topic Re: Listing descriptions are messed up in Selling

Listing descriptions are messed up

tetrahedron800 — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 11:24:04 GMT

I've been working on this issue with eBay, but they seem to have given up and put it in the Too Hard basket.

I design my descriptions so that the paragraphs alternate between bold and regular text, for maximum readability. Here is one of my random listings:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Robert-Hethmon-ed-Strasberg-at-the-Actors-Studio-lee-actor-director-teach...

If I view a listing first thing in the morning before signing into my eBay account, the Description field fonts are messed up. Paragraphs that should be bolded are in plain text, and the font size of most of the Description is too small (10-point rather than 12-pont.) Even the gaps between paragraphs are inconsistent.

However, if I sign in, the Description field fonts on my computer magically align themselves to correspond to what I originally intended.

I thought that the issue could possibly be the result of excessive use of 'Sell Similar', and rubbish HTML coding getting carried from one listing to the next. However, when I started with a completely fresh listing, the problem persisted.

Any tips or pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

*crikey*mate* — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 11:38:13 GMT

Only view your listings when you're signed in?

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

imastawka — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 12:05:51 GMT

I looked at a few of your listings, and they seem to be as you want them.

Bold, then regular text. But, boy, there's gotta be a better way to say

everything you've got in those listings. You need to be more economic

with your words. There's just too much writing. Buyers aren't going to

read all that. I looked at the Noddy book and my eyes glazed over.

Do you really need to use that much text? It's just a kids book

Look at how you can say the same thing, but with less words.

(Now my eyes are glazed over from too much typing)

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

digital*ghost — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 12:15:53 GMT

The listing in the link looks exactly the same to me whether I'm signed in or out (using Chrome), so I wonder if it's a browser issue that's somehow rectified when signed in due to cookies or site preferences?

I'd suggest trying a different browser and seeing if the issue persists. Either that, or clearing cookies / cache and restarting.

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

harley_babes_hoard — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 13:12:41 GMT

I notice ebay messes up my listings with double spacing between lines and smaller text.. Not sure why but it ends up different to what I have in Turbo Lister.

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

tetrahedron800 — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 20:12:27 GMT

Thanks for your feedback so far on the fonts/layout.

I've ruled out the obvious possibility that the issue is being caused by my computer - it has been replicated on 2 other machines.

To keep things simple, after the second paragraph my intention is to alternate Bold text - Regular text - Bold text - Regular text, etc. to the end of the Description field. If people could confirm whether this is what they are seeing, it would be helpful.

my*mum - thanks, but the issue is that none of my potential customers will be signed in under my account, and will therefore - I believe - be seeing the messed up fonts.

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

phorum_junkie* — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 22:09:22 GMT

How can anyone but you sign in under your account?

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

grevilleas4me — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 22:17:12 GMT

To keep things simple, after the second paragraph my intention is to alternate Bold text - Regular text - Bold text - Regular text, etc. to the end of the Description field. If people could confirm whether this is what they are seeing, it would be helpful.

The short answer is yes, to me your listings look exactly as you describe; bold, regular, bold.

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

bigbrickshop — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 23:25:53 GMT

Looks the same for me, bold, regular, bold, on Firefox.

You have a store so why not put some of your postage & payment info into a custom page and link to it from your listings. It will remove a lot of the text from each listing. A lot of buyers would not read past the first two paragraphs and anyone who is after more info can follow the link to your store page.

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

tetrahedron800 — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 01:07:43 GMT

Thanks for your feedback, including making the listings less cluttered.

I'm a little baffled at the fact that this issue only appears to be occurring when I'm not signed in, and only on computers that I use. I've replicated it on Explorer, Firefox and Chrome, so it's not a browser issue.

Is everyone getting all the text in the description field (except for the first mini-paragraph) at the same font size?

Thanks.

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

*crikey*mate* — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 01:47:04 GMT

@tetrahedron800 wrote:

my*mum - thanks, but the issue is that none of my potential customers will be signed in under my account, and will therefore - I believe - be seeing the messed up fonts.

LOL, I know I wasn't helpful, I thought it just might make you smile a little until someone who knew how to help you came along.

I'm on Firefox W8.1

I just looked at Olive Baldwin - I am logged into my account all paragraph spacing appears to be even and "just right" and asthetically pleasing

and the font looks like this (I copy and pasted it onto a word document) and the colours below are mine - I added them to stand out for you, on your listing they are all Black with one blue link near the bottom.

3 lines Bold - size 13.5 Ariel

Space

Underlined heading Book 1 - size 12

Space
Normal writing - 1 line - size 12

Space

Bold writing - 3 lines - size 12

Book 2 & 3- same as above and all 12 point Ariel

Spacing is consistently one line throughout.as is the alternation of bold/unbolded paragraphs

Where book 3 finishes there is the same spacing where your "trading terms" etc start - it is hard to distinguish them from your description.

Oh, and in your second last paragraph, "Word spellcheck" says that "secondhand" needs to either be hyphenated or two words. (just saying)

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

*crikey*mate* — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 02:01:16 GMT

BTW, if you use Click and send flat rate, you can replace 3 huge paragraphs with 1 or 2 lines.Plus if you lodge over the counter you get PayPal protection for INR. Same price for wherever you send in Australia.

But their prices are a little higher than yours

"500g-3kg for $6.10 or $9.50."

C&S is $6.95 (plus satchel - about 15c) and for the 3kg, think it's $11.70 + about 15c for the satchel.

Also, if I may suggest, if you really want to use all that much writing, maybe use some Headings to distinguish things like Description, ostage and handling, payment insurance, feedback etc - it kinda all blends into one, even though you use the alternate bold/unbold.

To be fair though, if I was to spend $400 on a book, I guess I would like a lot of information.

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

*crikey*mate* — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 02:04:45 GMT

@harley_babes_hoard wrote:
I notice ebay messes up my listings with double spacing between lines and smaller text.. Not sure why but it ends up different to what I have in Turbo Lister.

Do you use Cut and paste for anything?

eBay seems to have trouble adjusting to that and will mimic the source (probably cos the end command is hidden and you are accidentally still writing in it) and more often then not their tools (ie size, style, bold. colour) will not allow you to override it.

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

svartee — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 03:39:38 GMT

If you do use Cut and Paste, as was mentioned above, try this.

First paste the text into a text editor, like Notepad. This will strip ALL the high bit characters out, which removes any hidden formatting.

Then copy that text again from Notepad and paste it into your description field. You will need to do all the prettying up in there.

That should remove most of the problems. The description field is a bit dicky though, so you may still get the odd whoopsie.

Re: Listing descriptions are messed up

tetrahedron800 — Tue, 12 Nov 2013 02:42:49 GMT

I've noticed something in regard to this issue that seems a little bizarre. When I sign in on my computer, and the font size/bolding aligns itself, the same thing occurs on a second computer where I'm not signed in. Extrapolating, it looks as though all potential customers may only be getting the proper-looking listings when I'm signed in.

Thanks for the feedback re the hidden formatting, which looks like the most likely cause as I'm a frequent user of cut and paste. I'll trial a listing soon where the cut and paste goes into Notepad first.