Have been advised to remove templates from listings -do other sellers agree?

[musiclover70s]

Hi everyone,

I have been advised to remove my templates and scrolling gallery from all of my listings ( I use Auctiva) as I have been told that people with mobile devices have trouble viewing listings with these things included and will tend to move onto listings without templates etc. in them.  Just wondering what other sellers views are on this as I have seen other sellers who seem to be quite successful who use templates etc.  I am also in the process of tweaking my descriptions (I changed most to all capitals on someone else's advice and have now been advised to go back to lower case):smileyfrustrated: so I have quite a bit of work ahead and that is without listing any new stock or re-listing.   

I haven't  sold a thing since 21st December and December was woeful with a total of 5 sales so I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong. 

Also, I am totally confused about what  search engine keywords I should be using in my store.  Should I just keep eBay's defaults?

Thanks is advance for any suggestions

[chameleon54]

I cant comment on templates, but I did read ebays policies on titles awhile ago and do read up on search engine topics regularly. Most advise against the use of capitals in your title. I had a look at your listings and while I,m not an expert on womans fashion, the title information looks good. You include designers name, size, RRP  etc. which is all good information. Your photos look good and there is plenty of them. Terms are clear without too much information. Basically the listings look well presented to me. ( as a 50 + year old bloke ) I must admit though, I do trade in vintage womans fashion from time to time when I come across a nice stash of 1960,s  minis, or 70,s paisley print Kaftans and have a couple of high class retro fashion shops I supply when I find something nice. . And while I havnt started dressing up in them yet, I,ve got to admit I love the styles, fabrics and colours of genuine retro vintage womans fashion. ( Whats not to love about a pair of knee high white leather boots matched with a blue & white Rayon mini )  ..........Think I,ll go onto the verandah and have a couple of beers now ...BURP

[musiclover70s]

 Thanks for the laugh, chameleon!  I'm sure my ebay ID gives it away - but I love the 70s fashion and music.  

Thanks for the positive feedback.  I will at least change all of my titles, that are in capital and have extra symbols,  back to lower case and maybe just leave the templates for now and don't add any templates to any new listings.

Have a good day and enjoy your beer!!

[clarry100]

Well also as another over 50+'s bloke...

As a buyer I don't like those Auctiva scrolling thingos. They put me off and I will tend to skip onto another seller who does not have them.

Just my personal preference.

[musiclover70s]

Thanks clarry100.

It's good to hear people's views as obviously I want the buyer to have a trouble free "shopping experience" and have a look around rather than find it all to hard and move on. 

[i-love-my-sheep]

Not 50+ here, but still a lover of 70's music!!!

I just had a look at some of your listings on my phone, compared to the computer. The Max Azria shoes, that template seemed OK on my Samsung S4 as I could enlarge it enough to read it without having to scroll back and forth across the screen. It was elongated enough on the screen whereby when I enlarged it, it still fitted perfectly on the screen.

The Review size 10 long sleeve stretch shirt made viewing a little more difficult (if I have to be picky). To enlarge it enough to be able to read properly took it off the screen, so I would have to keep scrolling from side to side to read it. Although it did fit on the screen properly before being enlarged at all.

The Sunny Girl leopard print jacket was even worse. Even without enlarging the print, it still went off the screen at the sides. Same with the Princess Highway black pencil skirt.

As for the Auctiva scrolly things, personally, I hate them too. Most of the time if they are there, I just ignore them. If I want to see a sellers other listings, I use the link under their name. I have seen some where they are huge and really in your face. In those instances, I just hit the back button. Yours are at the bottom, so I would just ignore them. I can't see them at all on my phone as I don't have flash player.

The uppercase, personally, I loathe things written all in uppercase. In the internet world it is considered yelling. I can accept titles in uppercase (although it's not necessary), but if an ad is all in uppercase I hit the back button. Some people see it as an attention getter, I see it as rude. That's just me though.

I like your ads. They have great descriptions. You seem to have covered everything. You have lots of item specifics and most importantly, you have lots of photos. It's weird how your templates come across as being the same size on the computer, but so different on the phone!

[musiclover70s]

Hello i-love-my-sheep,

Thank you so much for taking the time to have a detailed look at my listings, it is really appreciated 

I have already gone through about 10 listings and have removed all the HTML code and gone back to the bare basics with them. I have removed the uppercase in the title also.   It is such a time consuming job but maybe it will keep viewers more engaged, particularly on phones etc. as a lot of people seem to use these to do their online shopping.  If revising them helps with sales I'm happy to do it!!  

So it's head down, tail up.....

Thanks once again and  enjoy the rest of your day,