New listing tool… where is the basic colored text options?

[odinbear]

I like to emphasize flaws and issues with RED TEXT. Red is a basic HTML color, as is blue , yellow, black, etc. but when I open the bucket / text color option in the editor I see about 24 colors, NONE ARE BASIC COLORS. Closest thing to red is a brown. Why would BASIC HTML COLOR OPTIONS BE GONE?

[buyselljack2016]

@odinbear 

I like using bright red.

Perhaps eBay thinks a bright red is off putting, and/or obnoxious.

I copy and past the bright green, and bright red from one of my other listings when I feel that I really need it.

Also, I can copy a larger/smaller font from another listing if need be.

As I generally do my listings as "sell similar", I don't have to resort to copying from another listing very often, but that is my "work around" for eBays attempt to thwart my actions.

[odinbear]

Guess I’ll use my own older listings as templates. Which is what I did but the listing I used had no issues so there was no preexisting red text in my condition description.  It’s weird the color palette they now offer up. 

[shipscript]

@odinbear 

I think the programmers were looking at contrast issues on various devices when deciding that all text colors would be muddy dark. If necessary, you can flip to the HTML view and replace the value in <font color="#A7502D"> with the word <font color="red"> .

Or, as others are doing, write your description in a word processor and paste into eBay's description box, or copy bits of colored or styled text from other pages.  You might also save bits of code in the "Custom Template" droplist on the description editor toolbar. I keep some colored borders there. You might create one called "Red text" and do it like this in HTML view on the template editor <font color="red">RED</font>

[siamjane8]

@shipscript Thanks for the html code options.... my son showed me how to do that a couple weeks ago...but i had already forgotten.

Isnt it so completely ridiculous though that after 25 years of sellers building ebay from the ground up- we are forced to make constant workarounds and use word processors to to cut and paste to make a simple listing here.  What on earth is the mentality of ebay to inconvenience everybody that uses the site?   don't they realize that ebay is literally nothing without its sellers bringing product and buyers to the platform?  why wouldn't they want to listen to sellers and make the process easier faster and better for us. that would encourage us to list more product here. instead they made it more clumsy and cumbersome, removed most of the industry standard features to basic tasks, complicated the listing flow by hiding everything in popup boxes and in general annoyed the seller base by tripling ( if not more) the click count needed to make a simple listing. 

The did the exact opposite of what is needed to support sellers to flourish here.       

And the lack of font color is just one shiny reflection of that......oh look- red is an option even here on the boards lol....and on every other platform in the world!     BTW- in order to change the color- I DID NOT HAVE
 TO CLICK 3 EXTRA TIMES TO CONFIRM THAT I WANT TO SEE THE EXPANDED TOOL BAR LIKE ON THE NEW LISTING TOOL!!!!!!  Just another example of why the new listing tool angers sellers! inconsiderate waste of our time and resources to accomplish a basic listing------click click click clickity click click.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Ebay does not want you to use anything except black ink, one size, no frills as that is what shows best (or only shows) on website search engines. (as it now states 'are you sure' to 'edit' descriptions using bold, underline, colored fonts etc.)

All changes are about search engines and cell phone apps.

Eventually they will quit asking and any new listings will just be simple 14 font black ink. 

[number1motoparts]

Yes, I sell dirt bike parts and like to use red (Honda), yellow (Suzuki), green (kawasaki), blue (Yamaha), orange (KTM) etc.  Also it makes the listing look more fun and interesting with some blue and red color print.  I'm not happy about this change as it's not for the better in my opinion.

[siamjane8]

As a buyer- I love to see color in a listing. It validates that the seller is willing to put effort into his/her listing and product. Gives me assurance that i am dealing with a good seller. 

I skim over listings that look bland and like they just cut and pasted from another seller's listing.  I want to see a personal touch - THAT IS WHAT SEPERATES EBAY from amazon! why do they want to discourage what makes them different and better

[2011pkins]

No happiness, no joy and no fun.  Just buy and sell and dont complain.

[siamjane8]

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@2011pkins wrote:

No happiness, no joy and no fun.  Just buy and sell and dont complain.

---

I have tons of fun and joy and happiness in my life.... In fact one of my biggest joys is that after many years working for others, I can now work for myself and make a living on eBay a connecting vintage good with people who would never have access to them any other way. 

Don't view these boards as complaints, but critism and feedback instead. A way to raise awareness for changes that we as customers don't like or want, and for sure issues that are not working to better the platform. 

eBay chooses for the sake of cost, to put out product that is not vetted or tested with it's intended users. They fully expect to get the critism when released so they can fix it.... I personally think it's more cost effective to do it right the first time then to do it 6x and frustrate everyone but hey- that's how they do it. 

[mindmyownbusiness]

@stainlessenginecovers 

eBay says it, "that is what shows best (or only shows) on website search engines." But is it really true? And I am not asking rhetorically!  Where is the research to support eBay's pushing the bland  listings. 

I hate reading text in undifferentiated fonts size, colors, without bold, underlline...

Font variation can improve the quality of a listing's communication tremendously. 

I don't think we should be putting talking to bots as higher priority than talking to people.

I previously loved that I could make listings without knowing any html. 

Now at least 1/2 of my listing time is in messing with html.

[shipscript]

@mindmyownbusiness 

While eBay wants the photos to be plain for compatibility with various shopping sites, eBay is the one that extracts the description text it offers to other venues.

Here is what the source code of your listing shows to other venues for a title

Property="og:title" Content="Hot Wheels  Circus on Wheels Series #4/4 Worlds Smallest Clowns DAIRY DELIVERY   | eBay" 

And below is what eBay shows them for a description, which is just your title, not your description. eBay typically shows only the title if they can't parse the description, and since your description is plain text, I don't know why eBay failed here.

Property="og:description" Content="Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Hot Wheels  Circus on Wheels Series #4/4 Worlds Smallest Clowns DAIRY DELIVERY  at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!" 

eBay has been tackling the descriptions by extracting a paragraph of text for the shopping sites.  But extraction has been difficult and often erroneous. The problem with many descriptions has been too much ancillary text (return policies, general comments, etc) that tend to obscure the actual description.

While eBay is fully capable of extracting plain text from HTML, it's bots have quite a difficult time parsing through spurious text, trying to ascertain what is actually the description. I think that is why eBay has discouraged the use of HTML on its newer listing forms so that it will tend to limit what people will add.

I agree with you on differentiated descriptions. For the most part, I can not find the seller's description in the clutter of promotions eBay applies directly to the listing page. I had a hard time finding your description in this clutter.

Therefore, I really wish sellers could outline their descriptions in color. Just a simple HTML outline, or colored background, could nicely set the description apart from the rest of eBay's advertising. The key point is that the description should not include text or terms that are not the description. eBay is perfectly capable of pulling plain text from HTML, and they do so regularly with their shopping API.

This is an HTML starter code that will color the background gray, yet constrain the description to a center cell that is white,  which I recommend to sellers who simply want to offset the description to make it findable:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<div style="padding:4%; font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:16px; background-color:gray;">
<div style="margin:auto; padding:2%; border:1px solid black; background-color:white; max-width:750px;">
...content goes here...
</div>
</div> 

And this code will put a rounded picture frame border around the description.

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<div style="padding:4%; font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:16px; background-color:white;">
<div style="margin:auto; padding:2%; border:1px solid black; background-color:gray; max-width:750px; border-radius:20px;">
<div style="margin:auto; padding:4%; border:1px solid black; background-color:white; border-radius:10px;">
...content goes here...
</div>
</div>
</div> 

The important aspect is that the description should contain only the description.

[siamjane8]

@shipscript 

Nice explanation.  Makes sense on a few levels. They are trying to simplify so that their AI can manage to make sense of it.   

One of the best points you made though, and i hope someone at ebay is seeing and listening to, is the complete mess of clutter that the site has become with all the advertising and promoted listings on our listing pages.... It is darn near impossible to find the pertinent information needed to purchase the item that you've already shown interest in!... Clutter drives seller dissatisfaction and causes buyer frustration and friction.

We need ebay to be partners- NOT competition...... and that is the first thing that they will tell you if you call in- we dont compete with sellers like amazon does.... That is just not true- ebay is making money on filling up our listings with other sellers promoted listings!!!! same thing.

Why not just give the sellers and the buyers the best possible experience and watch the revival of the platform

[machtoool]

Well I went to revise an old ad.  and see under a paint can pouring symbol (meaning background color in Paint etc. ) and see a grid of 42 colours. ALL of them are shades of too DARK! .  Where is Red, Yellow, light green.  eBay come to your senses, and at LEAST_ add RED, so my Price Reduced stands out! 

[siamjane8]

I just wish that we did not have to click 3x extra in the confirmation box to access the colors!  And yes- the universal color RED is sorely missing.  When are they going to re-color stop signs and traffic signals?