Personalization in Item specifics

[iamalwaysright]

Has anyone used this option in ebay before? How does it work? Is it just a blank field for a buyer to type when they add to cart?

Can you make it a requirement for a buyer to fill it out in order to add the item to their carts? In other words, that area must be filled out in order to buy it, just like they do in Etsy.

[richard1rst]

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@iamalwaysright wrote:

Has anyone used this option in ebay before? How does it work? Is it just a blank field for a buyer to type when they add to cart?

Can you make it a requirement for a buyer to fill it out in order to add the item to their carts? In other words, that area must be filled out in order to buy it, just like they do in Etsy.

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How many orders are you willing to lose? If I had to fill out some extraneous "personalizing" information I would just hit the back button and buy it elsewhere.

[iamalwaysright]

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@richard1rst wrote:

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@iamalwaysright wrote:

Has anyone used this option in ebay before? How does it work? Is it just a blank field for a buyer to type when they add to cart?

Can you make it a requirement for a buyer to fill it out in order to add the item to their carts? In other words, that area must be filled out in order to buy it, just like they do in Etsy.

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How many orders are you willing to lose? If I had to fill out some extraneous "personalizing" information I would just hit the back button and buy it elsewhere.

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Would you rather send messages back and forth to the seller post-sale to relay this personalization info?

I was going to use it for personalized birthday related shirts where I'll print any name you want on the graphic. I doubt buyers would prefer to not fill out that info and expect me to guess the name. Thus my question asking if I can make it a requirement to avoid this info to be blank when I make a sale.

I'd rather not (and up until now I've avoided) to do what other sellers do and encourage post-sale communication to coordinate these things. I don't want messy dragged out communication post-sale for any transaction.

[fbusoni]

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@richard1rst wrote:

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@iamalwaysright wrote:

Has anyone used this option in ebay before? How does it work? Is it just a blank field for a buyer to type when they add to cart?

Can you make it a requirement for a buyer to fill it out in order to add the item to their carts? In other words, that area must be filled out in order to buy it, just like they do in Etsy.

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How many orders are you willing to lose? If I had to fill out some extraneous "personalizing" information I would just hit the back button and buy it elsewhere.

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Indeed.  Just last week a buyer contacted me after the sale to ask if I would please type up a short message and insert it into the gift that I was going to mail to the newlyweds.   I was glad to do so and even sent the buyer a photo of the typed message for her approval.  She was thrilled. 

Be flexible.  It will earn you lots of goodwill.   

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

@fbusoni  I agree with your general point, about flexibility, but just to be clear: the personalization feature would not cover that request. It is for personalizing an item that is being purchased (adding a person's name to a coffee mug, for example). If , as a seller, you are going to offer such a service, then this is a useful if rather limited tool. Unless they've made changes since it was first introduced, it is basically a text box.

There was a discussion when it was first introduced: https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/eBay-s-New-Personalization-Tool/td-p/31891067

If anyone knows of new features that have been added since then, please post here. 

[fbusoni]

Thank you for the clarification, you are of course correct.  Regards

[iamalwaysright]

Oh I never figured there could be confusion between personalization of the packaging for the item versus personalization of the item itself. I was referring to the latter basically what @my-cottage-books-and-antiques @said. If it’s just a text box and nothing else, then sadly it has much room for improvement.