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Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorNov 7, 2005

Hi all.  I may have mentioned before that even tho I do my own website, I don't know a single thing about html.  As this week's charity auction has proved, quite conclusively. :)

I can see my photos just fine, both in Netscape Composer and in my eBay auction.  And clearly, due to the bids received, others can see them too.

However, I've now read (here) or in my email box from no less than five people that, for some, my auction photos aren't showing up at all.

My first impulse is to find a solution to this problem by asking, "How do I fix this?"  But practically speaking, this isn't a good approach, because since the auction already has bids, I can't change it without cancelling and restarting, which I don't want to do.

So my post here is to ask, Will someone please go to WAFFLES auction and write me a question that says, "I can't see the pictures.  Help!"

Then, I can answer the question and have both your Q & my A tagged on to the bottom of my auction.  I'll answer something like, "Feel free to email me for more photos and I will send them to you directly."

Thanks, anyone and everyone!

PS  Denise (Densteds) was the first to write me about this but I just wrote back to her like, "Oh, I didn't know that, bummer, bla bla bla..."  :rolleyes:, and didn't think -- at that time -- to do what I'm proposing here.

Thanks again.

bearlyart Nov 7, 2005

Hi Shelli,

Nope, I can't see your photos either.  The only one showing up is the gallery image.  Checking your source code, the photos in your item description are linking to a location on the C: drive of your own computer.  In other words, you're the only person that can see all the photos because you are on your computer.  Everyone else cannot see what it on your home computer, only what you upload to the Internet.  The solution is to change the links in your auction from their C: drive location to the same photos' location wherever it is you uploaded them on the web (http:// etc.etc.)

Man, you have some dedicated collectors that are fighting essentially 'sight unseen' for one of your bears 
:)

Hope this helps!
Kelly

kbonsall Nov 7, 2005

I emailed you through ebay shelli about the pics..... hope this helps...

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorNov 7, 2005

I don't know how to use html code very well, when it comes to manipulating it directly, and opened the TEDDIES 4 CHARITY template in Netscape, using Composer, on my home computer, because my own web design program doesn't let me toggle between code and preview function.  That's how/where I inserted the photos.

I did try to cover bases and sent the template to Nancy for preview.  With the benefit of hindsight, I'm thinking that she probably saw no pictures, either!  But she okayed the listing.  I just didn't realize, at the time, that the text portion was the only part she likely reviewed.  I thought she could see everything as I inserted it, including photos!, and so I went ahead and posted the da** auction.  Did I say Aargh! yet?

You're right; if my bidders are going hotcakes on this one without the auction photos to guide them, I send them extra gratitude, and then some.  Wowie.

Kelly, you're my guru, genius, and mentor in this stuff.  Can you think of any fix I can make at this point, given that it's an active auction?

Thanks again, all,

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorNov 7, 2005

Kim, it definitely will help.  THANK YOU!

Donna Nov 7, 2005

Is there any way to edit after you have a bid?
Donna

Laura Lynn Banner SponsorNov 7, 2005

Awww Shelli!  I"m so sorry!

And regarding Donna's question... NO... you have to cancel all bids to revise your item :(

BUT.... you can ADD to your description without canceling the bids....

SueAnn Help Advisor, Banner SponsorNov 7, 2005

I e-mailed you, too.  So sorry the pics aren't working - Waffles is adorable!

bearlyart Nov 7, 2005

Yup, Laura is correct.  Because you have bids, you can only add to the item description, not change the original.  However, you could add all of the images on as an extension to the description.  Shelli, if you have uploaded the images to the web somewhere, email me where they are, if you like.  I could do a brief html listing of images then email you back the code to add to your auction.  Just a thought?

Cheers,
Kelly

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorNov 7, 2005

Kelly, if I weren't entirely straight, I'd marry you.  Will do.  THANK YOU! 

PS  I've never altered an active auction before.  Will it be obvious to me where/how to add this html information?  Before you go to all this trouble... are you sure this can be done?

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorNov 7, 2005

Okay, Kelly's post got me to my auction template service, where -- lo and behold!  I didn't even know this! -- when you upload your photos, they provide you with the html coding you need, as one option for referencing those pictures.  Usually, I use a Seller Sourcebook template, and they do everything FOR you.  Using a Seller Sourcebook template, you "point" to your photos in a different way than copying/pasting html coding with a URL reference to the photo, which is what the TEDDIES 4 CHARITY templates required. 

Anyhoos...

I've fixed my listing, by sticking the photos onto the bottom of the listing text.  You can ADD TO, but not REMOVE FROM or ALTER, your existing listing text and photos, once the auction is live... just FYI.  Eek!

If it were my own auction I'd have yanked it, sent apologies, and started over.  But since it's on a schedule for TEDDIES 4 CHARITY, I felt I needed to keep it going, for the sake of the charity and the group effort behind it.

Thanks, everyone, especially Kelly and those who wrote to me via eBay so I could respond about the photo problem, for helping me get to a solution.  I couldn't have done it without you!

Hugs  :hug:

bearlyart Nov 7, 2005

I see him now, what a cutie! 
:thumbsup:

Thanks for the thanks, but don't think I did too much of anything!  Kudos to Laura for remembering eBay's revision rules.  I had to go look the silly rules up... now if they just had less than 9 gazillion regulations for various things, maybe I could remember them better
:rolleyes:

Cheers,
Kelly

kbonsall Nov 7, 2005

WOW I see the pics now! Love the close up one! Does Waffles have purple eyelids??? Very beautiful!

Amanda Nov 7, 2005

I use easy templates where I copy and paste them. If it makes you feel better I put the photos on from my photo hosting service then ran my auction. Then I decided to 'tidy' my photo hosting site and deleted them. Of course they then disappeared off my auction. Luckily I clicked in and loaded the photos back onto my hosting site and they appeared again on my listing. You're not the only one!

kbonsall Nov 7, 2005

I guess I need to learn how to put the photos into the Teddies 4 Charity Auction template before this Sunday - Sunday is my day and I am still confused as to where to begin!!! AAHHHH!

Shelli - glad it all worked out I am sure Waffles will do good!

Laura Lynn Banner SponsorNov 7, 2005

Hey Kim!

You can shoot me an email if you like.... me@teddiesbylauralynn.com

I'm trying not to be on TT TOO much as I"m getting ready for another show.

Also.... don't forget to register with Mission Fish first!  Then... after you are registered with them you'll have to do a little something different with your auctions when you are listing them so that it IS a "Mission Fish" auction.  Nancy has it in her directions... but if you are a more visual person I posted on Nancy's site with photos:

http://www.northcountryteddybears.com/p … .php?t=163

PS... thanks to Shelli who taught us how to do the "print screen" feature!! 

Daphne Nov 7, 2005

Kim,
I'm very much a visual person but Nancy did great instructions with pictures and I had no problem following her tutorial. You can do it! But don't wait til the last minute so you can get help if needed. And as Laura said and we've learned... REGISTER WITH MISSION FISH FRIST!  :lol:
Daphne

Densteds Nov 8, 2005

Hi Shelli,
I still can't see the pics, maybe it's just something with me???

Denise.

SueAnn Help Advisor, Banner SponsorNov 8, 2005

I thought the same thing, Denise, but if you keep scrolling down, they will show up - at least they did for me!

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorNov 8, 2005

Yeah, I can't alter anything within the original text... but I can tack stuff on, at the end of the auction.  So Denise, you should be able to see about four pictures tacked on, one after another. of WAFFLES.

Geez, what a mess.