Removing active content without being charged

[1947transistor2012]

Ok, so I have active content on my listings and have to remove them before Ebays June deadline date to be in compliance with the moblie phone / mobile device viewing.

Numerous issues I have.

1st, Why does Ebay advertise to use 3rd party apps with active content to use on their website only to tell you they have to be removed.

2nd, FROO, SSB Source book, Mystoremaps, apps will not remove the active content from my auctions regardless of how many times you email them, call them, resubscribe, unsubscribe to start process to remove active content from your listings.

I have been told by 3rd party app businesses (SSB Source book, Mystoremaps) They can not remove the apps / active conent from my listings and that I have to manually remove each active content / code from my listings myself even though I no longer pay for their services Im forced to keep.

3rd, The only way for me to remove active content is to be forced to make Ebay more money by having to manually update each auction, in my case 594 auctions at .50 cents an auction because I sell international for a total of $297.00 to update, like that is not enough after having to pay the same thing again each year when the Post office changes their shipping pricing.

I offer free shipping domestic, but have to update pricing once a year because I sell international.

4th, I feel like I'm being extorted because Ebay advertises these 3rd party apps on their website to make money for advertising them, telling us it will boost our sales, bring in more revenue,,blah blah blah.. only to tell you that all of it must be removed by a deadline date forcing the seller to have to pay Ebay even more money to manually update each auction because Ebay, Froo, MystoreMaps, SSBsourcebook can not and will not remove the apps from my auctions.  seems like "Job security" push a button and force sellers to pay more money to remove apps Ebay prmotes sellers to use.

sorry for all the venting, I'm really frustrated with having to keep dishing money out for services I pay for being promoted by Ebay only to be told I have to pay more money to remove these services.

I guess my real question is.

is there anyway to update 594 auctions to remove active content to be in compliance with Ebay policies without having to be charged .50 cents for each listing or not having to be charged at all to remove active content from my listings. 3rd party app business and Ebay refuse to remove the active content, im tired of emailing and calling to get absolutley nowhere and I do not want to pay anymore money than I already pay to sell on Ebay,  Im dreading having to update 594 auctions manually and have to pay for it again!

any help would be much appreciated

Thank you.

[*eponymous* · Accepted solution]

Tagging for a generous and knowledgeable poster to assist

@shipscript

[1947transistor2012]

OK. so what are my options?

please advise?

Thank you.

[*eponymous*]

Shipscript will get an email of the mention and will respond to you here in your thread.

[pantlandia]

You don't get charged to update a listing. Your best option, if running auctions, is to update them manually after they end and as you relist them.

Same with fixed price. Once they end, relist them and make changes before confirming relist. 

[1947transistor2012]

Hello pantlandia

My listings do not end, they run continous til I shut them down. all auctions are buy it now or make offer,  if I udpate anything, im charged .50 cents to change, remove, anything, Im assuming im being charged because of the .50 fee to advertise International / cross sell Intl when updating.

any help would be much appreciated.

Best.

[icollectucollect]

I removed mine manually and I had a lot more than you have. I removed some each day over a 30 day period (ending listings for that day). Just copy your text, go HTML and remove all, and then past your text back in. It's a pain but it actually goes farily quickly and not hat burdensome if you spread them out. I think you have until June. 

[shipscript]

@1947transistor2012

When you say you sell internationally, I assume you are listing on more than one eBay site.  I was not aware that eBay would charge you to revise your listings. Could you explain that, as I don't regularly sell on international sites? [edit: I see you have explained, but I'm surprised by that].

I hope I can provide a revision solution for you.  I scanned your 594 current listings on the US site with this tool and all but 6 include Active Content

http://www.isdntek.com/ebaytools/ActiveContentScanner.htm

Clicking the EXAMINE button on one will open the Sandbox tool, where I see a CurrencyConverter, StoreMaps, and Froo PromoGallery. All of that Active Content can be removed with the Sandbox tool at

http://www.isdntek.com/ebaytools/ActiveContentSandbox.htm

However, there would still be credit links to those removed widgets, so those could be eliminated by setting up Custom filters on the Sandbox tool.  With a little tweaking, a seller should be able to target most or all of the unwanted codes.

Once you have the Custom parameters set, you could start updating one listing at a time, or, there will soon be a tool to bulk edit all of your listings and then auto-update your listings on all international sites through eBay's File Exchange.

You can read about these tools in this thread.

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Tools-Apps/Replace-Active-Content-in-your-Listings/m-p/26751476

[needleinahaystack714714]

I am somewhat confuzzled by your reference to having to pay $.50 to remove the active content.... Why don't you just revise the listings?  There is no cost to revise listings that I know of... Someone else may come along and edumacate me on something I'm not aware of.

We are still in Mid-ish March which means you still have 2 & 1/2 months to get this job done.  Each of those listings will end at least twice before the June deadline.  I imagine you have them set as GTC and this is smart considering the sales history of many of your repeatables.

What I would probably do is "end" the listings who do not have many sales or recent sales just before their renewal date, make the changes and do a "sell similar" on them so they come up as new listings without history.  This will give them the opportunity to show up as new items that haven't sunk to the bottom of search due to poor performance.

With the ones that have that great history, I would simply do the revisions and keep them live without ever ending them at all.

I saw the writing on the wall a number of years ago in regards to MyStoreMaps and SSB and removed them at my leisure.  This isn't the first time there were rumblings of this sort.  Between my stores, I had well over 1,000 listings at that time.  We were told that active content slowed down the upload and crisp clear listings were more desireable.  Then if I am remembering correctly, we were told that only the first 800 characters would be shown and that if we didn't clean it up, eBay would get creative for us.

I try really really hard to "read between the lines" when eBay makes accouncements and eBay has been hinting at this change for a very long time.  I don't think it is wise to be a "Set it, and forget it" kind of seller.  

BTW, I tried and tried and tried to use mass edit to remove these components out of my listings and was unsuccessful.  The good news is..... You still have time.

[1947transistor2012]

OK, i undersand that, and have tried that,. Im still being charged .50 to remove active content from auctions ending in "red" less than 24 hours.  cross sell Intl.

I dont mind manually doing it if i have to, but being charged to only remove the active content is what I have a problem with.

[needleinahaystack714714]

---

@1947transistor2012 wrote:

Hello pantlandia

My listings do not end, they run continous til I shut them down. all auctions are buy it now or make offer,  if I udpate anything, im charged .50 cents to change, remove, anything, Im assuming im being charged because of the .50 fee to advertise International / cross sell Intl when updating.

any help would be much appreciated.

Best.

---

Not Quite True.... Your listings DO have an end date even with GTC, they just renew immediately and automatically.  You are charged any fees at the time of automatic renewal.  If you end the listings an hour or two prior to the item automatically renewing, you do not have to pay the renewal fees twice.

[1947transistor2012]

You nailed it!

When you say you sell internationally, I assume you are listing on more than one eBay site.  I was not aware that eBay would charge you to revise your listings. Could you explain that, as I don't regularly sell on international sites? [

CORRECT.

When I go to remove active content on my auctions that I cross sell on Intl Ebay sites, Ebay charges me .50 on each auction to remove the active content.  wether they are ending in 24 hours or have 30 days to go.

any help would be much appreciated.

Best.

[1947transistor2012]

OK. I just tried to update 3 listings hour  or even minutes before they end, as well as the same (3 lisings) after they renew hour minutes.  still being charged .50 to to remove the code / active content.

if I revise an auction, and do nothing,  I get charged .50 cents just to revise nothing.

i dont get it..  im losing it here. ugh...!

[needleinahaystack714714]

---

@1947transistor2012 wrote:

OK. I just tried to update 3 listings hour  or even minutes before they end, as well as the same (3 lisings) after they renew hour minutes.  still being charged .50 to to remove the code / active content.

if I revise an auction, and do nothing,  I get charged .50 cents just to revise nothing.

i dont get it..  im losing it here. ugh...!

---

You have to actually end the listing, revise it and then relist it.  Then you only pay the $.50 once which you would have paid anyway once it auto-relisted.  For some of the listings with thousands of recent sales, I would probably just bite the bullet and pay the $.50 without ending them.  For those that do not have that great history or RECENT sales, I would end them just before they auto-relisted.

[needleinahaystack714714]

Here is an example of my suggestion:

The 1N4148 has over 1,200 sales and many of them are very recent.... DO NOT end this listing.  Bite the bullet and pay the $.50.

The LTR-301-002 has 77 sales and many of them are very recent... You can decide if it is worth the $.50 to revise or to end just before it's renewal time and it RELIST, do not do sell similar on this one.

The SA602AD has 10 sales, but one was in March and the last one before that was in December.  I would end this listing just before the renewal date and NOT do a relist, I would do a sell similar on this one.