Setting up eBay template

When you enter a store that is part of a chain, did you ever notice that the store is laid out similarly to other stores in the chain? Retailers do that to make the surroundings familiar so customers feel comfortable the minute they enter the store. They know right where to find what there looking for: in the back-left corner (for instance), they’ll find dairy products, and in the right-front corner will be the fresh produce.

Any chain store worth its salt doesn’t want its customers overwhelmed and confused when they walk in the door. Consistency encourages a feeling of familiarity, so customers can easily locate the sections of the store. Time wasted looking up and down every aisle to locate a specific department is time that isn’t spent determining which items to purchase.

With all the text enhancements available to you through HTML, you can design a listing layout that’s easy to read, provides all the information your customers need, and feels consistent with your other listings. You can carefully group and delineate information so your shoppers can easily locate the information they need to make a decision to purchase your item. As you’re designing the look of your listings, keep in mind all the different types of items you sell; format the layout so you can use it for most — if not all — of your products.

Experiment with HTML formatting and put together the best layout you can; then save this layout as a template, or a pattern, to use when you create your listings. Creating an HTML template benefits you in two ways:

Follow these steps (on a computer running Windows XP) to create and save a handy, reusable listing template:

1. Choose Start➪All Programs➪Accessories➪Notepad, or open your simple text editing program of choice.
2. Start with a blank page, at the top of which you type your listing header.
3. Include the HTML for at least one picture.
4. Finish with your standard payment and shipping sections.
5. Choose File➪Save As to save your completed template. The Save As dialog box appears.
6. In the Save In drop-down list, choose a location where your template is readily available for use when creating your listing descriptions; type a logical name for your template in the File Name text box.
7. Click Save to save your template.