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What is an Auction Template?

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Way back then...

I remember my first selling experience on eBay. I typed in this big long great description of an item, clicked a bunch of options, put in some numbers, and hit ok......

I was excited! It was ready to go! I did it perfect the first time.....

And WHAM, it was one really big ugly paragraph of text, not a line break or bulleted list anywhere to be found. What in the world happened?

Well back then, you didn't get to press a "B" and get bold text, your didn't get to pick a pretty border from a drop down list. You needed to actually learn how to code the 3 characters it took to create a bold word and learn how to make a pretty border. Not to mention, you had to figure out how to get a silly line break to show!

And auction templates were born.

Contents at a Glance

My First Auction Template
What is an auction template?
Now it's so easy...
Love an Auction Template? Have an Aucti...
Reader Feedback

My First Auction Template

I went on a mission. I figured out how to make my auction look good. The problem was that I didn't like selling on eBay!

But...my mom did. And trying to explain all of the HTML tags that she needed to know was more than either one of us wanted to take on.

My first auction template was a very simple text file, where I marked the text that she needed to change. Which worked out pretty good.

I am a perfectionist at heart, so something that works out pretty good, usually isn't good enough. Besides, I was in college at the time for a computer programming degree, so this real life practice was perfect!

I went online, and created a very simple fill-in-the-blank form for her. She just needed to type and all of the information was filled out for her. (My fill-in-the-blank form has since evolved.)

You can still see one of my first designs on the WayBackMachine. (Please don't laugh...too hard.)

What is an auction template?

An auction template is snippets of HTML that:

A design that you can use over and over again, making your auction identifiable at first glance.

Make the description of your item easy to read

Highlight your item

Encourage people stay on your page long enough to bid.

Isn't that the goal? You want people to bid on your item! That's it. It's nice if they visit your store...it's pretty cool when they check out your "About Me" page...but the fact is, you want them to bid.

I have never stuck around to read ten paragraphs of text...that have no beginning or end to the paragraphs. Have you?

Well, eBay has a box that allows for line breaks and paragraphs now. And yes that works! It can actually work very well. As long as it helps you keep people on your page long enough to sell your item (that was your goal...right?).

Now it's so easy...

Why in the world would you want to go to someone else to get a good looking auction description?
Now it's easy to push a few buttons and get a great description!

Go for it! And if your are really proud of it...Share it. I would be happy to add your design!

The fact is, we are not all designers. We can't all figure out how to get people to stay on our eBay auction for long.

When you run a small business you need to know what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are. Knowing when and how to ask for help is vital to any business plan. Written or not.

If you have found that you don't have an eye for design, go google free auction templates, and create an auction ad that will get your item that attention it deserves!

What is an Auction Template?

Way back then...

Contents at a Glance

My First Auction Template

What is an auction template?

Now it's so easy...

Love an Auction Template? Have an Auction Template?

Let me know!

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