Ebay editing sellers item description - new format

[chameleon54]

I just viewed one of my listings and was suprised to see a very shortened, edited item description. My eight line description had shrunk to two lines.

It turns out this is another ebay " improvement ". A brief random section of the description is shown with buyers needing to click on yet another icon to see the full description and sellers terms. No doubt this is to make things simple for the phone app buyers, but will cause further problems for sellers. If a fault or colour is mentioned, but does not show in the grab ebay have selected, we will see a rise in INAD desputes as impatient , want it now phone buyers click "buy" without clicking the link to see the full description.

Looks like we will have to be very carefull in the "item condition " box when listing and need to get all of the important information crammed into the first two lines in the description. Basically we will need to change ( again .........) the way we do our page layouts when we list items.

[brerrabbit585]

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@everard6920 wrote:

I've read soooo many different things about this problem (including the message from eBay saying they'll hide your description starting in October, if you have any http references in it).

Seriously, I wish they'd just leave things alone. Chrome is making a change: that's Chrome's problem. eBay is going to make it every eBay seller's problem by forcing them to change all of their listings, or hiding their descriptions if they don't.

Idk about anyone else, but in the lead up to Christmas, I'd rather spend time on new listings, than having to fix up 500+ existing ones so that they comply with this. Zzzz.

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Which message from ebay was this?  I don't remember this one and would like to read it as I have hosted pictures in my description, and there's obviously a link to the pictures even if buyers don't see it.  I only keep the hosted pictures because they're a bit larger than they show in ebay's gallery pictures and I can't be bothered re-scanning hundreds of items.

[gec2002]

eBay Listing Policy Update

New requirements for secure images, listing templates, and functionality in item descriptions

To align with new industry security standards, eBay will begin exclusively using the HTTPS communications protocol in the coming months to send and receive information between your desktop browser or mobile device and our site. We have used this protocol for many years for transmission of most sensitive information and are expanding its use. Item descriptions that contain externally-hosted cascading style sheets (CSS), images, or HTML5 video may be affected. To ensure that your item descriptions and images display properly, ask your hosting provider or third-party partner to support HTTPS and update listing templates or descriptions accordingly. For optimized display on both web and mobile, we recommend that you upload your images to eBay.

http://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/seller-updates/2017summer/listing-policy-updates.html

Also see

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Announcements/Stronger-Browser-Security-Standards-Ahead/ba-p/27389922

[brerrabbit585]

Thanks for that. I seemed to have missed that one somehow. I make sure I read ALL their updates these days!

[chameleon54]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

I just viewed one of my listings and was suprised to see a very shortened, edited item description. My eight line description had shrunk to two lines.

It turns out this is another ebay " improvement ". A brief random section of the description is shown with buyers needing to click on yet another icon to see the full description and sellers terms. No doubt this is to make things simple for the phone app buyers, but will cause further problems for sellers. If a fault or colour is mentioned, but does not show in the grab ebay have selected, we will see a rise in INAD desputes as impatient, want it now phone buyers click " buy" without clicking the link to see the full description.

Looks like we will have to be very carefull in the "item condition " box when listing and need to get all of the important information crammed into the first two lines in the description. Basically we will need to change ( again .........) the way we do our page layouts when we list items.

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Well that didnt take long. Got my first neutral feedback stating description was very poor !!!!!   And another buyer unhappy with the item they purchased stating it is not as described............ I usually only get one or two neutrals or negs per year.

I hope this isnt the start of an avalanche of complaints.