Hey all...now that eBay is letting put videos directly into our auctions, are there any plans for AW to help us manage them like we now do for our pictures? That'd be so cool...I just had an auction where I used a video, but I had to put the code in the description part.

Thanks.

Linda,

I don't know. I did see that capability appear in the last few weeks on eBay. Let's ask and see.

Okay who is gonna email Thom and ask about it???

Now where did you get the code from for the video? Because if you have the code, why couldn't you convert your Listing template to HTML and add the code into the images section. hummm,

do you have the code somewhere you could email me?? I wanna try it.

Judy/blue

I don't mind e-mailing Thom, but I'm just not at the level he is so I don't know how to ask him about these things. Also, I don't know if the number of auctions that would benefit from video would justify Thom and his crew going through the trouble. It did help me with this auction, and I've got a couple of lava lamps I plan to use videos with...but, there might be others who could benefit from a video of their motion and sound videos...like music boxes, etc

If it is too much trouble, I'll just continue to use photobucket. but I don't like that big Photobucket ad on the bottom of the video..

Linda,

Did Photobucket provide the code? Or did you get is somewhere else?

Judy/blue

Judy, I'm not sure my first post with the auction listing went through..but the auction where I had the video is: http://cgi.ebay.com/Nude-Female-Lamp-Art-Deco-Style-Colorful-Kitschy_W0QQitemZ160118778563QQihZ006QQcategoryZ4054QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Judy, this link might work better. But if it doesn't, my eBay ID is Peach67 and you can search on completed items for the nude lamp: http://cgi.ebay.com/Nude-Female-Lamp-Art-Deco-Style-Colorful-Kitschy_W0QQitemZ160118778563QQihZ006QQcategoryZ4054QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Ok - yes, Photobucket provided the code. Sorry I'm having such a hard time figuring out how to respond logically here.

Linda,

Did you actually take the video and upload it to Photobucket? I am thinking this may be doable using HTML in the LIsting template. But I need to know how you obtained the video images.

Oh, I am just kidding you. I will email Thom about it. He is use to me emailing with "how about this suggestion"

I am just full of ideas. Now if those ideas can be implemented is the trick

Judy/blue

Oh wow...it's been hard getting the info to you. But, here's how I did it:

1. I shot the video using the video function on my camera, and then edited it, adding the music. I used Windows Movie Maker. Downloaded a music clip I liked, and imported it.
2. Saved it as a video file (forget the file extension)
3. Uploaded it to Photobucket
4. Copied the Photobucket code, and inserted it into the "description" part of my auction - I did not insert it into the template.

And there you have it...came out just fine. Did you see the auction & get an idea of what I did?

Thanks.

Lindaa

Linda,

OH my you are not having a hard time at all. I am following you. Well, now, do you have a copy of that code???? as I have an "ideeeee"""

Remember I am the nutty lady with all the ideas.

Judy/blue

Judy, I tried to reply to you outside this forum using my e-mail, but am not sure you got it...the code is:

<embed width="430" height="389" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://vid24.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid24.photobucket.com/albums/c12/lindanorby/FemaleLamp.flv"></embed>

Linda,

Thanks,...Yes I looked at the auction. very nice indeed.

I found the code by looking at the source. You must have an account at Photobucket? I am wondering, I am wondering, I am wondering. Humm, I might have to mess with this. I have an idea or two.

this is most dangerous for me to get an idea or two

Judy/blue

Oh yes...my dear I AM having a hard time. I'm not getting a security blanket sort of feeling that my messages are getitng thru...but, by God, they must be!

Linda,

Oh thank you. I had found the code by viewing the source. But this verifies what I found. Plus I don't have to save it at home then remember to move it to work so I can mess around with a couple of ideas.

Judy/blue

I do have an account at Photobucket...absolutely free, zip, nadda...everyone uses it to put pics on eBay. Haven't been able to figure out to this day how Photobucket can do this - musts have something to do with advertising on their site.

But, my druthers would be to store the videos on my own site, and have the magic of AW manage them...uploading, deleting after so much time, etc.

Linda,

I'll try to work on an idea or two in the next few days. The player is just the regular media player. So the video is simply uploaded to a particular folder at Photobucket. It may be doable, I just don't know until I give it a good ole country whirl to see.

Judy/blue

Linda,

Well, I think you are doing just fine. I am tracking with you all the way. Maybe it is just the "girl" talking and how we girls can communicate but I am not having a hard time following you at all. You have been most helpful providing information!

Now, to find that security blankie to send to you!!

Judy/blue

Judy, can you keep us posted on what you find out? It is a simple windows medial player, & It hink most folks have that by now...if they don't, well, they're probably light years behind and don't deservie to the video in the first place :-) (I hope that didn't sound too mean)

Linda,

No no no that doesn't sound mean at all. I agree. The media player is installed on most computers now when you get them. And it only takes a minute to install if you don't. So no big deal.

I will let you know what I find out.

Judy/blue

Linda,

If I had my silly digital camera home with me tonight, I would try my first "experiment" But I left it at work laying on the photo table.

Judy/blue

Linda--

I have no doubt you got a better price because of the video presentation. I can think of a few items that I wish I'd presented with video.

BTW, there may be a market for the presentation video clip itself.

Ned

Hey guys!

I don't want to throw a wrench in this machine you are working on but when did AW2000 get compatible with photobucket????

Historically we haven't been able to use photobucket with AW2000, just thought I would ask!!

Sorry!

But I don't see why the code wouldn't find the file on any other host and work, maybe.

Marty

Marty,

AW2000 isn't compatible with Photobucket. But Linda is embedding the code in the description field and uploading the edited video clip to Photobucket herself.

You are right about the code working. Replace the Photobucket and file name with your image hosting and your file name. The biggee is figuring out a method for AW2000 to upload and manage.

I have an idea but I don't know if it will work or not.

Judy/blue

Gotcha...I thought that that may be what was going on but,
I just thought that Linda may have been hosting the images there and I wondered how that was possible, now I see!!

And I have no doubt that you will find a way to work this out!

Good luck!

Marty

Marty,

Well thanks for the vote of confidence. We shall see I really hope my one idea works. As it would be so cool.

How's your wife??

Judy/blue

Judy,

You are welcome, you've got my vote!
Thanks for asking about my wife, she is doing well however she has a treatment tomorrow and we were just talking about what it may bring. We are staying positive and expect the best but each of the past treatments have brought different side effects. We hope that we have the process figured out this time and it will go smoother. You really get to appreciate the "normal" days that come just before the next treatment. But after this one we only have one more treatment and boy are we looking forward to that! Again all still looks real positive when we look at the big picture, THANKS AGAIN TO ALL THAT HAVE PUT THOSE PRAYERS OUT!!! We really feel the support and know God is faithful!

Stay prayerful!

Marty

Marty,

I thought I remembered you said she went this week for more treatment. She's got my prayers for a good treatment, with no side effects and her body responds well to the treatment. She is totally healed!

Keep me posted.

Judy/blue

Y'know, if AW2K would separate FTP management from display, it'd work just fine.

Imagine this:

Right now, I think you can only associate JPG files with an Auction Lot. What if you could associate any file type (like Linda's video) and have AW handle the FTP management?

Imagine this:

1) Associate your files with an Auction Lot (like the Add Image... buttton now). AW would see that it wasn't a JPG, and realize it only had to worry about FTP, not display.

2) Do your FTP upload, but not the auction listings.

3) Root around in the remote FTP directory and find your uploaded files. Hey, maybe AW could provide that info after the FTP upload in the Auction Lot. "I don't know what these files are, but here's the URL for each one of them."

4) Yep, put those URLs in your code in the auction.

5) List the auction.

6) AW takes care of cleaning up the FTP directory after the auction closes, just as it does now for JPGs.

If it turns out that a particular kind of file is really popular, then perhaps there could be special support for that file type, as there is now for JPGs.

The process I've described above would work with any file type. You'd gain the benefit of AW's FTP management, with flexibility that goes well with Pure HTML.

Ned

Ned,

Aw2000 supports 7 image file types, BMP, JPG,PCX, PNG, TGA, TIF, PSD. The list is in the help files in Images | Managing images.

Now you are thinking along some of the same lines I am thinking. And what if the video clips were saved in one of the supported file types, The individual video clips added to Aw2k. The video code added into the Listing template. The URL would be written already and uploaded as well. The individual images would be displayed in both the image spaces and display as a video clip as well. It might work. I am going to try it. All it can do is not work

Judy/blue

In reply to:

---

Aw2000 supports 7 image file types, BMP, JPG,PCX, PNG, TGA, TIF, PSD

---

OK, so AW supports a number of image file types. But they're still all static images.

My point is that if AW would simply do FTP management of any and every file the user associated with an auction, then we'd have huge flexibility without AW having specialized code to support putting those files in listings.

How about mp3s? Or maybe aromas? "I'm getting 7% higher final values since I started making my listings smell like chocolate!" OK, the aroma technology isn't here yet, but if it arrives tomorrow some of us will want to use it immediately. An AW that does Pure FTP Management would let those people do so without waiting for an update to AW.

Once again, if a file type is really, really popular, Thom & Co. could decide to add easy-to-use support for its display and perhaps to edit it. Until that time, AW users who want to use that file type could do so if they're willing to do their own coding and still get the benefit of AW's nifty FTP Management.

Ned

did someone say "CHOCOLATE" I love chocolate. Can't eat it but I just love it. I love to smell it, imagine what it tastes like. ymm, yumm, yummm.
So AW2000 is now going to suppport adding smell of chocolate to our Listings. How cool!

I'll be serious. I understand what you mean. I emailed the AW2000 tech concerning the suggestion. Maybe I should ask about the ability to add aromas to our listings as well.

Judy/blue

Hi, I thought I had already sent this but apparently I did something wrong. Anyway just got back over here and want to thank Judy et al for looking into this. My idea too was that AW would allow us to manage any file type..

Marty, I don't know you and your wife, but read that you and she are going through a medical crisis. You both are in my prayers too.

Linda,

Thank you for your prayerful support. We had another treatment yesterday and today has been a REAL rough one. But we keep focusing on the tomorrow and that God is faithful and He will get us through this and the support of others is all part of that promise.

Thanks again to all,

Marty

Marty,

She has been on my mind all day today. I am glad you let us know. I'm sorry today has been rough. When you hold her hand and pray, know this, there are hundreds of others joining with you both. And there is power in agreement.

Judy/blue

Marty:
Thanks so much for letting us know how things are going. I'm so sorry to hear that today was a rough day after chemo. Just know that prayers are there for both of you. When the day is the darkest and the rough time is at its most horrible - God's loving hands will be there to hold both of you. Remember to take care of yourself also - that is important and it helps your wife also.

Garry

Garry,
Thanks, great advice! I guess that means I should find the pillow since it's 1am! I have been running a crazy schedule doing things when I can and taking care of the important things in life! Fortunately most of my restoration clients have been understanding, however some for whatever reason think their queen anne chair is more important, so I cater with love, and pray for them.
I'm off to rest catch you all after the sun rises!
Thanks again,

Marty

Linda,

There is a small problem with embedded videos. At this time eBay only allows a few sites to host the embedded videos. All hosting sites must be approved by eBay. Now I did not find Photobucket in that list. You might be careful about using Photobucket's code. If you get caught eBay can cancel your auction. and/or suspend the seller.

Next step, find out what needs to be done for individual seller's hosting site to be approved. Nothing is ever simple, is it???

Judy/blue

Judy said

In reply to:

---

Next step, find out what needs to be done for individual seller's hosting site to be approved

---

While you're at it, ask about aroma files .

Are Flash presentations acceptable? Are we allowed to host them ourselves?

Ned

Ned,

I sent an aroma request to AW2000 tech support. No response But then I specified chocolate. Maybe I should have requested any fragrance.

Evidently the videos can only be hosted by one of the five or six approved sites. Here is the link to the announcement:

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200706.shtml#2007-06-01120450

and then the explicit policy down about half way on the page

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-links.html

It doesn't appear to me that any of us can host our own even using flash as flash it what is required.

Judy/blue

Ned:

With all of the new LCD screens it will be an easy thing soon to embed "Scratch & Sniff" technology into eBay auctions. However, eBay will want to sniff out the code and approve it before uploading. I'm sure lots of sellers will be raising a stink over eBays usual heavy handed approach.

Scritch, scritch, scratch. Hmmm wet dog. Yuk

Garry

Hi, All,

Did some checking. eBay's current link policy for videos does indeed only state six (6) hosting sites are approved for hosting videos. and Photobucket is not one of those sites. Which means, videos hosted at Photobucket are non-compliant and listings containing those unapproved videos are subject to removal.

So although, being able to have AW2000 handle videos is probably doable, it is not yet practical until eBay approves sellers to host their own videos on their own sites. As we all do with our Auction images.

eBay has a list of what the "approved sites" must do to become "approved"

Judy/blue