How to: Add a YouTube Video to Listings Using eSellerPro

How to: Add a YouTube Video to Listings Using eSellerPro

youtube-and-esellerpro
Adding video content, especially video content that you’ve made for your business on a product or service to eBay listings easily done and I covered this in an earlier article “Add a Youtube Video to your eBay Listings in 5 Steps“, however when using 3rd party tools, the actual listing template is normally separated from the description.

In this How-to guide I’ll be showing you how to automatically add a YouTube video to your eBay listings in a scalable, structured manner, which once completed is as simple as pasting in the YouTube video ID and the rest takes care of itself using eSellerPro.

Note: For this article I’m using the example product video I made for an earlier article, this is definitely not a good example of a great product/service video but it’ll suit the needs of this article. If you’ve not seen it, it’s quite funny and you can watch it here.

Before We Start

eSellerProI’m making the assumption that you are using eSellerPro as your back office tool, that you have a YouTube account and that you understand a little HTML. The rest I’ll take you through step by step.

Also in the example video being used, the dimensions are 960 wide by 576, this probably will not suit most and you’ll need to alter these both. However for completeness, at the very end instructions on how to complete a fully customisable version is included. If you cannot see any of the sections mentioned in this article in your eSellerPro account, contact their support and ask for them to be enabled.

A “YouTubeID” is referenced several times in this article, this is the string of text you see in the URL when viewing YouTube video’s. For example, the example product video used is “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDSwAuApbwc” and the YouTubeID is part after the = sign, namely “zDSwAuApbwc“.

Using eSellerPro Custom Fields

To make this as scalable as possible, we need to leverage customfields in eSellerPro, I’m not going to cover what these are here, just that we’re going to create a custom fields group and a custom field to place the YouTube video ID.

To do this we need to follow these steps:

  1. Open eSellerPro
  2. Go to the Maintenance section on the left bar
  3. Locate the “Custom fields” section and double click on it
  4. Press the new record icon at the top and name the customfields group “Video” (the first box labelled “Group Name”)
  5. We now need to add an edit box called “YouTubeID”, enter “YouTubeID” into both “Field Name” and “Display Name” and press the “Add Field” button

Create the Holding Paragraph

If we were to put the logic code we create in the next step in every template we use, this would cause unnecessary overheads and possible headaches later on when if want to update the layout operation of the video player & associated code. So to make this as easy as possible, we’re going to now use another part of eSellerPro called paragraphs to create a container for the video code & associated logic.

To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Select “Inventory/Listing” from the left menu
  2. Select “Paragraph Builder” from the left menu (you may need to scroll down to locate this)
  3. Press the new record icon at the top
  4. Give the paragraph the name “YouTube”
  5. At the bottom, tick the box called “HTML Only” so that the editor is disabled

The Logic to Sshow/Hide the Video

Now that we’ve prepared the customfields and the paragraph, we need the code to show the video player in the listing. In a previous article called “How To: Add a Youtube Video to your eBay Listings in 5 Steps” it was noted that IFRAMES are not allowed on eBay listings and we need to use the older method that is allowed to show YouTube video content on your eBay listings.

The code for this, looks like:


	
	
	

This is fine for a single listing, however we’re building a more flexible version so you don’t need to post this each time.

Firstly we replace the YouTube ID with the custom field, so it reads as:


	
	
	

However, we don’t want to show the video player when there is no video to be shown, so to do this we use the IFNOT keyword, to show/hide the entire video player if there is or is not a YouTubeID present in the customfield.

This now becomes:

{{IFNOT/[[CustomFields:Video:YouTubeID]]//

	
	
	 }}

And it’s this code that we now enter into the paragraph we created earlier.

Adding the Paragraph to your eBay Template(s)

Instead of pasting this code into each template, we’re going to leverage the paragraph feature in eSellerPro to make this as simple as copy/paste.

If you now follow these steps:

  1. Select “Inventory/Listing” from the left menu
  2. Click on eBay templates
  3. Select the template you wish to add the video content to
  4. go to the “description” tab
  5. Ensure that the “HTML Only” box is checked
  6. Place this code “{{Insert:YouTube}}” where you would like the video appear if it’s been set
  7. Repeat as necessary for other templates you may have.

Note: Its actual placement will vary from template to template, if you’re unsure either experimentalist or ask someone that is comfortable with HTML to help you.

Enter an ID to an Inventory Record

To be able to test that this works, we need to add a YouTube ID of a video to the custom fields of an inventory record.

  1. Pick any inventory record (inventory/Listing > Inventory Details)
  2. Go to the custom fields tab.
  3. Select “Video”  from the drop down box
  4. Enter your YouTubeID (or enter “zDSwAuApbwc” for the sake of example) into the edit box called “YouTubeID”
  5. Now go back to the “eBay Auction” or “eBay Inventory” tabs and press the preview button on the right
  6. You should now have a video in your listing template

Advanced eSellerPro Video Template

If you had not changed the size (width and height) as used in the example snippets above, then you will have seen a massive video in your listing. If you are using just one template setting the width/height once in the HTML will be fine, however if you have multiple templates and some need to be bigger than others, you can evolve this a little further by adding two more custom fields called “Height” & “Width” to your customfields “Video” group we created earlier.

Then using the following code, you are able to specify the width/height as you desire AND have a catch width of 960 and a height of 576 if they’re not set (you probably need to alter these to fit in your template)

{{IFNOT/[[CustomFields:Video:YouTubeID]]//

	
	
	 }}

Summary

Adding video can be easy with a few simple logic tests and the right set-up, also because the YouTubeID’s are in a custom field, they can be imported against using excel or CSV sheets and of course if the inventory record has no YouTubeID set, its not going to show with the advanced versions.

Now go and try this in your eSellerPro account and let me know how you got on by posting a comment below (or if you get stuck, leave a comment and I’ll point you in the right direction).

14 replies
  1. John
    John says:

    Ok, it’s a great tip for using ESP. Only issue now is that one of our suppliers uses swf files which You tube won’t accept. Any tips on converting SWF to AVI Matt?

    Reply
    • Matthew Ogborne
      Matthew Ogborne says:

      Howdy John,

      I have 3 options for you :)

      #1 The first option is the most straight-forwards. Use them as they are. If they exist add them in as a custom field entry and wrap a IFNOT around them, that brings in the paragraph that has the player components in it

      #2 Use a convert say from this link http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&cp=8&gs_id=u&xhr=t&q=swf+to+avi to convert them in batches

      #3 However if you’re going to take the time to convert them, then you might as well add an intro slide and an exit slide to them, this will ensure that they’re unique to you and if anyone else uses them, they’ve got your details in the entry slide and exit slides (and as an overlay for the main content in say the bottom right is a suggestion)

      Any of those viable for you?

      Matt

      Reply
      • John
        John says:

        Hi Matt, option 1 won’t work as YouTube won’t take SWF files, eBay rules mean we can only use certain hosts incl YouTube.

        Option 2 looks good – I’ll look into it…. thanks

      • Matthew Ogborne
        Matthew Ogborne says:

        Hi John,

        Ah I didn’t consider the eBay restriction on players.

        I’d be very tempted to put an intro slide and closing side on them and an overlay too. Nothing OTT (like indicating a link to your website, as the same policies apply) but enough to brand them as the company.

        If anyone else is reading this, the guidlines are here: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/listing-links.html

        You can include a video in your listings as long as it can be played back within the listing. But you’re not allowed to link from your description to a video on another website.
        When you include a video in your listing, the content and format must follow these guidelines:
        You must be the owner of the underlying rights, including intellectual property rights, or be authorised to distribute it by the owners of such rights
        It has to be in Adobe’s Flash animation format
        The video must be hosted by one of these sites:
        AuctionMercial
        AuctionVideo
        CarTHINK
        CreativeVideosOnline
        Dailymotion
        eCommercePlayer
        Google
        i2iAuction
        Microsoft
        Motionbox
        MySpace
        Silverdock
        Vzaar
        YouTube
        If you don’t see your video hosting site above, you’re not allowed to include the video in your listing.

        Matt

  2. Rik Powell
    Rik Powell says:

    Nice one Matt. But, what do customers really want to see in the video which will get them to buy the item from us and not one of our competitors?! (assuming the item is “common” and does not need a product video review to sell it). Maybe a bit about our business, how we process orders, videos of us etc?

    Reply
    • Matthew Ogborne
      Matthew Ogborne says:

      Hi Rik,

      The article above covers how you can get video for each product into your listing, however if you wanted to add a video that explains you and your business, you could skip most of the stages of above and just add the a paragraph that has your video to the template.

      Anything that gives you an edge over your competitors is a good thing, the video quality doesn’t have to be what you find on the BBC, it just needs to be “good enough”.

      Matt

      Reply

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  5. Solid advice via @lastdropofink – How to: Add a YouTube Video to Listings Using eSellerPro – The Last Drop of Ink http://t.co/BFYP9d74

  6. How to: Add a YouTube Video to Listings Using eSellerPro:
    Adding video content, especially video… http://t.co/cwrLCQf2 @lastdropofink

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