Have a look at what is on my listing - the bit about mid 2017

[5kazam]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/272347100372?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

And then on the 'learn more' page http://pages.ebay.com/sell/itemdescription/bestpractices.html

Can the eBay gurus explain what this is going to mean for the rest of us plebs out here.

[the4masters2013]

I have the same information coming up. I looked at the learn more bit and I am still no more the wiser.  I must be extremely blond. or in need of caffeine .. off to find the coffee and see if that helps!

[the4masters2013]

I just had a quick look at the Learn More part. It's all on the American boards...I had to sign in to go any further and yes, I was in America. Had to sign out and start again just to come home to Australia. At least it was a free trip!! Still no more the wiser....sigh!!!!

[curraone]

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@imastawka wrote:

Maybe I'm dumb....well I am blonde, but can't see what you're referring to???

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I think the OP is referring to the new ebay selling experience where you can see the new plans for 2017 in your own listing - and it gives you the opportunity to check it out - but  you can't see it on another listing, which is why we can't see it in the sample given.

As for the 2017 plan, it just means no active stuff in  your listing, and frankly  my dear I don't give a d***, the ways things are going, I won't be here in 2017 anyway.

[sydney-diecast-kingdom]

In mid-2017 eBay will begin to turn off active content. Make sure your item looks good with active content turned off by previewing it now. (This will not impact how others see your listings)

Preview  |  Learn more

When I preview what my listing will look like once the changes in mid 2017 come in everything is still the same.

In other words there is nothing I use in my listings that will be affected.  

[au2015_river]

Active content means the javascript,html, embedded photos,videos and listing templates. eBay wants listing descriptions to be mobile friendly. If your descriptions are all plain texts, then you should not worry about it.

[au2015_river]

based on this link: 

http://www.i-ways.net/mobile-friendly/en-au/result/272347100372/EBAY-AU

your item is mobile optimized which means nothing will change in your listing once eBay will turn off active content.

[5kazam]

So is this actually eBay's attempt to clear up the glitches on the mobile app?  To fix things like 'free' post showing on mobiles when it says 'freight' on the listing.  Or buyer's attempts to pay for more than one item without paying double postage.

Is this what it's all about?  I'm sure a lot of frustrated sellers who have buyers on mobile will be happy if that's it.  

[transport-posters]

I've replied to several queries on these board regarding this before.

It's all to do with mobile device downloading and Google's search engine.  Active content requires plugins and extra processing by any device (eg. phones, tablets and desktops) which views a web page with this on it.  An example includes slideshows which do fancy effects and require ongoing processing after a page has loaded.  Some mobiles and tablets also have limited processing power with several apps open and doing things at once.

The device has to activate (or download, then activate) the plugins or external script files required to run the active content on the page.  This slows down the delivery of the page to the user, and also increases their downloading data use.  Google is penalising websites which have a lot of this stuff happening, and as a result eBay will start to slip in Google's search results ranking.

eBay is following Google's lead in reducing the amount of complexity on web pages because of the rise in mobile device internet usage.

As a website developer myself, I am quite familiar with it all.

[justkidzbiz]

I'm a bit of a dummy when it comes to PC talk so excuse my dumb question.

what is active content?