Overly long eBay and Amazon product URLs - any workaround?

Pawnless Endgame

Pawnless Endgame

Pawnless Endgame

Soldato
Joined
10 May 2004
Posts
13,056
Location
Sunny Stafford
To keep the test consistent, I'm searching for the same thing.

Item - AAA batteries
Make - Energizer
Qty - 24

Both sites charge £7.99.

The eBay product page is https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24x-Ener...773488&hash=item5d7e016b4f:g:yxcAAOSw~bZbJ433

Why does the URL has to be that long? After some trial and error in Notepad.exe, shortening it to https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401545980751 gives you the same item. So it's just the domain, followed by itm followed by the catalogue number.

The Amazon product page is https://www.amazon.co.uk/Energizer-...64615&sr=8-2&keywords=aaa+batteries+energizer

Again it's too long. More messing around in Notepad, it can be shortened to https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0132XX152 and it gives you the same thing. So again, it's the domain, followed by dp followed by the catalogue number.

Is there an automated way, e.g. a browser extension or a GreaseMonkey script that can shorten the URLs by leaving out the crap? It's for convenience, but also for security as it's a way on how the retailers track you.
 
Do you think Amazon won't be able to track your viewings when you go the direct product url?
 
Azza said:
Do you think Amazon won't be able to track your viewings when you go the direct product url?
Click to expand...

Have you tried otherwise?

Search for some items using the ops method, see if you get recommended items pop up still
 
ChroniC said:
May I ask why the hell you'd care? It's probably for Seo purposes that they do it.
Click to expand...

It's because I sometimes paste URLs into emails, WhatsApp, and hell even on here. I just want my recipients to see cleaned up links.

P.S. I'm not after a URL shortener e.g. bitly.com, goo.gl or youtu.be. I'm just asking for a mod / extension or Greasemonkey script that can generate www.ebay.co.uk/itm/[product no.] or www.amazon.com/dp/[product no.], not the 3 or 4 lines that I normally see.
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
To keep the test consistent, I'm searching for the same thing.

Item - AAA batteries
Make - Energizer
Qty - 24

Both sites charge £7.99.

The eBay product page is https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24x-Ener...773488&hash=item5d7e016b4f:g:yxcAAOSw~bZbJ433

Why does the URL has to be that long? After some trial and error in Notepad.exe, shortening it to https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401545980751 gives you the same item. So it's just the domain, followed by itm followed by the catalogue number.

The Amazon product page is https://www.amazon.co.uk/Energizer-...64615&sr=8-2&keywords=aaa+batteries+energizer

Again it's too long. More messing around in Notepad, it can be shortened to https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0132XX152 and it gives you the same thing. So again, it's the domain, followed by dp followed by the catalogue number.

Is there an automated way, e.g. a browser extension or a GreaseMonkey script that can shorten the URLs by leaving out the crap? It's for convenience, but also for security as it's a way on how the retailers track you.
Click to expand...


Everything after the question mark can be deleted.

So https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24x-Ener...773488&hash=item5d7e016b4f:g:yxcAAOSw~bZbJ433

Becomes

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24x-Ener...line-AAA-Batteries-AMAZING-VALUE/401545980751


Alternatively, use bitly.com


EDIT: Shouldda read your post. Ignore me.
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
It's because I sometimes paste URLs into emails, WhatsApp, and hell even on here. I just want my recipients to see cleaned up links.
Click to expand...

exactly - haven't you seen the people who don't realise this and paste tracking ebay/amaz links into OC posts too
... do the other OC'ers that then click these start getting tarred by the same advertising brush as the original poster ?
must make an interesting connectedness map to ebay/amazon

..I fix them manually
 
You could just press the share button on both sites that cuts the URL down.

All the extra gumph is usually just for analytics, I.e. What you searched for and where you came from to get to the page. Same for the ones that usually have utm in the link, usually used to track clicks from specific marketing emails or pages.

Don't think it's any great conspiracy to be honest.
 
jpaul said:
exactly - haven't you seen the people who don't realise this and paste tracking ebay/amaz links into OC posts too
... do the other OC'ers that then click these start getting tarred by the same advertising brush as the original poster ?
must make an interesting connectedness map to ebay/amazon

..I fix them manually
Click to expand...

Autotrader links are bad for this - the full length url usually contains your postcode.
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
It's for convenience, but also for security as it's a way on how the retailers track you.
Click to expand...
I doubt it.
The URL tracking is more for user flow. It works out how you got to that page (through a search, favourite sellers, external link, etc) and is used to improve the usability of the site navigation. That type of tracking doesnt care who you are, it just focuses on how you navigated through the site.

The tracking that does keep track of who you are is done through cookies. That's the type which serves you adverts on many different sites across the internet based on other sites you've visited and products you've viewed elsewhere. You can't stop that by changing URLs.
 
BINGO - found a solution!

https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/10096-general-url-cleaner

This requires any mods that ends with -Monkey, so Greasemonkey, Violentmonkey, Tampermonkey etc. Will work on Firefox and Chrome. Not sure about the out-dated MS browsers though. Install the script linked above and it works on Amazon, eBay and several other sites. Tested it on Amazon using the AAA battery link from the OP and it works :)
 
So you're concerned about security problems from long URLs and the solution is to install a third-party script to your browser?
 
touch said:
So you're concerned about security problems from long URLs and the solution is to install a third-party script to your browser?
Click to expand...
the monkey stuff is open source peer reviewed, and add-on scripts are simple enough to review yourself ..no big risk.
(modified one to block utube loading from oc)
 
What Jpaul says. Most of us OcUKers on here have a basic understanding of high level programming languages. Inspect the code and use your own judgement. Use a HOSTs file and/or an alternate DNS provider as well. Even better, use a hardware blocker such as the Pi-Hole. Use tracking protection. Avoid IE / Edge. Etc :-)

Code: 
// ==UserScript==
// @run-at      document-start
// @name        General URL Cleaner
// @namespace  
// @description Cleans URL's from various popular sites. Also, makes sure the sites are using HTTPS.
// @include     /^https?://[a-z]+\.google(\.com?)?\.[a-z]{2,3}/.*$/
// @include     /^https?://[a-z.]+\.ebay(desc)?(\.com?)?\.[a-z]{2,3}/.*$/
// @include     /^https?://www\.amazon(\.com?)?\.[a-z]{2,3}/.*$/
// @include     /^https?://www\.newegg\.c(om|a)/.*$/
// @include     /^https?://www\.bing\.com/.*$/
// @include     https://www.youtube.com/*
// @include     http://stat.dealtime.com/*
// @include     /https?://www.imdb.com/.*$/
// @include     /https?://(www\.)?staticice\.com\.au/.*$/
// @include     https://www.facebook.com/*
// @include     /https?://[a-z0-9.]*twitter.com/.*$/
// @include     https://disqus.com/embed/comments/*
// @exclude     https://apis.google.com/*
// @exclude     https://accounts.google.com/*
// @exclude     https://support.google.com/*
// @exclude     https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api2/*
// @version     2.12.3
// @license     GPL version 3 or any later version; http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
// ==/UserScript==

var doc = document;
var loc = location;
var lhost = loc.host;
var lpath = loc.pathname;
var ebay = /^[a-z.]+\.ebay(desc)?(\.com?)?\.[a-z]{2,3}$/;
var amazon = /^www\.amazon\.com?(\.[a-z]{2,3})?$/;
var google = /^[a-z]+\.google\.com?(\.[a-z]{2,3})?$/;
var amazonParams = /&(url|ie|pf_rd_[a-z]|bbn|rw_html_to_wsrp|ref_)=[^&#]*/;
var utmParams = /&utm_[a-z]+=[^&]*/g;
var neweggParams = /&(cm_sp|icid|ignorebbr)=[^&#]*/g;
var bingParams = /&(go|qs|form|FORM|filt|pq|s[cpk]|qpvt|cvid)=[^&#]*/g;
var youtubeParams = /&(feature|src_vid|annotation_id|[gh]l)=[^&#]*/g;
var ebayParams = /&(_(o?sacat|odkw|from|trksid)|rt)=[^&#]*/g;
var googleParams = /&(sa(fe)?|ved|source(id)?|s?ei|tab|tbo|h[ls]|authuser|n?um|ie|aqs|as_qdr|bav|bi[wh]|bs|bvm|cad|channel|complete|cp|s?client|d[pc]r|e(ch|msg|s_sm)|g(fe|ws)_rd|gpsrc|noj|btnG|o[eq]|p(si|bx|f|q)|rct|rlz|site|spell|tbas|usg|xhr|gs_[a-z]+)=[^&#]*/g;

// -------- Main --------
function main() {
    if (lhost=='www.bing.com') {
        var newUrl = cleanBing(doc.URL);
        if (loc.protocol=='http:') loc.replace(newUrl);
        else cleanPageUrl(newUrl);
        cleanLinks('all');
    }
    else if (lhost=='www.youtube.com') {
        if (lpath=='/watch') cleanPageUrl(cleanYoutube(doc.URL));
        else if (lpath=='/redirect') loc.replace(cleanYoutubeRedir(loc.search));
        cleanLinks('youtube');
    }
    else if (lhost.endsWith('.newegg.com')||lhost.endsWith('.newegg.ca')) {
        if (loc.search) cleanPageUrl(cleanNewegg(doc.URL));
        cleanLinks('newegg');
    }
    else if (lhost=='www.imdb.com') {
        if (loc.search) cleanPageUrl(cleanImdb(doc.URL));
        cleanLinks('imdb');
        deleteHash();
    }
    else if (google.test(lhost)) {
        if (lpath=='/url'||lpath=='/imgres') loc.replace(cleanGoogleRedir(loc.search));
        else if (loc.search||loc.hash.match(/[&#]q=/)) {
            cleanPageUrl(cleanGoogle(doc.URL));
            cleanLinks('google');
            if (loc.search.includes('tbm=isch')) cleanAllLinks('googleImages');
            else cleanLinks('google');
            googleInstant();
        }
    }
    else if (ebay.test(lhost)) {
        if (lpath.includes('/itm/')) cleanPageUrl(cleanEbayItem(loc));
        else if (loc.search) cleanPageUrl(cleanEbayParams(doc.URL));
        cleanLinks('ebay');
        deleteHash();
    }
    else if (amazon.test(lhost)) {
        if (lpath.includes('/dp/')) cleanPageUrl(cleanAmazonItemdp(loc));
        else if (lpath.includes('/gp/product')) cleanPageUrl(cleanAmazonItemgp(loc));
        else if (loc.search) cleanPageUrl(cleanAmazonParams(doc.URL));
        cleanLinks('amazon');
        onhashchange = function() {
            if (!loc.hash.startsWith('#reader_'))
                history.replaceState(null,null,loc.href.replace(loc.hash,''));
        };
    }
    else if (lhost.endsWith('staticice.com.au')) {
        cleanLinks('staticice');
    }
    else if (lhost=='twitter.com') {
        cleanLinks('twitter');
    }
    else if(lhost=='www.facebook.com'){
        cleanLinks('facebook');
    }
    else if (lhost=='disqus.com') {
        cleanLinks('disqus');
    }
}

// -------- Front functions --------
function cleanPageUrl(newUrl) {
    if (newUrl != doc.URL) history.replaceState(null, null, newUrl);
}

// Clean links once, mark them as cleaned, then ignore them.
function cleanLinks(site) {
    new MutationObserver(function(_,self) {
        console.time('clean');
        for (let link of doc.links) {
            if (!link.classList.contains('cleaned')) {
                linkCleaners[site](link);
                link.classList.add('cleaned');
            }
        }
        console.timeEnd('clean');
    }).observe(doc, {childList:true, subtree:true});
}
// Clean all  links, all the time, no matter what
function cleanAllLinks(site) {
    new MutationObserver(function(_,self) {
        console.time('clean');
        for (let link of doc.links)
            linkCleaners[site](link);
        console.timeEnd('clean');
    }).observe(doc, {childList:true, subtree:true});
}


function deleteHash() {
    function onhashchange() {
        history.replaceState(null, null, loc.href.replace(loc.hash, ''));
    }
}
function googleInstant() {
    changeState(function(url) {
        if (url.endsWith('#imgrc=_'))
            return url.slice(0,-8);
        else if (url.match(/#(.+&)?q=/))
            return lpath + cleanGoogle(url.replace(/.+#/,'?'));
        return url;
    });
}
function changeState(mod) {
    pushState = history.pushState;
    replaceState = history.replaceState;
    history.pushState = function() {
        arguments[2] = mod(arguments[2]);
        pushState.apply(history, arguments);
    };
    history.replaceState = function() {
        arguments[2] = mod(arguments[2]);
        replaceState.apply(history, arguments);
    };
}

// -------- URL cleaning functions --------
function cleanGoogle(url) {
    return url.replace('?','?&').replace(googleParams,'').replace('?&','?');
}
function cleanGoogleRedir(url) {
    return decodeURIComponent(url.match(/[&?](img)?url=([^&]+)/)[2]);
}
function cleanBing(url) {
    return url.replace('?','?&').replace(bingParams,'').replace('?&','?').replace(/^http\:/,'https:');
}
function cleanYoutube(url) {
    return url.replace("?","?&").replace(youtubeParams,'').replace("?&","?");
}
function cleanYoutubeRedir(url) {
    return decodeURIComponent(url.match(/[?&]q=([^&]+)/)[1]);
}
function cleanEbayParams(url) {
    return url.replace('?','?&').replace(ebayParams,'').replace('?&','?');
}
function cleanEbayItem(a) {
    return a.origin+'/itm'+a.pathname.match(/\/[0-9]{12}/)+(a.search.replace(/&/g, '?').match(/\?orig_cvip=[^?]+/)||'')+a.hash;
}
function cleanEbayPulsar(url) {
    return loc.origin + '/itm/' + url.match(/%7B%22mecs%22%3A%22([0-9]{12})/).pop();
}
function cleanNewegg(url) {
    return url.replace('?','?&').replace(neweggParams,'').replace('?&','?');
}
function cleanAmazonParams(url) {
    return url.replace('?','?&').replace(amazonParams,'').replace('?&','?').replace(/\?$/,'');
}
function cleanAmazonItemgp(a) {
    return a.origin+'/gp/product'+a.pathname.match(/\/[A-Z0-9]{10}/)+a.hash;
}
function cleanAmazonItemdp(a) {
    return a.origin+'/dp'+a.pathname.match(/\/[A-Z0-9]{10}/)+a.hash;
}
function cleanImdb(url) {
    return url.replace('?','?&').replace(/&(pf_rd_[a-z]|ref_)=[^&#]*/g,'').replace('?&','?').replace(/\?$/,'');
}
function cleanGenericRedir(url) {
    return decodeURIComponent(url.match(/[?&]u(rl)?=([^&]+)/)[2]);
}
function cleanUtm(url) {
    return url[0]+('&'+url.slice(1)).replace(utmParams,'').slice(1);
}
function cleanStaticiceRedir(url) {
    return decodeURIComponent(url.match(/[?&]newurl=([^&]+)/)[1]);
}
function cleanClixgalore(url) {
    return decodeURIComponent(url.match(/[?&]AffDirectURL=([^&]+)/)[1]);
}

// -------- Link cleaning functions --------
var linkCleaners = {
    all:function(a) { host=a.host; path=a.pathname;
        if (google.test(host))
            if (path=='/imgres'||path=='/url') a.href = cleanGoogleRedir(a.search);
            else if (a.search) a.search = cleanGoogle(a.search);
        else if (host=='www.youtube.com')
            if (path=='/watch') a.search = cleanYoutube(a.search);
            else if (path=='/redirect') a.href = cleanYoutubeRedir(a.search);
        else if (host.endsWith('.newegg.com') || host.endsWith('.newegg.ca'))
            if(a.search) a.search = cleanNewegg(a.search);
        else if (host=='www.imdb.com' && a.search)
            a.search = cleanImdb(a.search);
        else if (amazon.test(host))
            if (path.includes('/dp/')) a.href = cleanAmazonItemdp(a);
            else if (path.includes('/gp/product')) a.href = cleanAmazonItemgp(a);
            else if (a.pathname.includes('/picassoRedirect')) {
                a.href = cleanGenericRedir(a.search);
                a.search = '';
            }
            else if (a.search) a.href = cleanAmazonParams(a.href);
            if (a.pathname.includes('/ref=')) a.pathname = cleanAmazonParams(a.pathname);
        else if (ebay.test(host))
            if (path.includes('/itm/')) a.href = cleanEbayItem(a);
            else if (a.host.startsWith('pulsar.')) a.href = cleanEbayPulsar(a.search);
            else if (a.search) a.search = cleanEbayParams(a.search);
        else {
            if (a.search) a.search = cleanUtm(a.search);
            if (a.hash) a.hash = cleanUtm(a.hash);
        }
    },
    amazon:function(a) {
        if (amazon.test(a.host))
            if (a.pathname.includes('/dp/')) a.href = cleanAmazonItemdp(a);
            else if (a.pathname.includes('/gp/product')) a.href = cleanAmazonItemgp(a);
            else if (a.pathname.includes('/picassoRedirect')) {
                a.href = cleanGenericRedir(a.search);
                a.search = '';
            }
            else if (a.search) a.href = cleanAmazonParams(a.href);
            if (a.pathname.includes('/ref=')) a.pathname = cleanAmazonParams(a.pathname);
    },
    ebay:function(a) {
        if (ebay.test(a.host))
            if (a.pathname.includes('/itm/')) a.href = cleanEbayItem(a);
            else if (a.host.startsWith('pulsar.')) a.href = cleanEbayPulsar(a.search);
            else if (a.search) a.search = cleanEbayParams(a.search);
      
    },
    newegg:function(a) {
        if (a.host.endsWith('.newegg.com')||a.host.endsWith('.newegg.ca'))
            if (a.pathname.includes('/marketplace/'));
            else if (a.search) a.search = cleanNewegg(a.search);
    },
    google:function(a) {
        a.removeAttribute('onmousedown');
        linkCleaners.all(a);
    },
    googleImages:function(a) {
        a.removeAttribute('onmousedown');
        a.removeAttribute('data-ved');
        a.classList.remove('i3597');
        a.classList.remove('i3596');
        if (a.hasAttribute('jsaction'))
            if (a.getAttribute('jsaction').includes('down:irc.rl'))
                a.removeAttribute('jsaction');
        linkCleaners.all(a);
    },
    youtube:function(a) {
        a.classList.remove('yt-uix-redirect-link');
        a.classList.remove('spf-link');
        a.removeAttribute('data-sessionlink');
        old = a.href;
        linkCleaners.all(a);
        if (a.title==old) a.title=a.href;
    },
    staticice:function(a) {
        if (a.host.endsWith('staticice.com.au')) {
            if (a.pathname=='/cgi-bin/redirect.cgi') {
                a.href = cleanStaticiceRedir(a.search);
                if (a.host=='www.clixgalore.com' && a.pathname=='/PSale.aspx')
                    a.href = cleanClixgalore(a.search);
            }
            else if (a.pathname.startsWith('/cgi-bin/www.'))
                a.href = 'http://'+a.pathname.slice(9);
        }
        if (a.host=='t.dgm-au.com' || a.host=='www.kqzyfj.com') a.href = cleanGenericRedir(a.search);
        if (a.search) a.search = cleanUtm(a.search);
    },
    twitter:function(a) {
        if (a.host=='t.co') {
            if (a.hasAttribute('data-expanded-url')) {
                var dirty = 'twitterRedir_'+a.pathname.slice(1);
                a.href = a.getAttribute('data-expanded-url');
                a.removeAttribute('data-expanded-url');
                sessionStorage.setItem(dirty, a.href);
            }
            else if (a.classList.contains('TwitterCard-container')) {
                var dirty = 'twitterRedir_'+a.pathname.slice(1);
                var clean = sessionStorage.getItem(dirty);
                if (clean) a.href = clean;
            }
        }
    },
    facebook:function(a) {
        if (a.hasAttribute('onclick') && a.hasAttribute('onmouseover')) {
            if (a.getAttribute('onclick').startsWith('LinkshimAsyncLink')) {
                a.removeAttribute('onclick');
                a.removeAttribute('onmouseover');
                if (a.host=='l.facebook.com')
                    a.href = cleanGenericRedir(a.search);
            }
        }
    },
    imdb:function(a) {
        if (a.host=='www.imdb.com' && a.search)
            a.search = cleanImdb(a.search);
    },
    disqus:function(a) {
        if (a.host=='disq.us' && a.pathname=='/url')
            a.href = cleanGenericRedir(a.search);
        linkCleaners.all(a);
    }
};

main();
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
Most of us OcUKers on here have a basic understanding of high level programming languages.
Click to expand...

Q43iZDo.jpg
 
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