Tips For Auction Listing Design

This month I have encountered two small problems, which have affected my eBay business. If I had spent a little more time thinking about the design of my auction listings, these problems could have easily been avoided and I would have had more time to spend on other things instead of editing tiny mistakes in nearly 100 listings. There have been many similar occasions in the past where a little more forward planning would have avoided me redesigning all my eBay auction listings .For more details visit to www.auction-o-matics.com. Therefore , my advice to you in this issue is to think carefully about the design of your auction listings. More time spent on your listing now can mean MUCH less time spent redesigning them in the future.

Now the two actual problems I encountered this month were the down to my PayPal address and my eBay ID. The first problem was that for some reason the Pay Now button in eBay was not working for all customers. This led to me getting many emails from buyers saying the Pay Now button is not working, or worse many people sending payments to one of my email addresses that were not registered with PayPal. The end result was me having to explain and solve the problem via multiple emails to multiple customers. So how could I have avoided this problem? Well in my actual eBay listing and Payment Policy I made no reference to my PayPal email address but included all my other email addresses. I overlooked including my PayPal email address in the listings simply because I assumed that the Pay Now button would work at all times. Obviously not. I have now amended all listings to include my PayPal email address (payments@theebookcavern.co.uk if anyone is still unsure) and thankfully since then I have had no PayPal payments sent to the wrong email address.

So you may be wandering OK but what's the point of this story. Well you (and hopefully me as well) can learn from my mistakes. These two examples illustrate how just a LITTLE forward planning would have saved a LOT of time for me and can do for you too. I will give you a few things to think about when designing your auction listings but you may think of more.

1) Ebay ID: - When choosing an eBay ID you need to think about using one that both reflects your line of business and also sticks to eBay policy. I know that it may be tempting to use **yourwebsitename** as a User ID but that is a violation of eBay policy and they will make you change it eventually. If you have to change your User ID then you have to change every Feedback and About Me link in all your listings. Choosing a User ID which is within eBay policy will save you a lot of time in the future.

2) About Me Page: - Do you have an About Me page? If not you should get one as it is one of the best promotion tools you have on eBay. If you do have one you really should link to it in your auctions as from the About Me page has much fewer restrictions than your other eBay pages (for example you can link to your own website). If you want to promote yourself on eBay the About Me page is the best way to do it and the best way to increase traffic to your About Me page is promote it fully.

3) Ebay Store: - If you have an eBay store then it is essential that you provide a link to it within your auction listings. Many customers who view your auctions will not know that you have an eBay store or if they do they may not know exactly what one is. If you want to maximize your sales potential you need to make as many customers aware of your eBay store as possible .Putting a simple sentence at the top of your auction listings such as "Can't wait for this auction to end? For more information logon to www.auction-professional.com .Then Click Here to purchase it right now from my eBay store" will give your eBay store maximum exposure in your eBay auctions.

4) Ebay Store Custom Pages: - If you have an eBay store you are allowed to design custom pages for whatever purpose you see fit. If these custom pages are in any way relevant to the auction then you should include a link to them too.

5) Images: - Have you put in all the images you want to use to promote your auction. If not make sure they are all included. What about your eBay store? If you have one then a store logo is a great way to promote your store, make you look more professional, and hopefully increase traffic and sales.

These are just a few of the many things you should consider before listing an item on eBay. I am sure you can think of many more.