Please help. URL violation. Can’t list.

[d.clawed]

Hi. I created a listing for a Cross pen from scratch. It won’t let me submit due to a url violation.  Here is the warning:

It looks like there's a problem with this listing.

•  

  We’ve noticed that your listing included a shortened URL. eBay no longer permits shortened URLs (e.g. bitly or tinyurl) in item descriptions, payment instructions, return instructions, etc, regardless of where they link to. Please remove any shortened URL's from your listing.

  To learn what else is no longer permitted in our updated Links policy, including email addresses, links to email clients and non-clickable links, please see: http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/news/links2011.html

I hate to sound stupid, but I don’t even know what this is/means.  

Here is my paragraph:

“For your consideration is one Cross Classic Century 14k Gold Filled Ballpoint Pen 1502 with Box. Comes exactly as pictured. Includes only what you see pictured. Pen is in very good, pre-owned condition. 

Pen works. Currently has blue ink. Cool Playboy logo affixed.

I have photographed all sides for you to closely study details and condition. Non-smoking & pet free home. Thank you for looking.”

Can anyone tell me what the problem is?

[pburn]

The reference to the URL means, for all intents and purposes, a link to another site.

Did you copy/paste any of the verbiage from somewhere else? It could have a link embedded. If you did copy/paste it, try deleting it completely and retyping it yourself.

Document everything you do as you do it.

If that doesn't work, post again with exactly what you tried. That will be helpful information for other suggestions.

[fossil_diver]

@d.clawed the bots may see "Box. Comes" as box.com

I'm surprised the bots didnt flag "pen is" 

[d.clawed]

Oh for crying out loud.  But thank you.  I managed to get it listed but with an “X” as the description.  I will try to add back my paragraph with these suggested modifications.

[d.clawed]

Ok, I fixed “box. Comes” to “box included”.  I I changed “the pen is” to “It is”.  It still won’t let me post my description.  

I types it it all myself from scratch.  I will try again word for word. 

Thanks.

[d.clawed]

I tried to do just this:

For your consideration is one Cross pen. Comes exactly as pictured. Includes only what you see pictured. 

It is in very good, pre-owned condition. Pen works. Currently has blue ink. Cool playboy logo affixed.

FAIL FAIL FAIL. 

Going back to the original warning message...is it really possible to have shortened urls in payment instructions or return instructions? 

[loveyourimagination49]

Now it’s pen.com 😂
Sorry not funny.
Have you tried saving it as a draft?
Desktop or mobile?

[d.clawed]

It was the word COOL. Unbelievable and very annoying.  Had to go word for word like you said. Thank you for your help.

[lacemaker3]

Your listing is active on eBay, and was posted 8/17/2019 1:19 pm EDT (10:19 am PDT).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cross-Classic-Century-Pen-Playboy-Bunny-Logo-14K-Gold-Filled-Ballpoint-1502...

Every thing seems to be fine with it, one of the changes you made has fixed the issue.

You have revised it several times, you should stop revising it so that it can be indexed and become visible for buyers to find in search.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

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@fossil_diver wrote:

@d.clawed the bots may see "Box. Comes" as box.com

I'm surprised the bots didnt flag "pen is" 

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That was my first thought as well.

No inanity surprises me here anymore.

[myjunqueyourtreasure]

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@d.clawed wrote:

It was the word COOL. Unbelievable and very annoying.  Had to go word for word like you said. Thank you for your help.

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Cool is a tiny url???

[lacemaker3]

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@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:

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@d.clawed wrote:

It was the word COOL. Unbelievable and very annoying.  Had to go word for word like you said. Thank you for your help.

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Cool is a tiny url???

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A lot of the time, issues like this happen if any part of the description was copied and pasted from the internet. It's possible for the code for a link to get copied, and pasted into the description, even when it doesn't display as a link. The code is still there in the code for the webpage, and gets flagged by the filter.

[a_c_green]

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@d.clawed wrote:

Going back to the original warning message...is it really possible to have shortened URLs in payment instructions or return instructions?

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I would say that you could add a URL to any text field within the listing, anyplace where you're free to type your own message. (Heck, the overnight discussion forum spammers here put their URLs in the title.) It sounds like the process inspects all such fields, and gives you those as examples.

One way you could verify that you've scrubbed all possible embedded URLs out of your text (I'm thinking here mainly of hidden links represented by one or two words in text) would be to copy and paste the text into a Notepad edit session, delete the original contents entirely (click in the text field, press Ctrl+A to highlight everything, then Delete), and then copy and paste the text from Notepad back into the edit window again. (You have to highlight and copy the Notepad text itself, via Ctrl+A followed by Ctrl+C, so that you're picking up a fresh copy of the visible text with no hidden coding.) See if that works any better. 

One other thought: when you get that error message, do you see any red highlights around any field of your listing? Depending on where you're at in the process, you may be able to see a pointer to the problem location.

[pburn]

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@d.clawed wrote:

It was the word COOL. Unbelievable and very annoying.  Had to go word for word like you said. Thank you for your help.

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You're welcome! Glad I could help!

[d.clawed]

Thank you all for the insight. I couldn’t “create” a tiny url if you paid me. 

  I learned a bit of technical stuff today!  Whoo!  

I have to share though that the word “cool” came right out of my head and directly into my paragraph.  I didn’t clip or copy from anywhere.  This is kind of scary. 

I get survey emails from eBay that often ask if it’s “difficult” or “complicated” (or something like that) to sell on eBay!  He77 yes!