WHAT IS ACTIVE CONTENT ON EBAY?
eBay released their Spring 2016 seller update with important news; they plan to limit and eventually ban the use of active content in 2017.
A problem clearly understood, is a problem half solved. Let’s understand just what this is all about.
What is eBay’s new active content policy?
What is active content?
Active content includes the use of Javascrip, Flash, dynamic widgets & plugins, and form actions. In simple terms, any element in your code that runs scripts & performs actions on the page is classified as active content. Here are some examples of the use of active content:
- Flash animations on your listing
- Top navigation drop-down category menus
- Item specific feedback widgets
- Buy It Now, Watch Item buttons in the listing description template
- Items cross-promotion widgets
- Shipping calculators based on postcode entries
- Custom store search bars
- Dynamic display of store categories in the listing description
Why are eBay banning active content?
There are two primary reasons why eBay is planning to ban the use of active content –
-
- 01To improve security for the buyers, and ensure eBay is a vary safe marketplace to trade in.
- 02To improve the user experience & page load times for mobile phone shoppers.
eBay estimates more than 48% of traffic is coming solely from mobile phone devices; eBay wants to cater to this large demographic better.
When does this take effect?
- eBay will start to limit the active content sections in listings, effective Spring 2017.
- eBay will start to remove / block listings that use active content, effective Fall 2017.
Does it affect you?
Unless you use a plain text description in your items, there is a high chance this affects you. There is one easy way to find if it affects your items, or not.
We’ve built a tool that allows you to run a complaince check on one of your listings, to see if they comply with eBay’s new rule or not.
What must I do?
If you are about to sign up to our services to design & build your eBay shop & listing template – nothing for you to worry about. All our designs built from August 2016 are 100% compliant with eBay’s new rules.
If you are an existing dZine-Hub customer or if you have a custom design from another provider, we are happy to perform a free audit on your store & listing template to help identify the elements in your existing design that conflict with eBay’s new policy update.
