All about eBay

Article Navigation

Click Here for more articles

Four Reasons Why You Should NEVER Use Animations In Your eBay Auctions

by: Sydney Johnston

Inexperienced auction sellers, or those lacking in confidence, often want to make their auction listings more dramatic and exciting. They dread the possibility that buyers will be bored by their auction and turn away with indifference.

Therefore, they reason, they will spice up their auctions with some "animations" - graphics that blink, change colors, spin, travel around the web page.

Or the seller may be a tech person who loves toys and is proud of his ability to create unusual effects.

Regardless of their reasons, animated elements on an auction page are almost never a good idea for the following four reasons:

1. Rather than attracting attention to the merchandise in your auction, your potential customer may watch a spinning ball or follow Santa and his reindeer through the sky. We want the customer's total attention on that all-important question: "Do I want to buy this widget or not?" Distractions are not good for your wallet.

2. Animations can make the load time of your auction listing much longer. I have been using DSL four years and have forgotten (happily!) how horrible it is to use dialup. However, for many places on this planet, high-speed connections simply are not available. For these folks, loading your page might take forever, and you can be sure they won't wait. Experts tell us that the average user spends only 7 seconds at a webpage before departing for greener pastures. If your sales page is still loading, no sale for you.

3. It takes time for you to figure out how and whether to use animations. This is time that would be better spent on writing more exciting and dynamic copy - copy that will turn a prospective customer into a real buyer. A smart business person will treat time as her most precious commodity and spend it on what is most likely to bring a sale.

4. Many of these animations are just downright annoying. I personally do not enjoy looking at screens that are twirling, whirling and blinking. Two particularly irritating animations are an inescapable message that follows up and down the left side of the page, regardless of where I'm looking, and "trails" that follow my mouse.

A huge majority of people feel the same, apparently. Sellers need to make it as easy as possible for people to buy, rather than throwing obstacles in the way.

Are there any occasions when animated pictures are of any value in an auction listing? Possibly. For example, if you are selling to graphic designers then animated elements might be appropriate. As always, testing, testing, testing is the only way to truly know.

But for the rest of us folks - forget the glitter and focus on your merchandise. That's what makes us buy.

About the author:
Learn how to sell on eBay with 16 hours of online instruction taught by a 10 year eBay veteran. Own an eBay business instead of an eBay hobby.

Circulated by Article Emporium

Read Articles:

The Secret Power of an eBay Auction Title

Starting an Ebay Business --- An Online Busines...

Drop Shippers Can Make a Fortune on Ebay

The eBay Community - Both the solvent and the g...

Used Cars For Sale On eBay

Free instant auction traffic

My Improbable Evolution Into a Passionate eBayer

Can You Really Make Money Selling New Release C...

Hurricane Katrina Donations Could be Many Milli...

7 Tips for Selling Expensive Collectibles On eBay

5 Reasons Why Playing Music On Your Auctions Is...

26 Tips on How to be Safe in Your eBay Selling ...

When Scintilating Near Nudity On eBay Pays You ...

Six Steps Towards Successful Buying at eBay Auc...

Ebay and Dropshipping, A Marriage Made In Heaven?

The Top Ten Tips For Auction Success!

Learn To Make Money On eBay

5 Secrets To Make A Killing on eBay

How To Convert eBay Surfers into Bidders!

The Real Secret To Finding Hot Niche Markets!

USP on eBay

The Ebay Revolution - A Beginners Guide

Turning online purchases into profit.

Make Money Tearing Up Old Books and Magazines a...

Increase Your Response On eBay, Starting Right ...

Seven Steps to eBay Selling Success

The Top Ten eBay Buyer Personalities

Dropship Wholesale; 7 Secrets to Dropship Success

Getting Great Deals on EBay

Shill Bidding: How Scumbag Bidders Rob Honest S...

How to Build Customer Trust in your Auctions!

The power of dogs

Kids and Online Marketers

Four Reasons Why You Should NEVER Use Animation...

Google to Compete with PayPal?

eBay Auction Descriptions That REALLY Sell!

Remove These Objections and Watch Your eBay Auc...

3 Internet Home Based Businesses Anyone Can Do

Here's What I Use to Help my eBay Selling

Sell Your Product Online

More Article Pages 1 - 2 - 3

Getting Great Deals on EBay
by: Lorraine Venner

I love getting a deal. I try to smell them out from miles away. I love frequent garage sales, flea markets, closeouts, and more -- but found that I could much better by simply buying through online auctions - if I shop carefully.

Getting a deal out of EBay auctions is an art. Buying from auctions can be a costly proposition or a very economical option depending on your tactics. Buy wisely by learning from my (sometimes costly) experiences.

1. Is the Seller Trustworthy?

Both EBay and Yahoo auctions have seller ratings. Read these and their associated reviews. If the seller has a great rating from buying and a poor one from selling, you probably don't want to buy from them. Look at both praises and complaints as they may or may not apply to what you are bidding on.

2. Read the Description Throughly

It is very easy to read what you want to see in an Ebay auction rather than what is actually written there. Read both what is in the Ebay description and what is NOT in the description. Often your mind will want to fill in details with what is your dream interpretation. You need to re-read the description until you find out whether what you are searching for and what the seller is selling match.

* Used or New?

Is the item you are buying used or new? If it doesn't say new, you are most likely buying something that is used.

* Real or Fake

Is the item you are interested in "real" gold, sterling silver or pearls? For example, a description saying: "gold necklace for sale" does NOT say 14 kt gold or 18kt gold. That most likely means a gold COLORED necklace which may or may not have actual gold metal. This also applies to pearls as many call plastic fake pearls simply "pearls".

If the seller is selling beads, those beads could be plastic, glass, stone, scrap metal, crystal, chips, wood, clay, gemstone or some other material.

* Item Details

Does the EBay description really say how much you are getting, how long the item is, and quality of the item? Selling by the pound can be a great deal - or a horrible deal.

* Beware of Hidden Costs

Look at shipping and handling costs. I've seen many penny auctions that have $13 or more shipping. Some auctions even have handling fees.

* How Fast Will it Ship?

I've been seeing a fair amount of auctions that note that the product will ship in 2 months or that shipping time is 2 months. If you are buying for a particular holiday, be sure that you will get the item in time.

3. Is it a Bargain For You?

Many times an EBay auction will say that the items are "worth $XXX". In many cases, that price is inflated. Often you can find similar items much cheaper tah "$XXX" at normal stores. (However, the auction price may still be cheaper than you can by elsewhere - it really helps to know how much you usually pay for items!) If you are only interested in some of the items in an auction, adjust your bid to reflect how much you are willing to pay for just those items unless you plan to sell the rest as that is how much you would pay for it elsewhere.

4. Auction Fever

Compare prices on the net at the same time to avoid overpaying. Know that usually you can get the item later elsewhere. Wise buyers know to walk away when the price is higher than the item is worth to them.

This Static Spot is open for sponsor

This Static Spot is open for sponsor