eBay Banning Active Content
- eBay set to ban all active content within stores and templates from mid-2017
- Active content is anything powered by JavaScript’s, plug-ins, flash and form actions
- Customers with active content on their eBay stores will need to make changes eventually
What is “Active Content” and why is eBay banning it?
The recent announcements made by eBay have left many sellers wondering what is it and why is it happening? Basically active content is anything powered by JavaScript’s, plug-ins, flash and form actions so that will include rotating slideshows, videos, shipping calculators, cross selling widgets and more.
The reason for the impending ban is that the use of active content in listings, including JavaScript, Flash, plug-ins and form actions, inhibits purchases on mobile devices and can lead to abuse in the marketplace. It also slows down loading times for the pages and makes eBay more vulnerable to security breaches, particularly when used on mobile devices.
How will that affect my eBay Store Design?
If you’ve had an eBay store customised and designed by a third party provider then you most likely have “active content”. Don’t worry though as you are not alone, what you may not realise is that almost all customised eBay stores contain some sort of active content and once eBay enforces the removal, everyone will experience certain issues with the listing templates and stores. So what you will need to do get help from your eBay design provider and discuss doing a re-design to have the active content removed from your eBay site in order to become compliant.
How do I know if I have “Active Content”?
You can check if your listings contain active content by using the i-ways Checker: http://www.i-ways.net/mobile-friendly/en-au/
Will the changes impact my business/sales?
No, the changes should not impact your business and you should not see a decline in sales as everyone with a customised store and listing is in the same boat and dealing with the same issues which can easily be overcome through a new design which we can easily do. The only way your business would be impacted is if you were to do nothing and have your listing blocked by eBay come June 2017. This is why we strongly recommend that you speak to us and look into upgrading as soon as you can in order to avoid having your listings blocked down the track, this way you can manage the change and stay on top.
What’s the plan from Get Online Store?
All of our work starting from September 2016 is active content free and we will continue to provide our customers with not only the design that they need, but also the functions, tools and support that will help them drive and convert sales on eBay but making sure our customers are eBay compliant and active content free.
We are proud to announce that all of our work is now active content free and eBay compliant and our store packages and have been selling very well with lots of great feedback so far. This means that you can trust and rely on us to design and build a fully customised store with all the bells and whistles you had before, all being compliant for changes in 2017.
As stated earlier, we do recommend that you get in contact with us whether you are after a new design or an upgrade and we can discuss with you the best options going forward.