Halp! My images and mobile description are disappearing when viewed on mobile devices.

[qponz]

I've spent several days trying to fix this on my own but I can't get it right.   I've read and copied html code suggested to others that seemed would work for me but I still haven't fixed my problem.  I'm using my laptop to update the description with the new code and save it, then checking the listing on my mobile phone and ipad.  Initially it looks right,  then next time I check it, the mobile description summary is gone and the images are gone.  (I'm talking about the images that are part of my html desription, not the ones I load to ebay).  I am using the "mobile friendly checker" within the "revise your listing" form.

Here's my html code:

<style>img{max-width:100%}</style><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<div style="max-width:800px; margin:auto; border:5px solid navy; padding:1em; background-color:white">
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/lUmtJ7L.jpg" style="width:100%">
<div style="border:1px solid navy; padding:1em; background-color:aliceblue; font-family:trebuchet ms,arial">
<div vocab="http://schema.org/" typeof="Product">
<span property="description">
My hatch mix is goof-proof &amp; easy! Over 90% hatch rate! Free scoop &amp; instructions provided. Just add 1 scoop to 1 liter of water, aerate and harvest your BBS in 24-36 hours.<br><br>
</span></div>
This is a combination of Premium Great Salt Lake, USA Brine Shrimp Eggs with 90%+ hatch rate and a premium marine salt blend that provides the proper salinity and buffers the ph and carbonate hardness of your tap water resulting in a superior BBS harvest to ordinary salt. The salt has a very small particle size which dissolves quickly and thoroughly providing the optimal conditions for hatching baby Brine Shrimp.<br><br>
My hatch mix is packaged in a heat sealed, recloseable heavy-duty mylar stand up pouch with a moisture absorbent package added to help you keep the hatch mix fresh &amp; dry once you open it.<br><br>
I keep my Brine Shrimp eggs fresh by storing them in small batches in a freezer and only remove what's needed when preparing orders. Your mix will be prepared fresh for you and shipped usually within 1-2 business days after your payment is received.<br>
</div>
<img src="https://i.imgur.com/ZQIgqEz.jpg" style="width:100%">
</div>

[berserkerplanet]

Your images don't display in Firefox on my desktop either, but the description is there. (and it's not eBay - direct call to load the image fails with only the image url displayed.) There is something wrong at imgur.com.

Does it support https requests? (my freebie webhost did not by default, and I had to jump through hoops to get it enabled)

What do you mean by gone? Totally blank, or showing a "View Full Description" button instead? If it's an http/https or active content issue it would be hidden on all devices, not just mobile. Is it via a browser view or the eBay app on those devices?

I spy a non-secure link to schema.org in there. Only thing I see that could be triggering hiding of the entire description

(this issue doesn't belong in this forum - there is a specific forum for those issues
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Replacing-Active-Content/bd-p/activecontent
or in the Technical Issues forum, or the specific app forums if it's an app problem)

[qponz]

Okay, I'll check out your suggestions and then repost in the other forum if it's not fixed.
Thanks so much for your help!

[berserkerplanet]

Ok.

Main thing is that you need to be able to type that image URL directly in your browser address bar (or click the link in your original post here) and get the photo to display. Until imgur is configured to do so, it won't appear in your listings either.

I just looked at the 2 images and your listing and all was fine - using my phone (away from desktop). Either you fixed something at imgur, imgurvfixed something, or imgur is playing games and not displaying images when certain browser clients make the requests (by inspecting browser user-agent sent in request headers)

That gave me an idea - might be a cookie, javascript, or other blocking issue. Both desktop browsers I checked with yesterday block a lot by default. Will check desktop again later.

[shipscript · Accepted solution]

@qponz

Someone else recently reported issues with imgur, and it may be due to that service's policies:

https://imgur.com/tos

"...don't use Imgur to host image libraries you link to from elsewhere, content for your website, advertising, avatars, or anything else that turns us into your content delivery network"

"You may not use UGC [user-generated content] for non-journalistic commercial purposes."

When you see an image the first time within and eBay page and then not later, it may be due to caching the image outside of eBay prior to opening the image on eBay. When later arriving with a cleared cache, the image would fail to appear if the service blocks it.

[qponz]

Thanks for checking it again.  I think it was Imgur.  It was displaying the photo at first, then it wasnt.  I tried a few fixes, then tried a couple other hosting sites.  I have the pics on Use.com now.  I wasn't sure which code to copy from their links though at first, but I think I have it now.   At least my pics are displaying properly on my laptop and phone for now.  I guess I'll check in a few hours and see if it's still okay.  Thanks again for your response.  Best wishes, Jeanne

[qponz]

 Shipscript -   I just noticed that too this morning and loaded the pics to another hosting site, use.com.  Thank you so much for your reply.  I have seen and used your recommendations on html coding to others in these boards many times.   Best wishes, Jeanne

[berserkerplanet]

Sounds like you solved it with a change of host.

Just FYI (and FMI 🙂 I checked out the original imgur.com links and they are working fine now in FF2.0, 3.6, and 31 with cookies and scripts blocked, and a spoofed Netscape spoofed user agent and spoofed referer header in FF2.0 also.

That indicates that imgur MAY not be doing selective throttling based on use agents as I speculated before but could be at times, and could also be doing request referer based filtering (ie: if they prohibit hotlinking from ebay and others in their TOS, they could enforce it by refusing to deliver images when an eBay referer is received in the request headers).

Why the imgur links failed before is unknown, unless they were just having server problems at the time - I have seen that before with numerous other free image hosts.