Once your images are in your image library, it's time to use them in your ad templates for eBay. As you probably know, ad templates define the "look and feel" of your listings. Essentially, ad templates contain the HTML for your ads with special 'template tags' that allow you to re-use a template for multiple ads. This section explains how to insert both static and dynamic images into your ad templates.

Prerequisites

• Adding Images to Product Descriptions

Tasks to Complete

Complete any of the following tasks related to using iimages in eBay

• Using Static Images
• Using Dynamic Images with Image Tags
• Using the Image Chooser

Using Static Images

Static images are images that should remain constant from eBay ad to eBay ad. For example, your company logo or other graphics that you want to appear in all ads that use a particular ad template. These images should be inserted into your HTML code as traditional static URLs (e.g. https://secure.images.ChannelAdvisor.com/Images/myPicture.jpg). The only trick is determining what the URL is for your image.

To insert a static image into an ad template, do the following:

1. Select Inventory > Images > All images
2. Using the select checkbox, identify the image or images you want to use and click the 'View URLs' button located at the top of the image names
3. For each image you selected, you will see the URL for the image in top Image URLs box and the basic HTML needed to use the image in the lower HTML box.
4. Highlight either the URL or HTML code and copy it (Ctrl-C).
5. Go to your ad's HTML code and paste the information in (Ctrl-V) at the appropriate location. If you copied only the URL, you will need to enclose it in an <IMG SRC> tag in your HTML code.

All images you have referenced with static URLs will appear in all ads that use that ad template.

Using Dynamic Images with Image Tags

Dynamic images are ones that vary from eBay ad to eBay ad depending on the item. These images are associated with a specific inventory item and are inserted into ad templates with 'template tags'.

If you are unfamiliar with template tags, they are special tags that tell our software when and where to insert certain information about the item. For example, the {{IMAGE(ITEMIMAGEURL1)}} tag tells ChannelAdvisor to insert the first image associated with an inventory item. There are four types of template tags you can use for individual images in your ad templates:

The actual template tags can vary based on the Image Placement name. Therefore for these examples, we will assume that the image placement name is 'ITEMIMAGEURL1'. You can see your image placement names in your Image Hosting settings (Inventory > Images >  Image Hosting).

1. Normal image - This tag simply inserts the URL to the image for that inventory item. 

   Tag Name:	ITEMIMAGEURL1
   Tag:	{{IMAGE(ITEMIMAGEURL1)}}
   HTML example:	<img src= "{{IMAGE(ITEMIMAGEURL1)}}">

    

2. Secure image- This tag inserts a secure URL ('https' instead of 'http') to the image. Secure images should be used for SSL (Secure Shell) pages because a normal, insecure image may cause security errors for people viewing the page. 

   Tag Name:	ITEMIMAGEURL1(secure)
   Tag:	{{SECUREIMAGE(ITEMIMAGEURL1)}}
   HTML Example:	<img src="{{SECUREIMAGE(ITEMIMAGEURL1)}}">

    

3. Thumbnail image - This tag inserts a small thumbnail version of an image. You can insert both normal and secure thumbnail images.
   

   Tag Name:	ITEMIMAGEURL1(thumbnail)
   Tag:	{{THUMB(ITEMIMAGEURL1)}}
   HTML Example:	<img src="{{THUMB(ITEMIMAGEURL1)}}">

   
   
   
4. Enlargeable image- This inserts a thumbnail sized image that is a link to a pop-up window containing the full sized image. This tag does not actually enlarge the original image. However, it is a good way to display a large image that would normally be too big for the ad. 

   Tag Name:	ITEMIMAGEURL1(enlarge link)
   Tag:	{{ENLARGE(ITEMIMAGEURL1)}}
   HTML Example:	{{ENLARGE(ITEMIMAGEURL1)}} Do not enclose this template tag with other HTML tags.

    

The Image Chooser

The image chooser is a good way to display multiple images for an item. The image chooser displays up to 16 images in the 'iPix format' where one image is displayed full-size in a viewing window along side small thumbnails of the other images. If you click on a thumbnail, it is displayed full-size in the viewing window. The thumbnails are displayed in two columns either to the right or left of the viewing window.

The images that are used by the image chooser are configured on the Inventory > Images > Image Hosting page in the 'Image Placements' section under the 'Display in the Image Chooser' column. The image chooser will use all images placements marked with a check.

You can also submit multiple images to eBay to display at the top of your listing using the posting template.  For more information on this option, please see Using eBay Picture Services with ChannelAdvisor Listings.