Re changes to auction description width

[3drom]

I'm very interested in your comments about CSS. I was under the impression that it's not possible to use CSS on auction sites, because your listing is only a small part of the whole page. Are you actually doing this? More detail please?

Sure, you just use CSS in the normal way, like:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://www.3drom.com/auction/auctions.css" type="text/css" media="all, screen">

and it works. I use it on Ebay too, but unfortunately Ebay's site displays parts of my auctions incorrectly in Internet Explorer, and as you would expect, when I try to contact support, they ignore what I write and just send me a stock answer that doesn't help at all...

When I've uploaded my auctions you can see how it all works, that should be this weekend hopefully.

[3drom]

I'm not opposed to the auction description width changes per se but I do think giving two hours notice of such a change in the "general chat" boards is laughable. Really, what is the point of that? It doesn't exactly give much time for anyone to raise any valid questions/objections does it?

I have very limited knowledge of HTML/templates and I have no desire to improve on that knowledge. What I do know is that Gothicina sent me a customised eBid auction template that ticked all the boxes for my requirements as a seller in a simple, stylish and elegant way (and no I'm not on commission ).

As it happens I've got a load of old listings I want to update/change photos/add videos to anyway so it's not THAT much of a big deal for me but I wonder how many 'middle of the road' sellers this might effect? I'll have to close about 700-800 listings on here in the short-term.

To fix your auctions, you'll need to change this piece of code at the start:

<table border="0" cellspacing="15" cellpadding="15" width="80%" align="center" style="border: 0px none ; border-collapse: collapse">

Change the width to 99%, and you'll need a larger background image.

If you create your auctions using CSS, then these changes are easy to apply - you only need to edit your CSS file, once, and that's it, you don't need to manually edit any of the auction HTML files, nor re-upload them.

Ebid promised to fix this problem months ago, so it's not as if it's suddenly been sprung on us.

Gothinica's template uses inline styles which means it's a nightmare to change anything - you have to manually change every single auction by hand, rather than just change one CSS file which applies to all the auctions.

[3drom]

I don't have any templates to change.

My problem is that I had stuff on my pages that worked. It's no accident that I'm near the top of the buddy points table every month for instance.

Gothicina, if you're around, have you got any ideas? You can obviously see the problem. How can I push everything back towards the centre without changing each individual auction.

Can you show me any of your auctions which aren't in the centre and I'll try to show you how to fix them? The ones I looked at looked fine, but I must have picked the wrong ones!

[3drom]

To do changes using one of the programs mentioned you need an identifiable string of HTML at the beginning of each auction,(it cannot repeated anywhere else in the listing) you'd also need another identifiable string, at the end of every auction, (again not repeated anywhere else)

You could then add to those strings to enclose your listings, but that would involve saving them to a spreadsheet, making the changes, & using the spreadsheet to bulk upload them again.

Although the layouts look the same searching through the HTML on a number of your items it does vary slightly, so I don't think that would work.

Support SHOULD be able to do it for you because they can ignore your code & use their own which will be identical for everyone.

IE

<div class="f_description2">

at the start

</div><br>
</td>
<td class="f_white" width="10">

at the end

You would have to let them know how wide you wanted it, either as a fixed width or a % of the available description space.

This is incorrect use of CSS - you wouldn't use a class ("f_white") AND a width attribute, you'd put the width value into the CSS style "f_white", and then you only need to edit the CSS to change all 3,600 auctions at once.

So if you had:

.f_white {
color: #ffffff;
width: 99%;
}

that would make the width of that table cell 99%. Also, you should never use colours, etc. in the name of your selectors. If you want to change the "f_white" style to red, or blue, it will be very confusing when it's still called "f_white".

Here's the HTML for one of my standard auctions on Ebay, so you can see how simple it is:

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[hypn0t0ad]

To fix your auctions, you'll need to change this piece of code at the start:

<table border="0" cellspacing="15" cellpadding="15" width="80%" align="center" style="border: 0px none ; border-collapse: collapse">

Change the width to 99%, and you'll need a larger background image.

If you create your auctions using CSS, then these changes are easy to apply - you only need to edit your CSS file, once, and that's it, you don't need to manually edit any of the auction HTML files, nor re-upload them.

Ebid promised to fix this problem months ago, so it's not as if it's suddenly been sprung on us.

Gothinica's template uses inline styles which means it's a nightmare to change anything - you have to manually change every single auction by hand, rather than just change one CSS file which applies to all the auctions.

Thanks, but to be honest I'm not bothered if Gothicina's templates are created using a washing up bottle and sticky back plastic. The fact is I bought a customised eBid template from her that I was very happy with and that worked for me. I'm not at all interested in CSS/HTML or whatever - I just want to be able to list using a simple and effective template that I have been using for months. No doubt there will be many other sellers in my position too.

The fact eBid promised to change the auction description size at some point is irrelevant. Giving two hours notice prior to making the change is the problem and the reason why I have closed my listings en masse. Gothicina has promised to alter the template I have been using but is unavailable for a few days. This situation could have been avoided if a reasonable amount of time was given between making the announcement of the intention to change and making the change itself - I would consider 2 weeks to be reasonable, I consider 2 hours to be laughable as stated earlier.

[3drom]

I just want to be able to list using a simple and effective template that I have been using for months.

If your auctions had been designed using CSS correctly in the first place, then you would have been able to accommodate the new width with no problems, just by changing the CSS. As it is, you now have to manually change every single one of your auctions. That's why I keep harping on about the importance of using CSS.

In other words, whether you had been given two hours' or two years' notice, you would still need to manually edit every single auction, rather than just the one CSS file, due to the way your auctions were written.

[hypn0t0ad]

If your auctions had been designed using CSS correctly in the first place, then you would have been able to accommodate the new width with no problems, just by changing the CSS. As it is, you now have to manually change every single one of your auctions. That's why I keep harping on about the importance of using CSS.

Me = Tarzan so I'll have to take your word for that

In other words, whether you had been given two hours' or two years' notice, you would still need to manually edit every single auction, rather than just the one CSS file, due to the way your auctions were written.

The difference being with 2 weeks/months/years notice I can better prepare for the changes in advance.

2 hours notice means I close all my listings while I adapt to the changes in the background.

[3drom]

Me = Tarzan so I'll have to take your word for that



The difference being with 2 weeks/months/years notice I can better prepare for the changes in advance.

2 hours notice means I close all my listings while I adapt to the changes in the background.

But I can't see what's wrong with your listings at the moment - what problems did the larger width cause? I only ask because I presume that going from a small width to a large width would only mean that you had more space on each side of your original auctions, which shouldn't be a problem. What specifically is wrong with the look now? I'll try to help, I'm sure it can be easily fixed.

[merlin]

this stupidity has made this site look a joke there are auctions all over the place that look a mess IT WAS ALL DONE TO PLEASE A FEW WHINGERS WHO WOULD NOT JOIN BECAUSE THEY WOULD NOT PAY THE 3P TO ADD EXTRA IMAGES , IN OTHER WORDS EBID HAS LET DOWN IT`S LONG STANDING MEMBERS WHO HAVE HELPED BUILD THIS SITE ,

[nysablaze]

#1 son has a suggestion.
Why not set up so that there is a choice of using either the traditional (narrow) eBid template or the new wider version?
Even if just as a stopgap for those who have items listed with templates set at the old width, giving time for them to get sorted or use to the new layout.