posted on July 13, 2004 09:31:38 AM new
All my fonts on my auctions (which are normally verly large), have all become quite small. All my active auctions that have been on for the last 10 days all suddenly changed today.
We are still checking into the exact cause, but this appears to be the result of eBay changing something with the text on their listing display page, and it is somehow cancelling users <h2> style tags (chances are you are using these in your description area.)
As soon as we have more information available about this error, we will post back to this thread.
eBay has changed how their style sheet formats the page, so it now seems to ignore the <h2> tags. Additionally, their new style sheet is overwriting the <P> tag, which means you would need to re-enter your <font size=x> tags after *every* <p> tag so that it picks up that setting.
I would suggest using only the <font size=x> tags for now, and be certain to include this after each and every <P> tag.
posted on July 13, 2004 01:36:07 PM new
Hi Christopher,
This is ... Amazing. Do you think it's possible to manually change 10s of tags on 100s of listings ??
How about Vendio change the "preview" on Sales manager Pro ?
Who made the <small> tags on my listings ?
I also have hundreded of listings already made and waiting for end of Summer to be lunched through SM Pro to ebay. All those have the <small> tag. Do you think it's possible to have some kind of "convert" software, to change zillions of <small> tags to <FONT size=x> ?
I would wait to hear back from eBay on this one. This is going to mess up everyone that lists auctions with them, and even using their own HTML editor, their own style sheet changes are not converting the code their editor created, so it will probably (hopefully sooner than later) be changed to correct.
As soon as we have any further information on this, we will post it back to this thread.
Also, unless you manually inserted the small tag on your own, this is simply the new interpretation of what the tag you used will convert into, based on eBays new style sheet format.
posted on July 13, 2004 01:50:35 PM new
Hi again Christopher,
The Vendio "Template Workshop" also need to be changed, right ? Because when you choose "edit description Text" , the font you choose does not aply any more. Right ?
THIS IS A NIGHTMARE !!
You could pressure eBay to put it as it was before, can't you ? If not, why are you paying 00000s of usd to their API ?
posted on July 13, 2004 05:42:48 PM new
Please update us on this, even if its to say you do not know. I have auctions ending, and all my fonts are still tiny.
Tiny words are hard to see on a busy background. Auctions that are confusing do not sell as well = I am losing money....
posted on July 13, 2004 05:50:16 PM new
Hi guys,
I've tried to replace all the <p> with <br> and it only works on half the listing and I triple checked. I was told by ebay from 2 live chat people that they don't know anything about it and that it's my cookies (which it isn't). I've got emails in everyway and waiting to hear back.....what a nightmare is right!! And are your font styles messed up too? I use the tag <font face= "parade"> for my listing and all my fonts are screwed up. I'm so losing money because of this and still getting charged!!! HELP!!!
Brenda
This eBay style sheet change is universally applied to ALL listings including those from us, those from other API partners, and even those from eBay's SYI form. Items with fonts formatted through Template Workshop actually appear to be ok, unless additional HTML < p > or header tags, etc. are used in your descriptions.
eBay implemented this change in such a way as to prevent people from working around it in negative ways, but that also prevents us from working around it to your benefit in this case . . ..
We believe that eBay will fix this implementation, since their desired goal was NOT to impact your ability to customize the description using HTML. If they choose to maintain the current implementation, we indeed will edit our preview functions to reflect accurately what eBay will do when displaying your HTML to your buyers. For now, however, we're waiting for them to edit their code or roll it back given the posts here and on eBay's boards with feedback on this problem they are experiencing.
We've forwarded what we know on the issue and provided some guidance on implementations that would be less disruptive to their community. We anticipate they'll identify and rectify the issue. In the meantime, we apologize that your fonts are smaller and suggest either editing the HTML or waiting for eBay to make an appropriate change. I know it provides little comfort, but you are not alone. Anyone using something as "normal" as paragraph breaks in HTML are equally impacted.
posted on July 13, 2004 06:40:39 PM new
I just reviewed Brendaleann's listings, and some of the extra sections (payment/checkout/etc.) may possibly be impacted (just by my visual inspection). I'll start another review to see if there is indeed something we can change to get future listings to display properly with your desired font tags.
posted on July 13, 2004 09:49:37 PM new
OK, I finally got my listing back to normal and may God bless those of you who have a ton listed right now...I only have 1. I went in my listing and revised it from ebay. I changed all the <p> to <br><br> and the all my tags that I used for font sizing <h1>, <h2>, <h3> I changed to <font size= "4">, <font size= "5"> and so on. You'll have to play with the sizing a bit and just hit the view description every once in a while to see what you're doing.
Hopefully this won't be the way they want HTML listings from now on......
GOOD LUCK!!
Brenda
oh and hopefully we won't wake up tomorrow and it be changed again!!! =) LOL!!!
posted on July 14, 2004 06:55:59 PM new
I have over 300 auctions/store items running and am not going to even think about trying to edit them all. Each have 4 or more different <p> paragraph tags, yet only 2 different paragraphs within each are affected with tiny fonts. In one auction I just launched, I changed one of the affected paragraph <p> to a <br><br>, yet once launched, it is still tiny; so this doesn't seem to work.
Now, on the remotest chance that I do change all <p>'s and remove all <small> tags (is there a difference? as I don't use <h2> style tags)...it this something that ebay is going to fix in the near future? If so, am I going to wake up one morning with 300+ listings with HUGE fonts that will have to be re-edited?
I understand that it is ebay and not vendio, just thought I might get an answer here faster
posted on July 14, 2004 07:26:29 PM new
We unfortunately have not yet heard back from eBay. I admit to being a bit surprised they haven't changed this implementation, since it would appear to impact a lot of sellers. In any event, I'll follow up with them in the morning to see their current leaning.
Generally, if you are defining fonts (like SMALL or specific 1-7 numeric value), you'll get what you ask for, IF you don't add an "offending" HTML tag after that. These "offending" tags will override your requested font. You can add <p>, provided you define the font again after that paragraph break (PITA, I know).
So I'd remove the <p> and replace with <br><br>, but you can leave the <small> tags, since they are not overwritten by the eBay style sheet.
FYI, here is the list of most commonly used "potentially offending" HTML tags that will be overridden by their style sheet and what their style makes it look like:
<h1> { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium; font-weight: bold; } => English translation, medium bold Arial (or similar sans-serif font)
<h2> { font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: bold; } => English translation, small bold Arial (or similar sans-serif font)
Here are recommended ways to get around this:
a) Instead of <p>, use <br><br> OR make sure to set font style after each <p> (i.e. <font size = number from 1 to 7>
b) Remove h1, h2, h3 tags from item descriptions and use font styles instead.
c) Use our custom templates and define the font you want to use inside a custom template instead, rather than using HTML tags.
Long answer, I know, but thought it would be good for everyone to have this list for future reference. Take care, and sorry about this eBay change. I know it's painful for folks with lots of inventory items and current listings.
posted on July 14, 2004 07:51:02 PM new
Thanks for the info Meffle!
(I am sure that you would have beat ebay for an answer if I had asked there...however I skipped posting there as I have never gotten an answer from an ebay tech in less than an entire day- and sometimes never!)
. . ..
