Stronger Browser Security Standards (HTTPS)

[sandyoutlet]

Starting today, you will see changes on eBay item description pages that contain non-compliant HTTP content. Google Chrome has pushed their browser update which includes stronger security standards. As a result, eBay will be adding a "see full item description" button to all listings that contain non-compliant HTTP content.

This new experience will look very similar to the way mobile buyers already see listing descriptions today. It also ensures that we comply with the Google mandate and prevents your buyers from seeing a “Not Secure” warning when they’re shopping on eBay

Please review our landing page for more information and tools to help you identify any of your listings that may contain non-compliant HTTP content. 

EDIT 11/8/17 @ 12:23 PT 

We are aware of an issue where the eBay HTTPS identification tool is showing listings that were revised to be HTTPS compliant after 10/31 as non-compliant. We are actively working on this issue and plan to have a quick fix for any new or revised listings. Any existing listings that have been updated to be HTTPS compliant but are still showing as non-compliant in the tool will continue to show as non-compliant until the listing is either revised or renewed. If you do not revise or relist, the issue will automatically correct after 30 days.

Please note that if your listings are compliant, they will show normally to buyers and have the “secure” message in the URL. You can confirm this experience by looking at the live listing. This issue is confined to our tool that identifies non-compliant listings, which is currently failing to update to show listings as compliant after you have updated your http content to be compliant.

We apologize for this issue and will update you here as soon as the issue is resolved.

[purple-rain-store]

It's mentioned right in my first sentence that I did the testing. with 0 results for HTTP. But thanks anyway.

[nc-daydreamer]

@sandyoutlet

Sorry this is so long winded... but... please hear me out.

Back way-back-when... without my approval or input, eBay inserted the Currency Converter into my listings.  I revoked the setting which failed to take effect,  then I manually went into the code and removed it from over 600 listings at the time, one by painstaking one, after revising by bulk also failed.  Less than two days later, this app returned.  I had/have no use for it as I don't sell internationally because I sell vinyl records mostly, and long times in flight cargo holds and customs warehouses tend to warp them. 

Anyway, I removed the code again, and it came back again. So I ignored it and went on my way - I tried, I reported the problem and was advised that leaving it alone was doing no damage, so I let it be.

Then when all of this "must remove" nonsense reared it's ugly head and there was an app inserted into the revision option when doing them one-by-one appeared to remove improper code, I used it, and the code miraculously stayed gone.  Along with all the scrolling galleries.  Yea!

But eventually, I started getting warnings that x# of listings still contained code. WHAT!!?? So apparently the 'remove/fix' failed to remove ALL "offensive" coding or placed it back into the listings.  Again when I called about it, I was advised that whatever was left was acceptable (which is why the removal program did not remove it) - as it was discovered that the only other links were that of inside eBay - the store link and add to fave seller link.

I am still updating my listings - again, but have noticed that since you placed this post finally explaining the description button (something we on the boards have been begging for every since the "by June" warning was posted with no answer BTW, I dug a little deeper now that I learned what this was all about. 

Once more, I feel it is eBay's fault that the errors still exist as eBay failed to update their own links  to  be compliant by their own rules because it is permissible to have per the CS reps and the help pages as they only lead to the store and not outside the eBay environment! 

So why are we sellers being punished for eBay's oversight?  If eBay fixes the links and make it HTTPS like you say it is supposed to be - then we can insert the S or c/c/p a replacement link and make everyone happier as neither sellers nor buyers want this extra hoop to jump through.

I have also experimented with removing the eBay links recently - the next day, the code is back again.  So is the map app (which I feel is useful and hate to see it go). I manually removed the links and the ****DO NOT CHANGE*** coding and the next day it is back... I know it is close to Halloween, but really?  Come on... why and how is the system not saving it when revised???  Following the suit of many other seller's, I have just given up and inserted apology disclaimers about this stupidity in my listings.  The same with the UPC's that are clearly on the item itself - and pulls up in Google as being valid - that eBay fails to accept/recognize. 

Yes, I have been ignored when reporting it. (Also being ignored when reporting listings "requiring buyer to purchase insurance", "printed word ads which overlay on pictures", generic "one size fits all" product pictures, listings which state "item in picture may not be what you get", "lottery/grab bag/mystery" listings, "pick and choose from this list" (AKA 'choice listings') kind of violations, etc... but that is another topic which has been well covered on these boards already by many people, so I won't dwell on it here.)

While some don't mind or care about this description button thing, the majority of buyers and sellers (who have already voiced opinions on various threads here in the Community) seem to see this description button (which IS A LINK by the way) as being 2-faced, insane and a major deterrent for all involved to have to endure. 

So if eBay continues to refuse to fix it, or at the very least, allow us to edit the lead words that the bots choose which sound like drunken gibberish. For instance - this is a lead to one of my LP's - "King Tut. An Expose. A WILD AND CRAZY GUY. Wild and Crazy Guy. STEVE MARTIN. A Charitable Kind of Guy. Warner Brothers Tan/Soft Beige background color. Cat Handcuffs".  So one is supposed to believe that this album has this Steve Martin guy doing a wild and crazy expose by King Tut on cat handcuffs for a Warner Brothers charity on a beige background?  Seriously??  This is a defect waiting to happen - and it is of no fault of my my own.

This is supposed to sell??  How absurd is that?? It is clear that eBay is hurting themselves; as if I can't sell it because of eBay's blunder - then we both lose.  Is this error not obvious?

So, when will this bug get fixed so we can carry on with our businesses?  Thank you

[rt_21_trading_co]

Personally I think the use of https on all pages of the internet is more dangerous for buyers, due to people being told to "make sure that you verify a page is secure before payment". Now if all pages will be secure, even on scam website it will be more difficult to tell if you are dealing with a legitimate secure site that has taken precautions to protect payment information,  or someone who bought a cheap certificate to get creditcard numbers.

HTTPS pages and sites have always loaded slower, with speed dependent on the strength of the security. The high the bit the slower the load. If there has not been any consideration for this then buying on ebay may become slower along with it.

As far as changing html for images loaded into ebays  descriptions,  www.sslpic.com provide free SSL hosting for images. They have been providing secure hosting for images used in paypal payment initiated on websites all over the world. If you have any images in the description you can have them hosted on their secure server at no cost.

[shipscript]

@rt_21_trading_co

Thank you for the link to http://www.sslpic.com hosting.

Secure image hosting is intended for icons and logos, not product photos. Here are the limitations:

RESTRICTIONS:
GIF or JPG file only.
Filesize not more than 50 KB.  <-- this is quite small
Width not more than 750 pixels.
Height not more than 90 pixels.

[rt_21_trading_co]

Yes, I should have mentioned that. But a lot of people only use pivtures in the description as icons for payment services, etc.

That is what I use description images for. 

In my opinion after being on here since 1999, and having been here for the big data breaches and having to change my user id in 2003 because of it - I do not consider ebay a viable enough of resource to dedicate all the time to add more product photo's into descriptions. Waste of time for me.

I didn't think about other users wanting to add photo's of products. Up to 12 at the top, can be 1600 pixels or is more than enough for me. Descriptions are almost a complete waste of time, I have never once had a buyer read one....

[electronicspart]

I almost got hit by one of those "phone idiots" today. I wonder if they were browsing ebay.

[electronicspart]

I am hosting on a HTTPS compliant domain and NO "see full item description" does not disappear. I have pictures in my listings as "http" unless I change the html in the listing to https, I still get "see full item description". You have to be on a HTTPS domain and each http link to a picture must be https.

[dollybeauty]

When you relist the items, eBay will scan. It is unclear if this scan will remove the button immediately.

However, the relisting of https compliant listings will eliminate the button.

Active items that presently have the button, once made https compliant, will continue to have the button until the item is relisted, either through the GTC process or relisting manually.

[dollybeauty]

See this link - https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Stronger-Browser-Security-Standards-HTTPS/m-p/27642098#M106939...

[dollybeauty]

The changes are made, you just have to wait for relist. https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Stronger-Browser-Security-Standards-HTTPS/m-p/27642098#M106939...

[dollybeauty]

Yes, the button will disappear when you relist the item. eBay scans during the listing process. https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Stronger-Browser-Security-Standards-HTTPS/m-p/27642098#M106939...

[lookng2015]

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@sandyoutlet wrote:

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@soundman07 wrote:

You know, ebay, I can take my buying and selling business to a number of other sites that don't feel they must be compelled to bend to Google's rules. I have never felt the least bit unsafe browsing within ebay because the likelihood of any malicious code being picked up is negligible.  And I doubt sellers (let's call them posters) have the computer knowledge to write complex scripts and embed them just to add another bot to some random evil botnet. Heck, most posters can't even spell the words ‘sale’ or ‘item’ correctly ("sell," "saller," iten") it goes on and on.  No, it is insane to have to click "twice" to read a posting. I operate at a desktop station like a normal person, (not like a rude smartphone-obsessed jerk trying to browse ebay going 50 down the highway weaving like a drunken moron) and it insults my intelligence to have to do someone else's work, ie site security.  It was a few years ago ebay tried this hair brain scheme of forcing us revenue-generating buyers to have to go through these arbitrary hoops attempting to read listings and have to click again to see read descriptions, and it failed miserably -- with buyers forcefully denouncing everywhere this tyranical indignity -- and it was changed back.  Now you want to sneak it in again, ostensibly as a change Google forces, but no, it is really ebay being too lazy to construct a parallel site to accommodate the smartphone (stupidphone) obsessed ignoramuses (causing casualties on the roadways staring at phone **bleep** instead of driving). Why do you have to cater to these timewasters???   If we have to, a revolt will rise up again over this insult too our intelligence and forcing our behavior: having to bend to other's will.  People that are revenue-generators like me that are fed up can take our business to Audiogon, discogs, USAM, Reverb, and dare I say, even the big "A." where we are treated like normal, appreciated customers.  What will ebay say then when all the buyers leave??: "At least we bent over and let Google stick it to us like the quivering, compliant, obedient slaves to Google we must be. Too bad our stock is trading down to twenty cents." 

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Thank you for your comment and your passion. We appreciate your business and it's always difficult for us at eBay to make changes that impact our amazing sellers. This was a decision that we made in order to offer the most secure experience for buyers and sellers. All of your listings will continue to show up as normal, as long as all of the resources within your page are "https" and not "http". Thanks again for taking the time to share your feedback. 

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@sandyoutlet

What about the fact that any eBay STORE url does not have the https? Hmmm?

When is eBay going to address that one?

[castlemagicmemories]

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@sandyoutlet wrote:
Thanks for your comment. Google Chrome is actually the browser that most eBay buyers use to make their purchases. While they are a search engine, in this case we're referring to their Chrome browser which dictates whether a URL says "secure" or "not secure" based on the elements of a page that a buyer is browsing. We are ensuring that eBay is updated to the latest and highest security standards so that all buyers feel safe to make their purchases on eBay.

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@sandyoutlet

With all due respect, my understanding was that Ebay was working on a solution some time ago that would convert anything that was not secure to secure to comply with this.  I believe Ebay itself announced this, in terms of, don't worry, we are working on a solution to be fully compliant when this change is implements, so neither buyers nor sellers will be inconvenienced.

But I never saw an announcement that the Ebay solution had or was going to be applied.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@ekmadonna wrote:

How is it that I am getting this message on all my listings when I work off a Ebay generated template?? No imbedded photos, No outside links, no AUCTIVA scrolling content, ect. I use the Ebay template and fill it out accordingly. So, how is it that I am getting this message?? I will just ignore it because I am not going to waste any more of my precious time trying to figure the new weekly or should I say daily work arounds. I agree with the 1st poster that this should be a internal IT site fix not left up to individual sellers to figure out.

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@ekmadonna wrote:

How is it that I am getting this message on all my listings when I work off a Ebay generated template?? No imbedded photos, No outside links, no AUCTIVA scrolling content, ect. I use the Ebay template and fill it out accordingly. So, how is it that I am getting this message?? I will just ignore it because I am not going to waste any more of my precious time trying to figure the new weekly or should I say daily work arounds. I agree with the 1st poster that this should be a internal IT site fix not left up to individual sellers to figure out.

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@ekmadonna  I was under the impression that Ebay was going to do an internal IT change to convert everything; I believe I read an announcement or post to that effect.  So it would not inconvenience buyer or seller.  Ebay was working on it in advance so it would be ready to implement when the Google change went through.  But I never read anything saying it was ready, and being implemented.

[partsaholic]

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@z50com wrote:

eBay I have a question?

Why can't you host my pictures and let me insert them into the body of the listing like I do now but with a ebay https address?

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You can already do this.  Just copy the URLs from the item gallery.  It's also a feature of the eBay API.  With respect to the quality....Their picture servers generate a gallery of "optimized" images (different sizes) based on the original photo that's uploaded.  If you provide a photo that has a lower than optimal JPG quality, it affects how that gallery of images processes out.