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Need Ebay Listing Formatting Help

by Steven Wagenheim
7 replies
Here's the deal.

I'm selling a very expensive item on Ebay and I want the listing to look really
fancy. I've already sold items using their stock editor and it looks like crap.
There is very little you can do with it.

I've gone online and have done some research on this (which is why I've
ultimately ended up coming here) and everything I read says don't use Word,
that it can screw up how your listing looks, blah, blah, blah.

I've gone to YouTube searching for tutorials. Each one points to using an
online service or software to do this, which I don't want to do.

Ebay says you can't use HTML to manipulate things. I don't even know what
that means.

All I know is this. I want to post an ad with different fonts, sizes and colors
and make it look like a sales page.

Is there a way I can do this without being a Power Seller? I hear that if you
have an Ebay store they give you better formatting tools. Well, this is a one
time sale, I'll probably never do this again, so no thanks, I don't want to
buy a store?

Can I make an ad that doesn't look like crap or am I out of luck?

Thanks.
#ebay #formatting #listing
  • Profile picture of the author drewfioravanti
    When you create your listing you have the ability to use either their text editor or html. And, you can instert images.

    It's pretty straight forward.

    Maybe you could find someone on fiverrr to do it for you?
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  • Profile picture of the author OldLodgeSkins
    Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

    Ebay says you can't use HTML to manipulate things. I don't even know what
    that means.
    Hi,

    I'm not sure where you've seen this... I do manual HTML modifications on my listings all the time.

    For the record, HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the langauge used to describe the formatting of a web page. There are many good HTML editors that you could use to prepare your page and then simply copy / paste their HTML code, try Kompozer or Blue Griffon for example, both of them are available for free. Once you're done simply have your editor show you the page's source code and copy / paste all the code between the <body> and </body> tags into your listing (you'll have to switch eBay's internal editor to HTML first for this to work, it's a tab at the top of the editor. Don't copy those two tags themselves, only the code between them).
    If you can learn some basis of HTML and CSS first it'll be even better.

    Seb.
    Signature
    Do you use Facebook ? Then you can make money just by inviting people to a Facebook group ! It's called the Instant Income System. How cool is that?
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by OldLodgeSkins View Post

      Hi,

      I'm not sure where you've seen this... I do manual HTML modifications on my listings all the time.

      For the record, HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the langauge used to describe the formatting of a web page. There are many good HTML editors that you could use to prepare your page and then simply copy / paste their HTML code, try Kompozer or Blue Griffon for example, both of them are available for free. Once you're done simply have your editor show you the page's source code and copy / paste all the code between the <body> and </body> tags into your listing (you'll have to switch eBay's internal editor to HTML first for this to work, it's a tab at the top of the editor. Don't copy those two tags themselves, only the code between them).
      If you can learn some basis of HTML and CSS first it'll be even better.

      Seb.
      I know HTML. I do my own sales pages. Right off of ebays FAQ page it says "Cannot use HTML to manipulate" and then something or another. I can find it again if I have to. I took that to mean you can't use HTML period. If that's not the case then I'll have no problem creating an ad. That's what threw me.
      Signature
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    • Profile picture of the author thecableguy
      I haven't sold on ebay for a number of years and I did hit powerseller briefly, but if things haven't changed you can use html. I used to use Kompozer to create the listing and grab everything between the <body>, </body> tags. I used to just upload the images to my webhost and link to those.

      It doesn't sound as though you do a lot of selling on ebay so since it's an expensive item you may want to wait until you've built up a lot of positive feedback and shown you've been on ebay for a while.

      And since it's a one of a kind item you should list it so it ends when there is the most eyes on it. Most bids come in the last hour or two before the auction ends, or when your target market is online. For me this was Sunday night around prime time EST since the majority of the population lives in that timezone.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Originally Posted by thecableguy View Post

        I haven't sold on ebay for a number of years and I did hit powerseller briefly, but if things haven't changed you can use html. I used to use Kompozer to create the listing and grab everything between the <body>, </body> tags. I used to just upload the images to my webhost and link to those.

        It doesn't sound as though you do a lot of selling on ebay so since it's an expensive item you may want to wait until you've built up a lot of positive feedback and shown you've been on ebay for a while.

        And since it's a one of a kind item you should list it so it ends when there is the most eyes on it. Most bids come in the last hour or two before the auction ends, or when your target market is online. For me this was Sunday night around prime time EST since the majority of the population lives in that timezone.
        The item I'm selling is in such demand and there is so little of it out there
        that I'm not worried about selling it. I have sold on Ebay before and have
        a perfect rating. I also have 463 perfect feedback as a buyer. I've also been
        on Ebay for ages.

        Selling the item won't be a problem. The problem will be deciding what the
        minimum price is I'm willing to accept for it. Oh, and it won't be a bid item. It
        will be a buy it now or best offer.
        Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author drewfioravanti
    You can use html inside your listing. In the description box, I believe...whatever that big text area is...you can use html in there with inline CSS.
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  • Profile picture of the author onSubie
    Hi

    Yes, you can use HTML to choose fonts, colors, etc. I create the page I want in HTML and have it as a file on my PC. Then I just cut and paste into the eBay HTML window.

    You can also use 3rd party image hosting and use as many images as you want. I host all my images, banners and graphics at photobucket and then just use HTML to embed whatever I want with <img src="photobucket-url">.

    I think when eBay says you can't "manipulate with HTML" they are talking about deceptive techniques, not the look and design of the listing.
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