What is wrong with my pictures?

[gem-n-i-gemstonz]

Hi again everyone,

I do not know what is wrong with my pictures. I have been using VillagePhotos.com to hos my pictures, because there are quite a few auctions I do that require more than one picture, and eBays system was just costing too much with all those extra 10 cents and 15 cents.

But, about once a month, suddenly, my pictures can no longer be seen. That is, the pictures which I am providing a link to in the body of my text. (The eBay picture service photo that I use is fine).I have tried redoing the upload to that site. I have tried resaving from another program in jpeg AGAIN.

VillagePhotos.com is not down....there is nothing wrong with thier site. So what is happening to my pictures?

Can anyone help? It would be very much appreciated!

Thanks,

Jaqui

[north-of-55]

Sorry, I have no idea. We use boomspeed, and while sometimes loading photos can take some time it has worked very well.

[amberwoodottawa]

You are using their server(s) and there can be periods when their servers are heavily taxed by people downloading all the materials they have on their servers which I assume is not limited to just your pictures.

We run our own server and there are days when we get thousands of hits (downloads) even if we may only be running a few auctions. If the majority of those hits come at the same time, perhaps a popular time during the day, our system can run somewhat slower and the result be that the pictures, for some may not appear quickly or perhaps at all if they people have a dial up connection.

Also, when you say "VillagePhotos.com is not down", do they just have one server? Its possible that you can access their web site on one of their servers but your pictures are possibly stored on another server which could be down.

And lastly, most servers have to go down periodically for all sorts of things including system and software updates. While you ideally want the server with your pics to only go down in the middle of the night, it doesnt always happen that way.

Sometimes the downtime can be a maintenance issue (to update) and other times accidental.

My son is the techie behind our eBay business and he usually does his updates between 2 and 4am (Great having teenagers who stay up all night).

Server updates are not a daily thing but more frequent than most people realize.

Malcolm

[gem-n-i-gemstonz]

Hi Malcolm,

Thanks for the info.

When I say thet VillagePhotots is not down, I mean that I can go and use thier site, including upload pics, and see my "album".

Sometimes the pictures that are not working stay that way for days. While others of my pics on the same site work just fine. This is part of what is confusing me. Why would one work and not the other. It almost seems to "time out".

I have begun to think that ebay is going around somehow "shooting down" all pics that people get to use for "free" from other hosting services, without using ebays hosting service. 😉

I am checking out another hosting service to see if that works a bit better, but would like to get to the bottom of this so that I can fix it in the future.

Jaqui

[amberwoodottawa]

Jaqui

Cant be true about eBay shutting down the links for at least 3 reasons I can immediately think of:
1. Our pictures have not been affected and we host our pics, our product description, terms etc.
2.It is presently allowed by eBay and they could get into alot of trouble if they allowed it while trying to stop it behind the scene. They would be open to some sizeble lawsuits.
3. eBay makes alot of money from listings as well as sales and while these extras (pics etc) bring them extra cash, if they prohibited everyone from being able to use outside hosting of their pirctures and descriptions and terms etc. they would ikely loose more revenue than they would make.

I for one would not pay eBay to run the same type of ads I am currently running with my pics, terms and descriptions hosted by them as my costs would eat too far into my pocket book. I would likely have crappy looking, minimal cost ads for a while with decreasing sales.

That means less commission for eBay and less commission for PayPal due to fewer sales. They dont want that.

There is no question in my mind that the problem is with the company hosting your pics or the link to their server. It is possible the links from your eBay ads to your pics are not correct.

I assume that when you list your items, you provide a link using HTML to the server hosting your pictures? I dont know how you list so I dont want to guess but when we list, we provide eBay with HTML coded description which puts in our ad layout, product description, terms and links to our pictures.

We could link to any server (if I had the address to where your pictures are stored, as an example, I could link your pictures to our ad. That is why some people place their name on a corner as a copyright onto their pictures.

As an example, when you are looking at someones pictures on eBay, move your mouse over the picture and you will see what I mean when you then look in the URL address box.

Malcolm

[ospreylinks]

Malcolm,

I am interested to know why you run your own server vrs leasing space on an ISP's server?

I rent space on my ISP's server for both hosting my graphic images for Ebay auctions and also to host our web-site.....Costs me about $30.00/month.

Jeff

[amberwoodottawa]

Jeff
Answer; Costs me NOTHING!!! That's $360 more per year for me to enjoy and not someone else.

This follows a thread I voiced an opinion in earlier today. There are a thousand people out there who are ready to take our hard earned cash and they take no risks, whereas we take all the risks.

I prefer to maximize my profits and minimize my expense and I like complete control over my business. I see in the threads the problems people have with third party services and the dilemas they face.

They dont know what the problem is, they cant fix the problem, they dont know if the 3rd party is telling them the truth about the problem etc etc.

The truth of the matter is with my son as a partner, I have the people resources to run our own server whereas it would be too difficult and time-consuming for alot of people to do the same.

$30 per month is a good deal. It is not the $30 per month for me, despite what I said in earlier paragraphs, it is the control.

Outside of needing a company to deliver my products (CP)and needing eBay as a marketing and selling tool, I control and manage 100% of my business.

Long answer for a short question.

I guess I am getting tired (Buyer just did a BIN and his email address with ebay is an old one). I'll have to call him in the morning and get his correct email address.

Malcolm

[ospreylinks]

Thanks Malcolm....

Techincal question now.....how do you get your server linked to the internet....it has to have some kind of dedicated line.....

And do you also do your own webhosting on your server?

Jeff

[amberwoodottawa]

Jeff
I'll get my son, the techie to answer your question later. Yes we do our own web hosting but we dont host other peoples web sites. We have the capacity to host hundreds of sites.

Basically we run our server off a Rogers internet cable connection. My son has had many discussions with Rogers as there were times they attempted to mess up the networking side of it however we have it completely under control.

We had a high-end battery back up until recently it burned out. If our power went down, we were able to keep up our server for about 4 hours. Time to buy a new one.

We use Microsoft Server 2000 as the operating system for our server and have several computers networked together each with a different operating system. I switched from Microsoft ME to XP however I have XP, ME and 2000 server loaded on my system, my daughter was using 98 but switched to ME and my son runs with the Server 2000 program.

My son has done about 20 or so web pages for businesses but he prefers not to be the web master of other company's sites, even though he could have a nice monthly residual income from it.

He enjoys designing them and he enjoys technical challenges. So I have a 24 hour on-house techie at my disposal wh I made my business partner.

I am teaching him business, but not allowing him to teach me the new technical stuff. I go back to Fortran programming that I learned in 1968, punch cards etc. I created some complicated mathematical and analysis software programs and participated in several major hardware conversions with a couple of major companies.

While not my profession, I was always at the forefront of technology but lost all interest after Windows 95 came out. It took the fun out of what I knew and made using the computer too simple. I have fallen so far behind that I no longer bother trying to keep up.

Heaven help me if my son ever moves away from home.

Malcolm

[ospreylinks]

Thanks Malcolm,

I would be interested in talking to your son about the technical details of setting up our own server....it may not be worth it in the end for me, but I also like to dabble in the techie stuff (not that I am very good), but is entertaining, especially with the golf season now ended, may give me something to do to keep the old noodle excercised over the winter months.

I do all of my own web coding - fairly proficient in html, but would like to learn more advanced stuff as time and patience allows....

My phone number at Osprey Links is (705) 752-5225, however I wouldn't expect him to call me.... have him email me his name and number and when might be a good time to chat. My email is jeff@ospreylinksgolf.com

Cheers! and thanks!

Jeff

[amberwoodottawa]

Jeff,
I'll have him email you. His name is Braydon, great kid, smart as heck.

He does it all Flash etc etc. He worked for a computer company here last year but was laid off due to the downturn in the high tech industry in Ottawa.

I am a business consultant and a big contract I was on (legal matter) had a mistrial called by a Judge and all of a sudden I had free time on my hands so we put this business together.

I have started and bought several businesses over the years. I owned (with partners)a $40 million company in Atlanta with manufacturing plants in LA and Dallas but have simply been providing consulting services to all sorts of businesses including fast food franchisors, property management companies, large elctrical and mechanical contractors, retail businesses and even law firms for the last 8 years.

I guess that is why I dont get into the newer technology the way I used to as the old brain gets tired with all the other things I remain involved in.

Example in point, I leave for Toronto on Sunday and will be in Sudbury on Wednesday and back here Friday providing further consulting services to some businesses I have a long relationship with.

At least I dont get bored.

Malcolm

PS Golf season is far from over in Georgia where I used to live and in Florida there will be the rush of Snow Birds to the greens with the first snow flake that hits Toronto.

[ospreylinks]

Malcolm,

Just to give you Geography, I am in Callander, ON, which is just on the border of North Bay.

My wife grew up in the Sudbury area (Creighton Mine).

Personally I am not a fan of Sudbury.... too much rock for my liking.....

Look forward to hearing from your son!

Jeff

[ospreylinks]

Oh.... and my apologies to the author of this for taking it somewhat off topic!


Jeff

[ospreylinks]

Malcolm....

As a matter of fact.... to the best of my knowledge, there is no practical way to get to Sudbury from Ottawa without travelling through North Bay!

Not that you didn't already know....it was just a revelation that popped into my head and thought I should share it with all!!!!

Jeff

[amberwoodottawa]

Jeff
Driven thru and stopped many times over the last 4 years in North Bay. Long long haul Ottawa to Sudbury.
I drove up a couple of years ago to Sudbury, had a 4 hour meeting and drove home (15 hours in total) No fun at all for a one-day trip on that killer Hwy with all the logging trucks and Quebec Hydro trucks.

I hope I am not insulting anyone but I dont like the rock either but it pays the bills.

Say hi to Mike Harris for me.

Malcolm

[ospreylinks]

I use to work for Mike in his golf pro days.... was actually his assistant and when he went into politics I took over for him at the course that he ran....

Still keep in touch, see him half a dozen times a summer.

So I will be sure to pass on my best wishes!

Jeff

PS - Braydon emailed me a note this AM... thanks!

Man, this has gone so far from the original topic!

[amberwoodottawa]

WANT TO START A NEW THREAD?
I dont know Mike personally although I worked as a business consultant with a long-time Conservative supporter that was close to Harris, Mulroney and Clark (put lots and lots and lots of $$$$ into their campaigns).

I was to take on a 3 week contract and ended up as a VP of about 8 companies this guy owned and stayed on for about 10 months longer than I should have. Fool that I am I assisted him for at least another 15 months over the next 3 years on and off between other contracts.

Definately none of this has anything to do with pictures or whatever else this thread started out to be!

[deltone]

Osprey, ask him if he's going to throw his hat back into politics. LOL Although I said I don't talk politics on the ebay boards, can't resist saying that Mike Harris is one politician who actually did what he said he was going to do. I'm hoping he goes federal. Canada needs more politicians like him. Most of the people I know were very disappointed when he left, and yes, some of them were even teachers and civil servants. ;o)

[amberwoodottawa]

He would be a fool to go back now. Wait until the 2 wanna-be parties get together, have their fights, dust settles and he goes in to clean up.

It would be political suicide to do otherwise at this stage.