A Workaround to eBay's
nonsense with special characters
This is really eBay's job, but most people there don't
want to do their job. At least, that's my experience.
The Problem
On August 13, 2003, eBay did something to their site so
it will no longer accept SOME special characters. Among those that I
know it will not accept are the m dash (– ) and the bullet (• ). Among
those it will accept is the registered trademark symbol (®). If there is any
consistency in what eBay did, I haven't found it.
EBay insists that it's because some of us use Word and
FrontPage. They blame it all on Microsoft. They ignore the fact that it worked
on August 12, 2003. To me, that's the most frustrating. They completely ignore
the fact that it did work and will not move away from the idea that it's all
Microsoft's fault. If you demonstrate it to eBay entering the text directly using their SYI form (Yes, I
did that), they will still say Word and FrontPage are the problem. I can't
reason with them because there is no one listening. From comments in the
bulletin board, that's the experience that others have had also.
Here's the problem. The entire world accepts the
combined keystroke ALT+0149 as the means to create a bullet (•). Yes, it
even works in eBay's SYI form - right up until you get to the Preview page.
Then it appears as a question mark (?). Same thing with the m dash (–). I
have no idea why it accepts the registered trademark symbol (®). EBay has
decided that the rest of the world is wrong.
Well, if you want to sell in eBay's world, you have to
play by their rules because they certainly aren't going to make any attempt to
work with you. At least that's my experience and the experience I've heard
from many others.
The Fix
If you use a template, replace all of your special
characters with HTML code.
True HTML code is in the format &#nnn where nnn
is a decimal number between 0 and 255. For example, to create a bullet (•) in eBay's SYI form, you
type •. It will appear correctly when you get to the Preview page. For
a list of HTML character codes, visit http://www.asciitable.com.
Example:
Fine Jewelry • Gemstones •
Gold • Silver
Replace it
with:
Fine Jewelry • Gemstones
• Gold • Silver
If you're using a template, change your template so that
all of the special characters are replaced with straight HTML and all
will be well with the world. This solution works today (8-20-2003). Whether eBay will
allow it to work tomorrow remains to be seen.
The Irritating Part
I confronted eBay about the problem and pointed out to
them that their own site was experiencing the same problems. The following is
a screen capture from their website. Notice the question mark.
I checked it today. This is the current
situation:
It's funny, but they can correct it for
themselves, but not the people from whom they get their income. They know it isn't a Microsoft Word or
FrontPage problem, but that's what they intend to keep telling you.
EBay should be grateful that there are many
among us who could serve as a resource in making eBay a better site. For
example, I've been involved in software development since 1995 and have
written the software specifications on seven different applications. In
addition, I am also an experienced software tester. EBay couldn't care
less.
I was very frustrated after trying to reason with eBay -
especially after being told I was the only one having a problem. If you
encountered the same nonsense, email me.
I'd like to hear about it. Thanks.