A few days ago eBay sent out an e-mail to sellers explaining some changes they recommend you make to your listings. Basically Google Chrome is pushing people to use HTTPS instead of HTTP… that extra “S” stands for “Secure”. If a website is HTTP and not HTTPS the address bar at the top of the page will say “Not Secure” which eBay is assuming will scare off some buyers.
Although most eBay pages will appear as HTTPS (Secure) it is possible that any of your individual listings will NOT. If you host your item images on a third party website (like PhotoBucket or ImageShack) and the hosting site you use is using HTTP instead of HTTPS then those listings will come up as “Not Secure”. Also if you have any links in your listings and these links are to HTTP sites then your listing will com up as “Not Secure”. If you upload your item images to eBay and don’t have any links within your listings then this should not affect you.
Below is a copy of the e-mail from eBay:
Starting in October 2017, Google Chrome—the browser used by almost half of all eBay buyers—will begin displaying the message “Not Secure” in the address bar when users visit standard HTTP pages or HTTPS pages that include non-secure HTTP content.
You have listings that contain or link to HTTP content, and we encourage you to remove this content from your listings immediately. If you’re not sure which of your listings contain HTTP content, you can use the i-ways tool to identify them. We have partnered with i-ways to implement an eBay sign-in that protects your full inventory from being available publicly.
What is eBay doing to help?
We believe that the “Not Secure” message may deter buyers from purchasing and impact your conversion rate. To prevent the “Not Secure” message from appearing, we’re changing the desktop buying experience starting this October. Listings that contain or link to HTTP content after that time will have one-click item descriptions—a snippet of the description will be visible, and buyers will have to click to see the full description. The mobile experience will remain unchanged.
If you prefer for the full item description to display in your listings, we recommend that you update your listings and remove HTTP content before October.
Updating listings with HTTP content
Sellers who have non-secure content in their listings should reference the HTTP page within Seller Center for detailed guidance on how to update their listings.
Additionally, eBay has been working with third-party providers to ensure they’re ready for this change. Many of them will provide bulk editing options to remove HTTP from your listings. See a list of providers here.
For more information about the specifics of this Google Chrome change, follow this link.
As always, thank you for selling on eBay.
The eBay Selling Team