Setting Your Auction Part 4 | Setting up your eBay business

Make Money With eBay Guide

Free eBay Business Kit >> Learn to Sell on eBay

This article is intended to start your first ebay auction. This is page 4 of 7. Please leave us comments, questions, or success stories so that we can improve this guide.

Entering Your Sales Copy into the Description Area

Entering the sales copy in the description area is pretty simple and straight forward. At the same time you do have options in how you handle this. The first two options given below are best for beginners. The last two are a bit trickier but give better control over the layout. If you are new to all this, stick with options 1 or 2 until you've created a few auctions and feel comfortable with the process.

• Type your copy into the description area and then use the tool bar to create the look and feel of your page layout. (Suggestion: Complete the page layout in your word processor on your computer, print out a hard copy as your model.)
  
  
• Create the page layout in your word processor and then copy and paste that into the description area. EBay’s HTML editor will accept the word processing code and so keep your page layout.
  
  
• The disadvantage to this is should you get into the HTML view of the description area to make changes all that word processing code can make things rather murky as to your final appearance.
  
  
• Create the page layout of your description in your word processor the way you want it to appear in your auction. Print out a hard copy for yourself. Now, copy and paste the text into Notepad (found under accessories; click on the start button on the bottom left of your monitor, then programs, then accessories and finally notepad.) This will clean out all the word processing code.
  
  
• Copy the text from the Notepad screen and paste that in to the description area on the eBay screen Sell Your Item: Describe Your Item. (This is the screen we have been talking about.)
  
  
• The fourth option is to use your own HTML editor like Dreamweaver or Coffee Cup, create your layout in that and copy and paste it into the description area under the tab "Enter your own HTML."
  

No matter how you get your copy into the box, at the bottom of the description area is a link labeled Preview description. Clicking on that link will open another window that shows how your description will be displayed.

Writing a good description

A good description goes a long ways on eBay.  Here are a few great tips to help you write a good description. 

• Limit the number of auction rules in your terms of sale. Some sellers tend to go overboard with rules on who they will sell to or how many hours what percent of the sale is due by.  Look at other successful sellers listings and you will find a friendly reminder of a couple of rules about their auction.
  
  
• Let your personality show in your listing.  It is great to let people know they are dealing with a person. Be friendly and accommodating.
  
  
• Write a factual description.  Don’t use slang or jargon in the description, be clear and to the point.
  
  

Continue to Setting your auction 5