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ShipScript has been an eBay Community volunteer since 2003, specializing in HTML, CSS, Scripts, Photos, Active Content, Technical Solutions, and online Seller Tools.
A lot of people still have questions on this topic (http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/sprupd16/view-item.html) and a handful of you asked me to create a dedicated thread, so here goes...
For a while now eBay has been optimizing item descriptions for small mobile screens by showing small portions of the full descriptions based on keywords - the full description is still viewable but the link can be hard to find.
With the new changes (which I think are good) eBay is giving options for sellers to optimize their own descriptions for mobile listings and they are also making the link to view full description much more prominent.
Here's how it works:
eBay, based on keywords, will automatically select a limit of 250 characters (not words) from your description to show on mobile view. This is something they have been doing for a while now. In the example they provided via the Seller Update, that description was just 139 characters. They could have included the second sentence in the provided example and still only hit 230 characters, but the bots only picked up keywords in the first sentence so only 139 characters were displayed. So again, they will show UP TO 250 characters.
Mobile view is also being enhanced by including a prominent "Read more" link at the bottom so buyers can easily click through to view the full description. here is a screenshot as provided by an eBay Blue:
If your full item description is less than 800 characters (I am reading that as 799 or less) and uses HTML, CSS, or text-only then eBay will, by default, show the entire description of up to 799 characters instead of pulling out text to fit within the 250 limit.
Some people have asked if eBay can pull 800 characters for mobile why are they defaulting to a limit of 250 if your description is more than 800? Faster load time would be my guess.
You don't need to do anything and eBay will optimize your descriptions as noted above by default. Again, for a while now eBay has already been pulling summaries of up to 250 for mobile, but now the link to view full description is going to be more clear and if your description is less than 800 characters they will show the full description by default. More info about how to optimize your listings without customizing text here: http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/sprupd16/view-item.html#tab=what-you-need-to-do
eBay is adding the option for you to choose your own text for optimized mobile views. If you DO want to customize then keep reading.
If your listing is 800 or more characters you have the option of using html tagging to choose which part of the description is optimized for mobile but the text needs to be consecutive - like you can't choose a sentence from the top of the description and another from the bottom. If you choose to do this, the html that can be used is shown on the FAQ page. http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/sprupd16/view-item.html#tab=faqs&faq=faq-vi-q09
General html tags (like tagging for a bold font) do not apply towards the character count. HTML tags that use up space (like a space between characters or a line break) do count in the 800 character count. A line break counts as 50 characters since that's about how many characters will display across a line on the mobile view. If you are using something like a Word document to count characters for you (no word yet on whether eBay will provide a character counter), please keep in mind how many characters a line break takes up.
If you tag more than 800 characters, eBay "will truncate the selection to below 800 characters. We will remove whole words to get below 800 characters, not partial words."
The official roll-out is this summer (I believe May 1st), but if you start html tagging now there will be "no visible impact on your listings". So if you want to start tagging now you can, it just won't go into effect yet. Do keep in mind that eBay has said they are going to provide some tools to help with this. They have not said what those tools will be yet. I made a suggestion that eBay implement these types of tools (and I hope they will take it under consideration): http://community.ebay.com/t5/2016-Spring-Seller-Update/Suggestion-for-Mobile-Optimized-Descriptions/...
I honestly do think this is a good change. It's enhancing the way mobile is currently handled and it's also giving sellers the option of customization if they so choose. Now, if only they would fix that "free shipping" glitch... 🙂
@prefontained wrote:I don't think font and size in your descriptions would matter - for mobile I think eBay would default them to a font/size that is optimized for mobile viewing. If you have access to a mobile device (either yours or a friend/family/neighbor), perhaps you can check out one of your listings to see how it's currently displaying in mobile in that regard.
To answer your second question - yes, eBay encouraged this in the spring update. If you go back to my lead post you'll see where I linked to a page from the update about how to optimize for mobile without using any html tagging. Click there and read through - if I recall correctly it does mention making good use of item specifics.
So glad this thread has been helpful! @magsmg101
Like a laptop or computer wouldn't font size on a mobile be set by the user and not be driven by eBay?
For those who have not seen eBay's Mobile App, I have a screencapture of a listing on an iPhone. (Click to enlarge).
My screenshot displays the main screen on the left with all the details, and the description screen on the right that holds the full item description, exactly as the seller created it. Scroll half way down the main screen and you can see the "Item Description" summary with an arrow pointing to the right. When the user clicks that arrow, the description page on the right opens. The pages are narrow and long and require a lot of scrolling on the device.
eBay's new presentation of the mobile description summary (with the "read more" link) will be a great improvement.
The reason for capturing the full sample above was to show what text eBay automatically selected for mobile viewers. They selected the block of gibberish text that I used as filler for the terms tabs, whereas there is actually some readable text anywhere else on the page. That is why the new tags will be a welcomed improvement.
tealt wrote:I still don't what to just pull 800 consecutive characters out of my full description for the Custom View.
Is there a way I can use html (or something) so that I can create a Custom View section in my full listing that eBay will pull for the mobile device "extract", but will make that Custom View invisible in my full description on both a PC and a mobile?
We do not yet have an answer on that. In my email request to eBay, I have asked whether we can use a style attribute within eBay's special tag in order to make it invisible in the full description. I should think so, as it's logical per HTML coding standards, but we'll want to make sure.
If you will review the screenshot I posted above, you will see that mobile devices will have access to BOTH the description summary and the full description. The full description is a click away on the mobile device. So, if your wish were granted, you would see your special summary on the left, and your full description on the right without the special summary paragraph.
This, of course, would be different than the default usage, where the tagged text would appear in the summary on the left and continue to appear in the full description on the right.
