Expert: Marvinator - 5/30/2005

Question
Hello Marvinator,

I was wondering how to put the pictures of the item in the description instead of paying 15 cents for eBay rates.  I copy and paste, but then when I view the item the picture doesn't show there's a frame of a picture and a red small cross signaling the picture cannot be viewed, I wonder if its a format of it or something else

thanks

Answer
First, let me take a moment to point out that using Ebay picture services costs you nothing for one picture.  It's only when you want to use more than one picture that you pay the 15¢ for each extra picture.  

It's quite easy to place pictures into your auction description by using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language).  Remember that the page you are viewing is made up of HTML Code and each picture you place, must therefore be 'coded' in.  Now, don't go screaming into the night, learning to code in pictures takes almost nothing.  

Step One.  You MUST have your pictures residing on a webserver.  Check with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) as most offer a small amount of 'WebSpace' for free as part of your account. If you don't have any webspace through your ISP, take a look around the net for some free webspace.  (Photobucket.com is one of the many out there were you can 'host' your own pictures and it works well with Ebay.)  Make sure that the webserver allows 'hotlinking' or 'picture hosting'.  Some (like Geocities.com) do not and your efforts will leave you with nothing.

Most of these free places will also have a way to transfer your pictures one by one up to the webspace.  (Using FTP or File Transfer Protocol.) Once the picture is on the webspace, it automatically has it's own URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or it's own "Address" where the pic can be viewed.

As an example, let's suppose you have a picture file named "pictureone.jpg".  Then lets suppose you upload it to a photo hosting site called PicturePlace.com (I made that up...)  In order to upload pics you will need an account (remember look for the FREE ones) and let's again assume that your new PicturePlace.com account is named "robspics".  Once the pic is uploaded, it look something like this:

http://www.pictureplace.com/robspics/pictureone.jpg

(Note: The URL of the photo will show up in the Address bar of your browser when you view the pic.  Be sure that you're looking at the picture and not a page showing you the picture.  Your URL should end with the filename exactly as you uploaded it.)

Step Two.  Now you're ready to put up your auction and code in the picture.  In the description space o the Sell Your Item Form, you will place the following code:
<img src="http://www.pictureplace.com/robspics/pictureone.jpg">

HTML Code is made up of TAGS placed between the two brackets "<" and ">" and be sure you have placed the URL properly, not forgotten any dots, slashes, etc.  

Once the auction description is saved, the picture will be downloaded from PicturePlace.com by the browser and appear in the description.  You can do a dozen pics this way and it costs you nothing.   That's all there is to it.

Notes:  You really need to be careful when loading a lot of pictures on to a single auciton.  Always be sure that they are not too large and do not slow down the load of the auction page itself.  Slow page loads will cost you sales.

If you have any trouble, feel free to write me again.