REQ: List of store templates & off-line selling app(s) to create listings & Photoshop Temp

[futurenet-systems]

Hi

I would like to know where I can find a list of relatively inexpensive store template designs (when I find it necessary in the future) as well as an  off-line(w/o eBay open) 3rd party apps that I can use to list items and get things all ready to the point I just need to 'import' the data into a store OR within a single listing w/o a store.

Is a Photoshop graphic layout design/selling template compatible with eBay ?? I would like to use one as a listing or display template for single item NOT within a store so to speak. It's just HTML/CSS code correct? I also have Adobe Dreamweaver to design a web page HTML/CSS layout. I am just requesting info on compatibility. It seems like I would be able to create a nice graphical design and just copy/paste the code into the editor that you use to list an item.

Tnx

Tim Dickerson

N9NU

[shipscript]

There are many low cost templates for sale on eBay

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=auction+listing+template

eBay stores no longer support using a template. You can create a nice banner graphic across the top of the store, but that's about it.  There are still older legacy stores out there with custom designs, but eBay won't allow them to maintain that custom layout forever. At some point in the near future, they'll have to abandon those layouts and convert to eBay's new store layout.

Photoshop and Dreamweaver are designed for webpage layouts but are not that great for eBay layouts. One of the problems with webpage design tools is that they assume the layout owns the entire page. On eBay, that is not the case. The seller description occupies an iFrame, or window, within eBay's existing page.  There are various problems that can arise due to this struggle to own the page. Some examples:

• You won't be able to use links to other parts of the description. 
• Designs based on absolute positioning of elements may not fit correctly and may not display at all in some browsers.
• Designs based on device width will not display correctly within eBay's iframe.

However, it is still possible to use those tools to create simple HTML code as long as the code is tested first in different browsers to see what might be lost or corrupted when posting the code to the HTML tab of eBay's description editor.

A problem with Photoshop is that if you create graphics, they won't become graphics on eBay unless you upload those graphics to a website or image hosting site. Additionally, Photoshop tends to create "image slices", which means a number of segmented graphics must be uploaded to a hosting site.

The trick to building an eBay template is to create the best impression for the least amount of HTML code and the smallest of graphics. Sometimes graphics are not needed at all, and effectively managing colors and borders will do the same job of bringing the buyer's attention to the description. If you have a banner or logo on your store or profile page, that image can be usefully appropriated as a template banner in one of the smaller sizes that eBay provides, and eliminates the need for finding image hosting.

Alternatively, some sellers will take the listing photo that has been uploaded to eBay and pull that back down into the description HTML during the listing process. It is an extra step, but may be easier than alternative graphics solutions.

For listing apps, there are still several offline programs that allow you to generate your listing on your computer and then upload to eBay. On this forum, you will see a number of topics about eBay's terminated Turbo Lister, where alternative third-party listing tools are discussed by other members.