Where to get fancy description templates?

[brmat283550]

Hi, i see many sellers have beautifully designed descriptions and they use it in almost all listings? is there an easy way to list with a good looking description?

[lacemaker3]

You didn't give any examples of what you liked, but you should be aware that most "fancy" descriptions do not display well on mobile devices. They may look good on a computer or a laptop, but on a phone or an ipad, they can make it very difficult for the buyer to read or understand the information.

I have seen recent reports from eBay that around 80% of sales are now being made with mobile devices, so it isn't really a good idea to use anything that doesn't support mobile sales. Too many buyers would purchase something anyway, and just return it at your expense if they don't get what they were expecting.

[1tuna]

...........general reply...........

back when I was using turbolister they had an adequate supply of templates Up until a few years ago I was using Vendio to list,they also had a bunch of templates to choose from.

one things I did notice is that many templates or listing services will have a small mention at the bottom.I think we were told to not have those links any more but if you look at the bottom there are services listed

[dhbookds]

I agree that the templates may not be a good idea......you could test how they look on mobile......I don't think they are "outlawed", but may take time to upload on some devices......

[whatmorefabric]

Templates create clutter and could effect your listing placements on search engines.

Short,   to the point descriptions that reinforce your title are best.

[monroe67]

Agree:  accurate descriptions and clear photos help me decide what to buy on eBay.  And I rarely do anything eBay-related on my "mobile device", i.e., cell phone.  

I don't understand why sellers use "fancy" framing and multiple fonts and colors in their descriptions.  It's confusing and distracting.   And treatises on a seller's economic situation, feedback policies, returns, messages, etc., etc. -- they send me right to the "back" arrow.

[chapeau-noir]

About 60% use mobile at some point - it may not be final sale though, and it's not all cell phones.  I think those listing templates are clutter, though, unless they're simple and organise information, then I think they're useful. 

[southern*sweet*tea]

::general reply::

Just to add on, not everyone is blessed with fast internet. I have DSL that runs 2.5 Mbps on a good day going downhill with the wind at my back. (Why? Because it's that or dial-up, those are my choices.)   Basic templates are okay, but some of the fancier ones just don't load, so I either have to refresh the page a few times, or leave and move on to a listing I can actually read. Guess which one I do most of the time?

Plain text, well formatted using paragraphs or bullet points. No need for fancy images, scrolling galleries and other miscellaneous doohickeys. All it does is slow people down.

[penguins_dont_fly]

@brmat283550

Don't worry about "fancy"

Keep Descriptions simple and easy to read.  Plain text, left justified with bullet points is best.

The easier it is for a buyer to understand what you are selling, the better.

I would worry more about how you will be getting paid in Sri Lanka.  PayPal in Sri Lanka is "send only".  You cannot receive payments as a Seller in Sri Lanka.  And giving false information to PayPal and/or eBay will get your account suspended.

[kensgiftshop]

---

@brmat283550 

---

You're from Sri Lanka and can't legally accept Pay Pal payments so getting paid is going to be a problem.

[a_c_green]

---

@brmat283550 wrote:

Hi, i see many sellers have beautifully designed descriptions and they use it in almost all listings? is there an easy way to list with a good looking description?

---

Speaking as a frequent buyer (on another account): please don't. Just use basic text to write out your own description of what you are selling and why we should buy it.

People are not going to buy your product based on typography, colored text or fancy backgrounds, but all that stuff wastes time and space in your listing, and people reading it on different devices may or may not be able to see it clearly. Just write out your own description in plain text like we are doing here.

[fashunu4eeuh]

Hi and welcome!

Ebay frowns on fancy templates these days. They gum up the works, and make it harder for a buyer to purchase an item. Take the excellent advice offered here: Don’t use templates!

Reread posts #8 and 9 for how best to list without using templates!

[divwido]

wish I could add twenty helpfuls.

[shopping*schnarf]

In eBay's infancy (circa 2000), templates really caught on when people discovered others used templates and it gave their descriptions a little pizzazz.  However, as time and technology have passed way beyond 2000, people don't want to wait while the fancy background uploads to see an item, and with mobile devices, it doesn't work well at all. 

[a_c_green]

---

@fashunu4eeuh wrote:

Ebay frowns on fancy templates these days. They gum up the works, and make it harder for a buyer to purchase an item.

---

In fact, let me offer a specific example of why templates are a bad idea: one seller whose products I look at frequently is using a big, sprawling template that stacks all the images for his listing in huge renderings down the left side of the page. Down the right side of the page, in a narrow column maybe one-third the width of the images or less, is his description.

The whole template is a fixed-width layout that looks okay on a wide-screen desktop or laptop (16:9 screen ratio), but on an older monitor (4:3 ratio, old-style TV screen proportions) or, God forbid, a mobile device, it's a disaster. The images bleed off the right side of the screen, and you can't see anything of the description unless you know to scroll to the right. I suspect a lot of his interested viewers don't even know there is a description somewhere off in the ozone to the right of the photos. (Technically, the problem is that the formats for his template do not try to re-format the page for the screen size, but instead paint everything in fixed dimensions, and leave it to the viewer to manually scroll side-to-side as needed.)

He has been using this template for years and years (I'm sure it was devised long before mobile applications were a factor), and he's still selling stuff, but I think he could be doing much better if his listings weren't such a graphic mess to wade through.