visible credits.
The identifier is not the same as a tracking token. It doesn't report home. It can't track the user. It won't appear in session cookies or tracking cookies.
Instead, it is a version control number that would help identify which version of the listing tool had been used to create the listing. Should the seller (or eBay) find problems with the listing, the version number could help track down whether the listing program introduced the problem, and if so, which version, and to what extent.
But, as you have shown, because it is plain text, eBay will index that text and anyone could search listing "descriptions" on eBay for that text. That would bring up listings created with that product (or version).
I did the same thing with some popular tools I used to have. Whenever a new version came out, I searched eBay descriptions to see if those listings looked normal. If I encountered something abnormal, I spent some time looking across versions to see what might have changed, or tried to figure out how a seller had used the tool in an unanticipated manner. That allowed improvements and fixes to be handled with a minimum of user disruption.
"I think you may find that all listing tools insert code to help identify and troubleshoot issues with listings created by the tools (first with white-on-white in the early days of eBay, and then with CSS for the past 15 years). Many will place copyright notices within the codes they upload when any part of the code was created by the tool, as well as inserting visible credits."
The description is copyrighted material owned by me. As I type HTML is auto generated by the application. The description also contain custom HTML and CSS created by me. They do not own a copyright on the html generated by the program. They do not own my description. The HTML view of the description does not show the hidden HTML they are inserting - once again, intentional deception on their part.
"The identifier is not the same as a tracking token. It doesn't report home. It can't track the user. It won't appear in session cookies or tracking cookies."
Who cares if its the same as tracking token or not.
Users can be tracked on eBay by searching for the code in the listings. The company is displaying listings on their site from eBay from multiple countries, which include the gallery image of the listing, title, item number and price without the permission of the sellers. Each of those gallery images they are showing are a copyright infringements. This is all done by searching eBay for the hidden HTML in the listings and then farming data from the listings to display on their site.
The demo version of this product, which is limited to 3 uploads, inserts a small logo stating the listing was made with this product. After you buy the product that is optional on your part. But the company violates your wishes of not wanting to promote the product by inserting hidden html in the listings to use your listings to promote the product. All the listings I checked randomly so far do not have the logo, meaning the company is violating the seller's wishes of not wanting their listing associated with the product. Intentional deception on their part, especially since they do not disclose this anywhere on their site, in their TOS, in the program.
"Instead, it is a version control number that would help identify which version of the listing tool had been used to create the listing. Should the seller (or eBay) find problems with the listing, the version number could help track down whether the listing program introduced the problem, and if so, which version, and to what extent."
All listings are verified by the application before they are uploaded to eBay. If any errors are found they can't be uploaded to eBay until the errors are corrected by the user. If they can't be corrected then the developer needs to be contacted to release a new minor version of the product so the listings can be uploaded to eBay.
If the user wants to know the version number they select "Garage Sale > About GarageSale" in the Macintosh toolbar and its displayed within a popup menu. The company already knows what version it is from the license. eBay don't need to know the version as the listings would never make it to eBay to begin with.
"But, as you have shown, because it is plain text, eBay will index that text and anyone could search listing "descriptions" on eBay for that text. That would bring up listings created with that product (or version)."
Thus allowing anyone, not just the software company, can use it to find users of the product and to target them.
"I did the same thing with some popular tools I used to have. Whenever a new version came out, I searched eBay descriptions to see if those listings looked normal. If I encountered something abnormal, I spent some time looking across versions to see what might have changed, or tried to figure out how a seller had used the tool in an unanticipated manner. That allowed improvements and fixes to be handled with a minimum of user disruption."
Does not apply as all errors in listings which violate eBay requirements are already checked by the application before a listing can be uploaded to eBay. A listing with a error can't be uploaded to eBay to begin with.
If the application does not work then you contact the developer as none of your listings on eBay to look at as they were never uploaded to eBay to begin with as they are checked for any errors. Internal performance errors within the application, the vast majority of fixes, are not going to show up in the listings.
No reason for code in listings other than to track users listings and use them for promoting the product against the will of users of the product. Any listings with errors don't get uploaded to eBay.
"Users can be tracked on eBay by searching for the code in the listings. The company is displaying listings on their site from eBay from multiple countries, which include the gallery image of the listing, title, item number and price without the permission of the sellers. Each of those gallery images they are showing are a copyright infringements. This is all done by searching eBay for the hidden HTML in the listings and then farming data from the listings to display on their site."
There are two clauses in eBay's User Agreement that allow this activity:
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/member-behavior-policies/user-agreement?id=4259
"eBay may publish and promote your listings, including related content such as username, product reviews and feedback on the websites or in the applications, services, and tools of other eBay Inc. corporate family members or cooperating third-party operators of websites, applications, services, and tools, "
"When you provide content using our Services (directly or indirectly), you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to exercise any and all Intellectual Property Rights you have in that content in connection with our provision, expansion, and promotion of our Services, in any media known now or developed in the future. To the fullest extent permitted under applicable law, you waive your right to enforce your Intellectual Property Rights in that content against eBay, our assignees, our sublicensees, and their assignees in connection with our, those assignees', and those sublicensees' use of that content in connection with our provision, expansion, and promotion of our Services."
The listings promoted on the GarageSale website are being run through eBay's Partner Network, in compliance with the above statements. The links start with "rover.ebay.com"
https://partnernetwork.ebay.com/
If GarageSale did not use their own serialization to identify listings, they could simply pull a username or item numbers from their records to populate their promo gallery in a similar manner.
