What is the secret to cut and paste verbiage into the description area while keeping formatting

[surtrend]

Please!! what is the secret to cutting and pasting verbiage into the description area while keeping formatting such as paragraph spacing, preferred font sizes etc. It's counter productive and surely costs ebay money in sales for sellers to struggle to just type 1 listing. I tried setting up a template and the problems started right away. I would cut and paste then edit but when I looked at the PREVIEW, it looked totally different. Just tell the best way to do it quickly so we - me anyway - can adjust to that. The answer can't be to "change to advanced settings" on every individual listing. I see other sellers with tons of listings and their descriptions have colors and flowers and special fonts, etc. Thank you.

[dhbookds]

I think "where you are cutting and pasting from" is the problem....  Try using note pad......

[papermoneyforme]

Personally, with Ebay and the market today, I use the KISS principle.

Say what is needed for a good clear description in simple short terms and forget about the rest.

Shoppers on cell phones could care less about flowery long descriptions as most cell phone users don't read them anyway.

That's just my opinion.

[luckythewinner]

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@surtrend wrote:

Please!! what is the secret to cutting and pasting verbiage into the description area while keeping formatting such as paragraph spacing, preferred font sizes etc.

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Generally speaking, you need to preserve the HTML markup within the text. 

But even that may not preserve all the styling, because sometimes the styling comes  from the HTML elements that contain the text you are cutting and pasting, rather than the actual HTML elements in the text that you are cutting and pasting. 

[klassic*kids]

I copy/paste some basic verbiage in the description on all my listings from the "template" I have saved on a draft email.  I don't use html or anything advanced. 

After I paste the verbiage I then go in and add the specifics to the particular item I am listing.

I have never run into any problems.  Wish I could figure out why you are, sorry.

[goodluckselling]

I would be careful with C /P now on eBay.  eBay does not allow active content and you will run into issues if you continue to use this practice in your descriptions.  If you have to C /P then paste it to some thing like @dhbookds suggested like word or note pad which will not bring over and active HTML content, then copy and paste it back into your description.  You will have to reformat the size, font, color.

Also if you are not listing because of time contraints, more than likely someone else is listing.  Buyers do not buy thinking about what could be available they buy based on what is available.

Good Luck Selling!

[raceteam]

I'll keep this simple. When copying from the source code, paste into the html tab in the listing description; when copying from the page displayed, just paste it into the standard tab area.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

I use the same basic template I created more than 20 years ago. All I do is change the product-specific content. Simple, basic HTML, that's all.

By the way, "cut and paste" is a print media term -- using a pair of scissors to remove pieces of text from a proof and glue it onto a page layout. In other words, destroy the original source to create a new version.

I believe "copy and paste" is the term you want -- although why you are copying someone else's work and using it as your own is questionable.

~~C~~

[ted_200]

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wrote:

Please!! what is the secret to cutting and pasting verbiage into the description area while keeping formatting such as paragraph spacing, preferred font sizes etc. It's counter productive and surely costs ebay money in sales for sellers to struggle to just type 1 listing. I tried setting up a template and the problems started right away. I would cut and paste then edit but when I looked at the PREVIEW, it looked totally different. Just tell the best way to do it quickly so we - me anyway - can adjust to that. The answer can't be to "change to advanced settings" on every individual listing. I see other sellers with tons of listings and their descriptions have colors and flowers and special fonts, etc. Thank you.

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I've had this problem, the text editor on the listing form is wonky. 

I don't know of any way... I put text on notepad or something that has no HTML involved, paste it into the Description, then apply fonts and colors to it.  If you edit that any further, your HTML seems to get junked up with all sorts of dead HTML code. 

Not sure what "change to advanced settings" means, but I use the not-"simple" listing tool for everything. 

Anyhow, once you have a listing that's how you like it, I've found the easiest way to preserve my boilerplate part is to use Sell Similar and just edit the listing specific part to what I want. 

I use the same basic template I created more than 20 years ago. All I do is change the product-specific content. Simple, basic HTML, that's all.

I also do that sometimes.  List from a Saved Template.  I keep a couple with different versions of the boilerplate parts and select the one I need. 

To make a template, once you paste your verbiage in, immediately switch to HTML, and strip out ALL the HTML, and then add fonts, colors, etc., and save it.