Keep getting this when posting auction

[Chicago2010]

Hello,

I've gotten this message today and yesterday both while listing new and editing existing auctions. When I clicked on the icon "Begin Auction", it brought me to a screen that said there was an error and that I needed to use more than 5 characters in the product description. This interesting concoction below came along with a message. (Note: During the preview of my auction, the product description was exactly as I listed and was far more than 5 characters-tried to repost again and got same thing). Thx

This is what it said:

<!--[if gte mso 9]>

[raindropsies]

Cannot help, I can just suggest some things.

Do a screenshot of the error and then do one of the description.

Then send an email to support@eBid.tv stating which browser, internet provider etc
You will then get an automated reply saying that the ticket has been received, which will then be answered by a human within a few hours. Support is based within the UK so bear this in mind with the time difference

[Chicago2010]

I just figured it out. I googled the error code and apparently it has something to do with Microsoft 2000. Since I was copy and pasting my description from a document that was saved in Microsoft 2007 I think there was a compatibility issue with the format. So I resaved it MS 97-03, pasted it and the auction is now up. Thanks!

leah

[astral276]

What are you using to write your descriptions? It's not MS WORD is it?

There is a whole load of junk in your descriptions which could be causing problems for eBid in trying to make sense of your listing as a whole.

You could try pasting your descriptions into eBid's WYSIWYG editor using the Paste From Word option (looks like a clipboard with a W on it) as that cleans up a lot of errant code.

[Chicago2010]

There is a whole load of junk in my descriptions? Do you see some stuff on my auctions that I can't see.

I have MS Word 2007 but I've been saving in in MS Word 1997-2003 compatibility. I'll try doing what you said.

Please let me know if when you are viewing my auction description it is messed up. Thanks!!!

Leah

[TiasTreasures]

I don't see any junk in your descriptions. That said, Word does include a lot of formatting characters that can confuse browsers. I always use a notepad file (.txt) when I create my listings, then just copy and paste, and have never had a problem. Much safer. Even if everything is OK now, it can come back and cause problems later.

[deltadelta48]

I opened your angel listing and there were a couple of lines at end of description with lots of nonsense symbols, etc. So you might want to check it out.

Welcome to ebid from your neighbor to the north, Milwaukee!

[Chicago2010]

Hey Delta,

Greetings from the midwest. It's nice to see someone on here that's from the states. I felt all alone... So I went thru and checked all of the listings I have for the angels and didn't see anything at the bottom. Do you remember which one it was? Thx

Leah

[Chicago2010]

Thx for the help Tias!

[astral276]

There is a whole load of junk in my descriptions? Do you see some stuff on my auctions that I can't see.

You will not normally see it; Word hides it in the HTML code. If you view the source of your listings then it does show.

This is a segment (a small segment) of the junk placed by Microsoft in one of your descriptions:

<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves />
<w:TrackFormatting />
<w:PunctuationKerning />
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas />
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF />
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables />
<w:SnapToGridInCell />
<w:WrapTextWithPunct />
<w:UseAsianBreakRules />
<w:DontGrowAutofit />

It can mess things up so much that it breaks through into visible display or corrupts the visible display. You saw an incident (< !--[if gte mso 9]> ) in your original post; where your browser got so confused it started showing comments that should not be shown by the browser.