Uploading Videos - Limits, etc...

[hurley_byrd_ias]

I am a long time, full time seller with sales each day.  I am trying to teach myself how to upload videos to my listings.  Obviously that is an easy action. BUT:

My first vid was an MP4 at 1280 x 720 video and, as eBay states in their guidelines, oversized. So I downsized it to the mandatory 1080.  The video was around 2 minutes long and about 32 megs.  I tried uploading this vid and it would make it about 30% of the way and the upload stopped.  So I expected the video was still oversized. SOOO.....

I downsized the video once, twice...... ten times finally getting to a video size just under 9 megs and the video was so thin it was about to fall apart. To reach the sub 9 meg MP4..... I set the size to 600x480, the bit rate to 400k and a frame rate of 12 FPS.   As you can imagine...... this video is super thin and almost jittery.  BUT..... eBay finally accepted the video and is now under review.

I find it highly unlikely that eBay expects us to use sub 9 meg vids only, especially since each of my listing's photos are 2 megs each.  It must be me.

What am I doing wrong???

Please advise,

Thanks

Pete

[stuff4divas]

@hurley_byrd_ias   here is the link for info>   https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/adding-video-listing?id=5272&s...

[hurley_byrd_ias]

Yep.... that is the same page I got the MP4 and 1080 info from. My issue must be with the 2 minute video length and somehow the algorithm can sense that at upload.  Seems odd though..... they accept 150 meg 1 minute vid but my 2 minute vid at 9.5 megs is not allowed.  I need more info please.

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

I believe ebay generally recommends a minute or less for length. It's not a hard and fast rule, they won't reject you, say, for a minute and 2 seconds. But my guess is, you are pushing it with that length.

[hurley_byrd_ias · Accepted solution]

AHHHH.... HHHAAAAA..... Resolved.

What I found through trial and error is....... eBay has a time out limit and that limit is exactly, or exceedingly close to, 320 seconds.  I found this through trying to upload better vids with more data and each failed again.

I started watching the clock and waited until exactly when the upload stopped uploading and that spot was 320 seconds each time.

In my case..... I live on a DSL and that DSL is at the end of the line out in the sticks. Hence, slow Internet speeds.  Depending on the "Speed De Jour" I might be able to upload 25 megs or, like the other day, 8 1/2 megs.  Today I was able to get a 17 meg vid up with just a few seconds to spare. 

For anyone and everyone..... watch the clock and watch the % of upload. You will need 1% per 3 seconds. I bet eBay set their time out to 5 minutes and then added in another 20 seconds to accommodate the front end assessment of about 20 seconds. Watch and you will see what I mean.

Do I agree with the 320 seconds? No.... as it gives a decided advantage to anyone with a fiber optic line or a T 1 connection as they can run gorgeous 150 meg videos while mine will never ever be of good quality. BUT, that is how it is. Life is never fair...... it's just a game with moving rules.

So there you have it...... issue resolved.

Thanks,

Pete