Who owns Photobucket? I ask, because starting this week you will get the following message if you use HTML hotlinks in your ebay text:
We found non-secure HTTP content in your listing. Browsers display a not secure message on pages that contains HTTP resources. For a secure buyer experience, you must update your content.
If you follow their explanatory link you see this:
HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure and is the safest way to transmit information over the network. When pages use HTTPS, web browsers display a padlock icon to reassure online shoppers that the page they are visiting is safe.
If pages aren’t using HTTPS, they display a security warning. For example, Google Chrome displays the message “Your connection to this site is not secure” and this can turn away potential buyers as well as having a negative impact on how your listing performs in search results.
How could this affect your listings?
Earlier in 2017, Google announced that from October 2017, the Google Chrome browser will start to display a Not secure icon when users enter data on an HTTP page and on all HTTP pages visited in Incognito mode.
We believe that online shoppers who see this type of security warning when browsing eBay.co.uk are less likely to buy your products.
To coincide with this, from October 2017 we’ll start expanding usage of the HTTPS communication protocol across eBay for all listings that are HTTPS compliant.
After this date, if you use externally hosted content in your eBay listings that do not use the HTTPS communications protocol, buyers will see a security warning when they visit your listing in incognito mode or input any data on the listings page.
I'm pretty sure that Photobucket hotlinks have the HTTPS tag, although Tinypic (also owned by Photobucket) does not. I have looked at my listings from another account and found no sign of the aforementioned warning, but perhaps it comes on the payment page. Yet another reason for me to stick to Etsy.
