Sunday, April 17, 2011

eBay Video Problems: HELP! Any wizards out there?

I just put the Goldilocks Challenge book and 2-DVD video set on eBay.  (It's cheaper here, if you want to buy a copy).  I do believe this new book/DVD set is some of my best work.

I wanted to embed some video, video clips to show that the DVDs are actual machine knitting lessons.  So, I picked out some USM and bulky machine clips and edited a very short video.  Now I find out that eBay won't allow the posting of video from YouTube any more, so I enrolled in their "free" app Vzaar, which has limited bandwidth unless you pay a whopping fee.  I had to re- re-edited my video to make it small enough for Vzaar to upload it and handle it, and tried again.  Then it said it added it to the listing and what it really did was create a big empty spot in the listing.  Took it down again, re-edited the listing, and gave up for now.

eBay charges so much for a listing - over 10% of each sale on this one - plus all the listing fees - but I put up with them because it's a way to get the information out there.  I view my mission as popularizing and teaching MK, and eBay gets eyeballs.  Once a person buys a product from me on eBay, I send a business card along with their item, plus the videos and books always talk about my blog in an effort to get the person to visit here and get in on all the MK information I put on the blog.

What a disappointment that I can't get video into my ads, at least not unless one of you is knowledgeable and willing to give me a lesson.  Does anyone out there know how to do this?

8 comments:

  1. Diana, you could just post a link to your YouTube video. I've seen people doing that.
    ~ Iryna

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  2. I tried also, and gave up. Good Luck! Linda

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  3. I might try that again. When I've tried to post links before (because I want to bring traffic to the blog) I've had eBay give me trouble.

    I will do some research later on to see what other people are doing.

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  4. Here's a link to the acceptable video hosting sites. http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-links.html

    You Tube is included.

    What trouble are you getting when you try? I've very eBay-savvy (although I have not linked videos) and I'd be happy to help where I might.

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  5. If I try to embed YouTube video, eBay stops putting up the listing and delivers an error message that my HTML contains one of the prohibited commands. The culprit is an IFRAME HTML command, I recall.

    If I try to include a link, I'll get a message in a day or two threatening to take down the listing unless I get rid of the link.

    If I use Vzaar to embed the video, it just makes an empty space in the listing and does not display the video.

    I have enjoyed eBay for years, mainly as a shopper, and am getting disgusted with the extremely high fees, and this is just another annoyance. Paypal is problematic, too, if you're a merchant (which I have gradually become) instead of an ordinary consumer. I really should look into some other marketing ideas, like Etsy or some other auction sites.

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  6. Thanks for the link information, Lynne. I only tried YouTube and Vzaar, and I'll just have to try some of the other video sites.

    Sigh. This is a perfect example of the kind of unproductive effort that interferes with me getting any designing or knitting done...

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  7. Hi, had same problem. but fixed after I watched this youtube video. see how you go. video won't appear in your preview but once you upload your ebay listing, videos appear and work perfectly.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV1TcmhAdmc

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  8. Thank you so much Ala. Your youtube link was a godsend. Thank you so much. My ebay item now has video HURRAH!

    Thank you Diana for your post. I hope you have been successful selling your items.
    Best wishes,
    ETC

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