This technical support tip is provided as a temporary workaround for a problem that will be resolved in the next release of FotoKiss.  We appreciate your patience if you have experienced this problem.

The problem:

Some users have reported seeing “white space” all the way around the FotoKiss gallery photos after they upload them to eBay.

(as shown in this example).

The cause:

In an effort to improve their services eBay has added added additional sizes to their listings (depending on what listing type sellers decide to use).  When FotoKiss was designed, the largest size was a 96x96 and this image was reduced to 64x64. As such, there was never a possibility of white space ever appearing around a photo.  Now eBay has added a 140x140 sized photo.

When the listing appears in the Gallery view, the 96x96 image is displayed.  It also appears on the Sellers items page at the reduced size of 64x64. However if an “upgrade” is selected, then a 140x140 image is displayed in the gallery featured view instead of the 96x96. This same image also appears on the Sellers items page at the reduced size of 64x64.

Another change is that eBay has also improved its picture handling so that it is both resizing and optimizing photos for the web as they are received.

If the standard 96x96 FotoKiss gallery photo was submitted and the upgrade selected, then the eBay photo services would actually “pad” the entire area around the photos with white space.

The solution:

This entire issue will be addressed in the next release of FotoKiss (gallery photos will no longer be fixed sizes), but since correcting it involves changes to the program, the documentation and to the website content we are providing this workaround for our users as a means of immediate relief.

The workaround:

Fortunately we can work around this problem using the Custom Thumbnail feature in FotoKiss.  Here are the simple steps to follow to create larger gallery photos:

1. In FotoKiss, click SETUP from the topline menu to enter the program setup

2. Click TEMPLATE SETTINGS
3. Click CUSTOM THUMBNAILS
4. In the Custom Thumbnails box, UNCHECK the "Maintain Ratio" box
5. Enter 192 in BOTH the HEIGHT and WIDTH boxes
 

Note: you can use 140x140 if you prefer, but 192x192 is the “least common multiplier” of both 64 and 92.  Using the size of 192x192 allows eBay photo services to optimize the image for the web without having as much quality loss.

 
6. Make sure the "Create Custom Thumbnail" box is checked
7. Leave the Quality set at 100% (or not less than 90% since eBay will resize and optimize the image anyway)
8. Click the GALLERY PHOTO SETTINGS menu option
9) UNCHECK the "Create a gallery photo" box
10) Click the EXIT SETUP menu option
11)  Click the EXIT PROGRAM SETUP menu option

Load a photo and process it like normal. Then when you get to the SAVE PHOTOS TO DISK screen, you need to UNCHECK the box labeled "Gallery Photo"

Save your photos, then use the fc_photoname.jpg (custom thumbnail) as your gallery photo to submit to eBay with your listing.

The result:

Using this technique, you will be submitting a photo to eBay in this size:

...instead of this size:

As a result, eBay will have a photo that is large enough to work effectively with their photo services.

It can be easily resized by eBay to any of their standard sizes without picking up any white space and the extra size of the 192x192 photo (at 90% or 100% quality) will allow eBay to optimize it for the web AND resize it with a minimal amount of quality loss.

Limitations:

The only known limitation of this workaround is that it will not work with the Super Gallery option in FotoKiss (these photos are currently produced at a fixed size of 96x96).

Our Apologies:

We regret any inconvenience that this may cause to our customers and are working hard to get the next update out the door as soon as possible.  The next version will be a FREE UPGRADE TO ALL REGISTERED USERS.

If you have any problems or questions implementing this workaround, feel free to contact us.

Thanks for your patience in this matter!

Team FotoKiss

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