posted on October 12, 2005 05:01:25 AM
I got an email from a buyer this morning that has me confused, can anyone give a clue as to what is going on?
"By the way, my computer locks up every time I try to look at your ebay store items. It doesn't happen with any other sites. Just wanted to let you know in case others are experiencing the same thing."
posted on October 12, 2005 05:54:26 AM
It sounds like their computer not an Ebay issue - if you'd like to give your user ID, I'd be glad to take a look and see if anything happens to my computer.
Tell them to clear their cache - it sounds like that may be their problem - but I'm not a computer whiz.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on October 12, 2005 06:16:56 AM
Thanks guys, yes, I think the problem is with her computer. I have asked a couple of other people to look, and they had no problems. I think maybe she used the word "store" for all my auctions. My regular auctions have a lot of pictures, and if she has dial up, may be it timing out. Thanks for the offer Caroline, I prefer to remain anonymous on the board, "big brother" may be watching!
posted on October 12, 2005 06:50:37 AM
Another thought ... If she's using an older browser (especially Netscape), and if you happen to have an unclosed/misplaced HTML tag(s) in your auction, sometimes that can cause a browser to crash.
posted on October 12, 2005 08:24:41 AM
I know! I know! (or at least I think I do!)
I had a similar problem happen with my listings at one point. It's a lengthy explanation (that took me and the folks here at Vendio several weeks to figure out).
Here's my bet... are you using an Adobe product to edit your pictures with? If so... that may be the problem. Newer versions of Adobe support the full capabilities of the JPEG file format. It allows them to include EXIF data (the type of stuff that you get when you take pictures with digital cameras) along with the JPEG file. JPEG has always been intended to be able to store this additional information... it's just for a long time, no companies really were taking advantage of it.
Anyhow... the problem occurs because MICROSOFT (in its infinate wisdom) decided that it wouldn't support JPEGs with embedded EXIF data on certain versions of their operating system / Internet Explorer. So... what happens... is if you are using the wrong version of Internet Explorer on the wrong windows operating system..... when you view a JPEG with this EXIF data in it... it crashes not only Internet Explorer... but it also makes the entire operating system unstable! (I think one of those unlucky combinations was Windows 2000 and I.E. 6). Now... it's worth pointing out that not all combinations of Windows and I.E. have this problem... just certain ones do. So, it would explain why only some of your bidders have a problem.
The fix for this... is when you're using Adobe products... always choose the "Save for web" option, rather than saving it directly as a JPEG. This way the EXIF data is stripped, and you are left with a clean JPEG. Once again... computer users have to take two steps backwards to play nice with Microsoft's poorly written products.
I told you this was lengthy... but I hope it helps! The last thing you want to do as an eBay seller is put images on the web that are going to crash your potential customers computers!
posted on October 12, 2005 08:56:02 AM
Thank you so much eauctionmgnt, yes, I use an old version of Adobe, I love it. I've tried other products, and newer Adobe, but none of them do what I want. I will certainly try to use the "save to web" option. I had no idea there was even a problem until this buyer wrote, no one else has mentioned it.
posted on October 12, 2005 07:21:32 PMAmber Alert!,
The JPEG EXIF data problem only occurs with Adobe Photoshop 6 and above, but can be solved with the previouly mentioned "Save for Web" option.
You should always optimize your online images to reduce bandwidth so your auctions and webpages load faster... but remember to keep backup copies of the original image.
Home of the best eBay auction fee & PayPal calculators: http://auctionfeecalculator.com
posted on October 12, 2005 07:48:18 PM
I am using the Adobe Photodeluxe home edition 3.1, so do I still need to "save to web". I am going to make my pictures smaller in case that is the problem.
Caroline 