Advanced Turbo lister: Multiple picture urls in a csv import

[vinndinh]

I am trying to revamp my ebay store with all new photos and description templates (trying to cut the customer service-less Auctiva out of the picture).

I have been using File Exchange up until now but from all the reading I have done it is impossible to have more than 1 ebay picture (the pictures people cycle through on their smartphones and tablets) with File Exchange. Everything I have seen says the pictures need to be already hosted with ebay picture services and ebay dropped the functionality of adding pictures to their hosting services unless you are uploading them in a listing (no bulk upload function)

So I noticed I can take my CSV for file exchange and import it into Turbo lister and turbo lister populates all the fields. However under the Picture field I have my Pic1url|Pic2url|Pic3url|Pic4url|etc. but turbo lister (and ebay when uploaded through file exchange) only takes the first URL.

As I said, the troubleshooting I've read on this for File Exchange says multiple urls only work when the pictures are already hosted on ebay. You cannot bulk upload pictures to ebay picture services. The functionality for multiple urls that are not hosted on ebay is currently not there.

Please help? I don't want to manually have to do this. Is there a way I can add other columns to the excel CSV that have pic1, pic2, pic3 etc? I can do paths on my storage drive or self hosted images. Let me know if anyone else has had this problem and what the solution was.

Thanks in advance.

[kalvin@ebay.com]

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@vinndinh wrote:

I am trying to revamp my ebay store with all new photos and description templates (trying to cut the customer service-less Auctiva out of the picture).

I have been using File Exchange up until now but from all the reading I have done it is impossible to have more than 1 ebay picture (the pictures people cycle through on their smartphones and tablets) with File Exchange. Everything I have seen says the pictures need to be already hosted with ebay picture services and ebay dropped the functionality of adding pictures to their hosting services unless you are uploading them in a listing (no bulk upload function)

So I noticed I can take my CSV for file exchange and import it into Turbo lister and turbo lister populates all the fields. However under the Picture field I have my Pic1url|Pic2url|Pic3url|Pic4url|etc. but turbo lister (and ebay when uploaded through file exchange) only takes the first URL.

As I said, the troubleshooting I've read on this for File Exchange says multiple urls only work when the pictures are already hosted on ebay. You cannot bulk upload pictures to ebay picture services. The functionality for multiple urls that are not hosted on ebay is currently not there.

Please help? I don't want to manually have to do this. Is there a way I can add other columns to the excel CSV that have pic1, pic2, pic3 etc? I can do paths on my storage drive or self hosted images. Let me know if anyone else has had this problem and what the solution was.

Thanks in advance.

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Hi vinndinh,

Listing Tools Support are on here from time to time, but if they reply to you soon, please reach out to them via Customer Support.

Thanks,

[draex@ebay.com]

Hi vinndinh,

The eBay system will only allow you to have one webhosted image show in the Gallery view and within the Mobile App.  Any other URL presented would be embedded into the HTML of the Description.

Within the PicURL field for File Exchange, you can only have one webhosted image, or 12 images that have already been hosted on the eBay site.  The only other way to get multiple images using File Exchange is to embed them into your Description using HTML.  If you would like more information about using eBay hosting, please refer to the following page:

http://developer.ebay.com/DevZone/XML/docs/Reference/eBay/UploadSiteHostedPictures.html 

Regards,

Draex

eBay Seller Tools Support

[vinndinh]

Hi Draex,

The link you gave me does to a redirect that takes me here: https://go.developer.ebay.com/

I managed to find this though

http://developer.ebay.com/DevZone/large-merchant-services/Concepts/LMS_APIGuide.html

ctrl+f "Uploading Externally Hosted Pictures"

That sounds like the functionality I need but everything about the LMS is talking about 10,000+ items. Is this the only way to have your pictures added to EPS before you create a listing?

The way it is described there is perfect. Upload the images and you get a response with the links an a use by date. That would be awesome if it was available to users using file exchange.

At some point I want to add some multi-sku items and it is going to be very difficult with only one picture in EPS. I know when I see multi-skus that aren't set up properly with corresponding skus & pics in the EPS I just move on to one that is setup properly.

[vinndinh]

Draex,

I've done some reading and think I have figured out the eBay API developer stuff. Question for you about the uploaded pictures

I was reading the "FAQs on eBayPictureServices (EPS) and the UploadSiteHostedPictures API call" and "Managing images using eBay Picture Services (EPS)"

They both have references towards the affect of "If the uploaded images are not used in a listing within five days for Trading API calls and within ten days for Large Merchant Services calls then unassociated pictures are automatically deleted after that period."

Now using API calls to upload my listings is far too complicated for me to learn. I've only recently got used to using file exchange and if I get less than 5% errors than I am happy. My question is: Do I have to create listings using API for the images to stay hosted on EPS or can I use the URLS in my file exchange csv and that will prevent them from being removed?

This is all based off the fact that the only way to use multiple pictures in the PicURL field of file exchange is to have them listed on EPS. If I'm wrong about that please let me know.

If I am correct this far, one more question. Can I upload to my self host, use the UploadSiteHostedPictures API call to add them to EPS and then remove from my self host? This method is easiest for me because my images are already uploaded and sorted (moreso than on my computer) on my self host.

Last request is that you could point me towards a working sample file of a UploadSiteHostedPictures API call that includes multiple pictures? I am confused as to where I enter the information to do multiple pictures at the same time. PHP is the easiest for me.

Thanks for all your time.