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.

[thevintagesilvershop]

I don't really understand this.  It appears to me that my non-compliant listings are because of (target="_blank") which is what Ebay's tool from month's ago inserted into my listing when I ran their mobile friendly/active content tool.  Now, why are these considered "non-compliant"??  Both of these links are to my Ebay Store or to Subscribe to my Newsletter, both are Ebay links!

[terrycanarsky]

Yep.  It has nothing to do with our individual listings - and I find it disturbing that eBay seems to believe it does.  (Before someone from eBay tries to tell me I have no idea, I do have three grown children in the IT field in varying capacities including security for legal firms and medical facilities. )

What does “https” in a web address mean?

If you see https, the session between the web server and the browser on the mobile device you are using is encrypted. You can easily identify web servers that have https configured by looking at the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) in the web address bar of your browser.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (https) is a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) with the Secure Socket Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. TLS is an authentication and security protocol widely implemented in browsers and Web servers. SSL works by using a public key to encrypt data transferred over the SSL connection. Most Web browsers support SSL. It allows you to communicate securely with the web server."   Definitions for Mobile Device Privacy and Security

What is HTTPS?

Essentially, what all this means is that as long as eBay has the https certificate(s) and our links do not point to outside-of-eBay sites (which they can no longer do), then that is all that should be needed to satisfy security matters.  All this other stuff is nonsensically causing eponentially more work for sellers.

[terrycanarsky]

It may be because eBay "links" themselves are no longer compliant.  One of the two links in our listings is a photo hosted on eBay - and now non-compliant.

~M

[lolkthxbai]

Hi usa-attachments,

The updates take anywhere between 1 to 10 minutes after a listing has been edited. I spot checked a few of your listings in Chrome and don't see the 'View Item Description' button. If you are still seeing the button, could you please send a few item IDs over so we can review?

Thank you!

[shipscript]

@thevintagesilvershop

The target="_blank" attribute is supposed to be in your listings. If a listing is flagged for this, it is because the attribute is missing, not because it is present.  Do you have a specific listing you would like me to check?

[usa-attachments]

@lolkthxbai

Thanks, my auctions are working fine now. I suspect it took so long for me because I did not have target="_blank" on 2 links.  Once I made the changes, the update seemed almost instant, and "See full description" was removed. Special thanks to @Anonymous for scanning my auctions, and alerting me to my problem.

[thevintagesilvershop]

---

@shipscript wrote:

@thevintagesilvershop

The target="_blank" attribute is supposed to be in your listings. If a listing is flagged for this, it is because the attribute is missing, not because it is present.  Do you have a specific listing you would like me to check?

---

@shipscript   Sheesh!  I was wrong.  I was looking at the tab "see what changed" and now see that you are recommending I ADD target="_blank" to my listings that are missing it. 

Thanks for asking me to provide an example, that made me look again and have a better understanding of what I am looking at.  Thanks, too, for the tool. 

[lolkthxbai]

Hi readabouthorses,

You may be seeing the button because the item wasn't compliant when it was listed, and the button 'stuck' with the listing until the listing completed. When the item is relisted, we'll re-check compliance and the button should disappear. It can take anywhere from 1-10 minutes for the check to complete. If you still see the button after this time, please send the item ID and we'll review the issue.

Thank you!

Deb

[lolkthxbai]

Hi happydaysantiques,

You may be seeing the button because the item wasn't compliant when it was listed, and the button 'stuck' with the listing until the listing completed. When the item is relisted, we'll re-check compliance and the button should disappear. It can take anywhere from 1-10 minutes for the check to complete. If you still see the button after this time, please send the item ID and we'll review the issue.

Thank you!

Deb

[lolkthxbai]

Hi usa-attachments,

Glad to hear that the issue was resolved! Please let us know if you encounter any other issues.

Thank you!

[shipscript]

@lolkthxbai

I've looked at the codes of various "ended" items that have the button, many with no reason to have that button. I am wondering if the "ended" state simply has the button.

Another user had listings with an external stylesheet with embedded content. After repairing those stylesheets, nothing changed (obviously there was no reason for eBay to know anything had changed). The button remained. I assume that is because the listing was not revised to force a new evaluation.  The seller saw something else he thought could be the problem, bulk revised, and it fixed the issue and now he makes the erroneous claim that eBay was looking for "xyz". Of course, "xyz" had nothing to do with the issue.

So, can the bulk editor (BEAR) be used to force a rescan or must something actually be changed for the bulk editor to even work?

[happydaysantiques]

Thank you for your kind input, lolkthxbai.

Actually, the original listings were compliant, as confirmed by eBay.  And they listed with full descriptions and no button.  When they didn't sell, the button appeared on them in my Unsolds.

[wgonzales]

My listings also show the
  "•  Links are missing target="_blank" or supply a wrong target." as well.

But i really do not understand what i am supposed to do about it.

I just spent days manually removing my return policy from the template on each of my active listings and really hope this does not mean i have to go and manually add something to every listing- one by one-now.

I do not know how to "do" html which is why i use a third party to begin with. I list through Vendio if that helps.  Please advise. Thanks!

p.s. a random look at my items and they do show https

[shipscript]

@wgonzales

There are several issues that we need to fix in your listings and these can be handled by eBay's bulk editing tool. It won't take too much effort, but I would recommend that we start a new thread on the Active Content Forum so that we aren't interrupted.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Replacing-Active-Content/wgonzales-fix-listing-links/m-p/27636681

[mynewfindstore]

I don't understand how to fix our listings at all.  My daughter knows some basic HTML and she set up our listing template.  We store header information where it says our store name and free shipping on every order and the footer info that is displayed at the end of each listing, explaining our policies/disclaimers/item condition definitions.  We store these items as graphics on our website (which we really aren't using for selling, it just links to all the ebay listings).  I tried (as an experiment) to change a couple of the 23 "http" mentions to "https" and then those items did not display at all.  I am not an IT person so I have no idea what to do.  I shouldn't have to be an IT person to sell on ebay!  It should NOT be this hard....it never was before this year!