Hello bojo1314,
And thank you for your question.
Designing, building and hosting images that appear in eBay listings
can be accomplished in many, many ways. Front Page is but one tool
that can develop an attractive ad for you, but as you emphasize that
you are a non-computer person, I do not feel this is the program of
choice for you.
I think you will find that a program specifically designed for posting
eBay ads will be easier for you to use. Some of these even provide a
service to host the pictures you place in your ads and some work along
with other services that host your images. This will be a much simpler
solution for you than renting web space, uploading your images,
properly linking them to your ad and having them appear in your eBay
ads. And learning how to use all of these separate tools and
functionality.
By the way, do be careful not to type your ads in all UPPERCASE as you
did this question. I think you will find it much easier to read in
sentence case and all uppercase is sometimes interpreted as "shouting"
on the Internet.
That being said, let's look at a solution or two for you.
I searched for [eBay auction design OR posting tools OR programs OR
utilities] and found the following:
Tucows - (a great resource for software) shows pricing and ratings
for all of their listings. They have a page of Auction tools at
http://www.tucows.com/auction95.html . Of these, this program stood
out:
Omni Auction Builder 1.1
Date: November 7th, 2002 License: Shareware
Size: 2.8MB Rating: 4 cows
Cost: $20.00 Evaluation: 30 days
Information:
This utility for eBay, Amazon Auctions and Yahoo! Auctions, allows
users to create professional-looking auctions. It has add-ins, several
layouts with different schemes, a description editor and an extendable
feature set.
I visited their web site at http://www.omniauctionbuilder.com/ and
looked over their interface and features for you. Their introduction
states:
"Welcome to Omni Auction Builder
Welcome to the website for the new Omni Auction Builder! Omni Auction
Builder is an easy to use utility for eBay, Amazon Auctions, Yahoo!
Auctions, and more that allows users to quickly and easily create
professional looking auctions. Be sure to download Omni Auction
Builder and test it out for 30 days, free! Registered users will
receive photohosting for their auctions. "
Free photohosting was one feature I particularly wanted to find for
you. It also has a 30 day free trial which will give you ample time to
evaluate the program.
I read their FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and viewed their
screenshots here http://www.omniauctionbuilder.com/modules.php?name=Screenshots
. It appears to be an easy to use and flexible program that will allow
you to easily create attractive auctions with photos included.
Simply stated, you would:
Pick a design template
Ad your title and ad copy, choose fonts and colors
Upload your pictures to the hosting service
Set all the pricing and contact information
Upload your auction to eBay directly from this program.
I think you will agree, this is much easier for you than creating a
Front Page page, copying the source html to eBay ad insertions,
ftp'ing your images to an image host and inserting them into your eBay
ad.
With a 30 day free trial, I would recommend you test this program.
***************************************
Auction Riches at http://www.auctionriches.com/vadpro.html shows
Virtual Auction Ad Pro:
"Virtual Auction Ad Pro is a software program specially written for
making Auction Ads that stand out from the rest! Perfect for eBay,
Amazon, Golds, Aaands, AuctionUniverse, NuAuction, Yahoo & many
others! You simply fill in the blanks and the software builds your
Auction Ad for you! All you have to do is go to list your item and
right click your mouse and select paste and voila' your ad is inserted
in the description box!
NEW!!: Ad Templates w/ PayPal logos and links built-in
now come with Virtual Auction Ad Pro!"
They link to almost 7,000 eBay ads created with this software, many
quite attractive. They note the following features of their program:
"No HTML Knowledge is necessary!
Small program size! No huge downloads!
You get a choice of 20 different formats! (More can be added later!)
Choice of Colors & Fonts!
Save your Ads for later use!
Easily include 1 or 2 photos!
Easily add a Background Image, Link to your Other Auctions, Link to
Your Web Page & an E-mail link!
Works on any auction that allows HTML!
Preview your ads easily with a click of the "View Ad" button!"
The program including several books on auction selling tips is only
$14.99 and also has a free trial to download.
*****************************************
I found a very good page that goes to the heart of my contention that
you will be more productive with specific auction creation software:
Auction Software - Get Help Posting your Auctions
By Wilson (Win) H. Bent, Jr.
December 05, 1999
http://www.auctionbytes.com/pages/abu/y199/m12/abu0003/s05
"Do you find it hard to create auctions? Are you envious of sellers
with fancy fonts, beautiful tables, animated graphics, and pretty
backgrounds? Do you struggle with HTML? Heck, do you struggle with
spelling "HTML"? Perhaps what you need is some help, maybe a little,
maybe a lot. Fortunately, there are many software packages available
to help you! This review won't cover them all, but if nothing else,
it'll show you what you can expect to find out there....
...Here's how auction software programs can help you. If you've got an
image of your item (from your scanner or digital camera), and you've
got a description all written out, these auction software programs
will help you turn those pieces into a fully-constructed auction. For
example, using AuctionPoster98 (I'll call it "AP"), here's what you
do:
Choose a Theme
Enter your info into the program
Click on the "Description" tab. There are separate text-boxes for
Headline, Description, Reserve, Payment, Shipping, and other standard
parts of a description. Each of these parts gets a different HTML
treatment, according to which of several Themes you've chosen.
Add your image
Some programs assume you've already put the images on a Web site; AP
and others let you select an image on your computer, and they'll
upload it to the Web site of your choosing. AP's "Preview" window lets
you see how the text and images will look before sending the info to
eBay.
Fill in the listing form
With programs such as AP, you can save a default set of information to
be used on eBay's "Sell Your Item" form, such as your location, forms
of payment accepted, and who pays shipping. Depending on the program,
you may also be able to specify a default Category to put your items
in; AP has you select the category for each item.
List your item
To me, this is the big difference between fancy and plain packages:
How much work does the software do, and how much do you do? Most of
the software reviewed here takes you directly to eBay's form, with
some or most of the fields filled in. At the very least, the software
will put the HTML for your text, images, and layout into the
"Description" field..."
He reviews several packages:
AuctionAssistant (http://www.blackthornesw.com/bthome)
$59.95, 90-day free "Beta" available
AuctionPoster98 (http://www.auctionposter.com)
Flexible pricing - see explanation below or go to
http://www.auctionposter.com/Purchase) (A posting pass ranges from
$6.95 for a 1-month pass to $29.95 for a 1-year pass (no images);
tokens are 7 cents - 15 cents each.)
This company has taken an interesting approach to pricing their
software: the program is free, but you purchase a "posting pass" to
list auctions and "tokens" to use features such as image hosting. It
comes with a 1-week pass and 20 tokens, which are enough to get a feel
for what it can do
This is their first choice program, though there are more to consider
at this page.
******************************************
Searching CNET for auction tools showed 126 hits. I checked by user
rating and appropriateness for your needs and found the following
programs you might consider:
Effective Auctions
http://effective-auctions.com/
Here is what the Effective Auctions on eBay program includes:
-EASY to use web like interface
-Create great looking auctions for ANY type of item!
-No need to know how to program!!!
-480 Auction Templates to choose from
-Templates are available 12 colors schemes
-Templates designed for 0, 1, 2, or 3 picture auctions.
-FREE hosting of required template images!* Plus you will receive all
the template images
-Instructional template tutorial for a quick start
-FREE Electronic book to help you become a more effective Seller
-Three short easy to read chapters
-Learn how to spruce up your auctions with some basic HTML lessons
(not required)
-Every thing is included. No extra charges!!!
*Free hosting of images will be provided through March or 2004. After,
you can upgrade to the newest version to extend hosting services.
This program is only $5 and has a free trial. It received very good
user ratings at CNET.
Auction Designer
http://www.auctiondesigner.com/
"AuctionDesigner offers a fantastic product at a competitive price at
only $49.95. You "own" the software with no costly monthly license
fees. Upgrades are FREE to download. Our members also enjoy our
effective low cost Image Hosting solution at only $12.95 per month. No
more costly per image fees! Best of all, auction sellers can list
items for sale at any online auction website including eBay, Yahoo,
and Amazon.com. "
This is a little pricier than some of the other programs I have shown,
but worth a look.
IceWizard
http://www.eldonsplace.com/icewiz.htm
"IceWizard is a freeware program designed to provide a simple way to
create attractive auction displays for use on the eBay auction site.
Unlike some competing products, IceWizard doesn't try to manage the
entire auction process. Instead, it lets you use eBay as you always
have, and just walks you through the otherwise complicated process of
creating an eye-catching description page for your item. The neatly
formatted HTML output is complete with links to your web page and your
other eBay auctions. You can use one of the built-in color schemes, or
you can easily design your own. "
This is a free utility, and though it does not have the features of
some of the other programs above, it is worth a look as well.
Auction Lizard
http://www.auction-lizard.com/
Overview:
With Auction Lizard, you can create your online auction listing
quickly and easily with anyone of the ready to use templates, payment
link auto insert, auction listing auto back up and recall, and best
of all, you don't even have to know HTML. No prior coding experience
is required to use Auction Lizard. It's that simple!
This program also shows you live eBay examples and has a free trial.
As most of the programs, the feature set includes:
Key Features:
No Monthly Fees!
Supports all ISP's
Supports multiple payment options
Auction Lizard automatically adds a PayPal referral link with your
PayPal Id under the "Accepted Payment Methods", so if your buyer
clicks through and joins PayPal, you get credit for the referral.
Auction Lizard also saves your PayPal user id so you don't have to
type it in every time you create a new listing. Billpoint, and Yahoo!
PayDirect are also given as payment options that you can include in
your auction listing, and provide links to the website of those
services for payment.
No Coding Experience Required
Multiple Image capacity with hyperlink capability
You can now include up to 5 images in your auction listing and
hyperlink them to larger images, websites, etc. This is in addition to
still being able to add images into your auction description.
..and on.
**************************************
I previewed a number of other programs for you, but felt them lacking
compared to the offerings listed above. I feel confident that if you
spend a little time evaluating some of the programs above, you will
find a program easy to use and containing the features you desire. If
you find that you wish to investigate even more auction ad builder
programs, you might wish to peruse web auction secrets.com software
reviews pages at http://www.webauctionsecrets.com/software_reviews.html
I trust my research will help you locate just the right solution for
you. If a link above should fail to work or my research require
further explanation, please do post a Request for Clarification.
Best of luck with your eBay auctions.
Regards,
-=clouseau=- |
Clarification of Answer by
clouseau-ga
on
01 Jan 2003 17:36 PST
Hello again Joan,
Happy New Year!
Transferring the page you have created in Front Page to Ebay is
extremely simple, with one caveat in just a moment.
Create the page that pleases you when you preview it in Front Page.
You will find the Preview tab below the page you just created. When
satisfied, choose the HTML tab between the Preview and Normal tabs to
view the HTML code. Click anywhere in this window once. Now click
Ctrl-A. In other words, holding the Control (Ctrl) key while hitting
"a" at the same time. Everything in this window should now be
highlighted.
Now click Ctrl-C, for copy.
Go to the description box on the eBay page for entering your item and
click Ctrl-V, for paste. Done. It is now there as you have seen it and
should be identical when you preview your auction after completing al
lthe other dialogs on the eBay posting page. Be sure you have selected
your fonts in Front Page or, if you have used the DEFAULT font, your
ad will appear to your reader in THEIR choice of default font, which
may not look exactly like you desire. So select each font while
creating your ad.
If you are using unusual fonts, their browser will make substitutions
if the font you have chosen is not available on their own computer
which will again producing less than ideal results. So, stick to tried
and true and popular fonts in the Arial, Helvetica, Times Roman and
similar families to be sure your auction is viewed as you intended.
Now for the caveat:
If you insert an image (bmp, jpg, gif, etc.) in your Front Page file,
it is linked to a file (image) on YOUR hard drive. When you upload
your page to eBay, it will not be able to find that file for anyone
but you (and probably not even for you), and others will see this as a
box with a red x, meaning the image is not found. What I have always
done is uploaded the images to my own web page directories, made sure
that they are world readable, and then changed the code in Front Page
to be sure it points to the image on the web, not on my hard drive.
For example:
If the code in Front Page shows:
img src="Clouseau.gif" align="left", for example and I have uploaded
this image to my web directories, I might change this to:
img src="http://www.myweb.com/images/Clouseau.gif" align="left"
Makes sense?
Alternately, of course, you could add your photos by uploading them to
eBay, but they then appear AFTER you auction text, and not WITHIN your
auction text.
Do let me know if this is clear for you and please do ask if I can
help further.
Best regards,
-=clouseau=-
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