Section 135. Choose Auction Extras

135. Choose Auction Extras

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

134 Add Pictures to Your Auction

SEE ALSO

136 Set Payment and Shipping Options

137 Review and Post Your Auction

Often, it's the little things in life that matter, and that's certainly true with eBay auctions. You're competing against many thousands of other people for the attention of would-be bidders, so you have to do whatever you can to draw them in.

When you put together your auction, there are a lot of little extras you can add to draw people in. Here's how to add them. Note that all the choices in this module can be found on the Pictures & Details page of the Sell Your Item form.

1.	Use the Listing Designer The Listing Designer applies a theme to your picture, such as Christmas Tree or Consumer Electronics , and lets you control its placement on the auction page. (The cost for a Listing Designer theme is $0.10 extra.) When you choose this option, the Listing Designer outlines your auction in a thematic frame to draw extra attention to it. Note that it draws that frame only around the auction itself. When people are browsing on eBay, they won't be able to see the themeonly when they click your auction to view your auction listing page. To use it, go to the Listing Designer section of the Pictures & Details page of the Sell Your Item form. From the Select a Theme drop-down list, select the general category of theme you want, such as Events, Seasonal/Holiday , or New (selecting New lists the newest themes). When you select a theme category, the drop-down list just below it lists all the themes available in that categoryfor example, Blue Holiday, Christmas Tree, Father's Day, Fourth of July , and so on for the Seasonal/Holiday category. Select the theme you want from the second drop-down list, and you see a preview of it on the right. When you've chosen the specific theme, select a layout for the theme from the Select a Layout drop-down list. When you select a layout, you see a preview to the right. 135. Choose Auction Extras
2.	Choose a Gallery Picture Scroll to the Gallery Picture section of the Sell Your Item form and select the Gallery option if you want your item to be in what eBay calls the Gallery . When an item is in the Gallery and someone browses or searches through eBay and comes across your auction, he can see a picture preview of your auction item. Additionally, if someone does a search and asks to see only Gallery items, your item shows up in that search. KEY TERM Gallery An area of eBay that highlights auctions by publishing photographs of their items. You have to pay extra if you want your auction featured in the Gallery. The cost for listing your item in the Gallery is $0.25. You can also select the Gallery Featured option, which gives your auction additional visibility. When you select it, your item periodically appears in the Featured section above the normal Gallery. Additionally, your item's picture is nearly twice the size of non-featured Gallery pictures. The cost for this option is substantial$19.95so choose it only for high-priced items. NOTE eBay does not guarantee the number of times a Gallery Featured item will appear in the Featured section of the Gallery. The precise number of times is determined by when you list your item and how many other Gallery Featured items are in your category.
3.	Choose a Listing Upgrade To draw more attention to your item, you can choose a listing upgrade. To choose one, scroll down to the Listing Upgrades section of the Sell Your Item form. You have the following options: Bold This option boldfaces your listing when people are browsing or searching. It costs $1 extra. Highlight This option puts a colored band around your listing when people are browsing or searching. It costs $5 extra. Featured Plus! This option gives your auction a more prominent placement in the category list and the search results. Your auction is featured prominently in the Featured Items section of the category list and also appears in the regular, non-featured item list. It costs $19.95 per listing extra. Home Page Featured This option makes your item eligible to be featured on eBay's home page. The option costs $99.95 if you're selling a single item or $199.95 if you're selling two or more items. NOTE You are not allowed to use the Featured Plus! or Home Page Featured option unless you have a feedback rating of 10 or more.
4.	Choose Gift Services If you provide gift services for buyers , you can let them know for a 25-cent additional fee. Scroll to the Gift Services section of the Sell Your Item page and enable the Show As a Gift radio button. You can choose to provide the following services: Gift Wrap/Gift Card, Express Shipping , and Ship to Gift Recipient . You have to provide details about the cost of each of these options and exactly what these services entail in your auction description.
5.	Add a Page Counter Scroll down to the Free Page Counter portion of the Sell Your Item page and choose a page counter if you're interested. If you expect many people to visit, you should add a page counter because it makes people think your item is one many people might want to buy, so it appears to be more desirable. If, however, you don't expect many visitors , don't display a counter because it makes it appear that it's an unwanted item. You can, however, use a Hidden countervisitors won't see the counter, but you will so you have a sense of how many people are visiting your page. KEY TERM Page counter A continuously updating digital counter that tells visitors how many people have visited an auction page. If the counter shows many visitors, people are apt to consider your auction item highly valued and might bid more for the item. NOTE If you plan to create more auctions in the future, using the same options as you do for this auction, click the Remember My Selections in the Section Below check box just below Increase Your Item's Visibility . That way, the next auction you create will automatically have all these auction extras preselected. You can still change them, but at least you'll have a head start.
6.	Move On to Payment and Shipping When you've chosen all your auction extras, click Continue . You move on to the Payment & Shipping page of the Sell Your Item form, as explained in 136 Set Payment and Shipping Options . To back up through the pages of the Sell Your Item form, click the Back button (not your browser's Back button).