Auctions


by: Sydney Johnston

Inexperienced auction sellers, or those lacking in confidence, often
want to make their auction listings more dramatic and exciting. They
dread the possibility that buyers will be bored by their auction and
turn away with indifference.

Therefore, they reason, they will spice up their auctions with some
"animations" - graphics that blink, change colors, spin, travel
around the web page.

Or the seller may be a tech person who loves toys and is proud of
his ability to create unusual effects.

Regardless of their reasons, animated elements on an auction page
are almost never a good idea for the following four reasons:

1. Rather than attracting attention to the merchandise in your
auction, your potential customer may watch a spinning ball or follow
Santa and his reindeer through the sky. We want the customer's total
attention on that all-important question: "Do I want to buy this
widget or not?" Distractions are not good for your wallet.

2. Animations can make the load time of your auction listing much
longer. I have been using DSL four years and have forgotten
(happily!) how horrible it is to use dialup. However, for many
places on this planet, high-speed connections simply are not
available. For these folks, loading your page might take forever,
and you can be sure they won't wait. Experts tell us that the
average user spends only 7 seconds at a webpage before departing for
greener pastures. If your sales page is still loading, no sale for
you.

3. It takes time for you to figure out how and whether to use
animations. This is time that would be better spent on writing more
exciting and dynamic copy - copy that will turn a prospective
customer into a real buyer. A smart business person will treat time
as her most precious commodity and spend it on what is most likely
to bring a sale.

4. Many of these animations are just downright annoying. I
personally do not enjoy looking at screens that are twirling,
whirling and blinking. Two particularly irritating animations are an
inescapable message that follows up and down the left side of the
page, regardless of where I'm looking, and "trails" that follow my
mouse.

A huge majority of people feel the same, apparently. Sellers need to
make it as easy as possible for people to buy, rather than throwing
obstacles in the way.

Are there any occasions when animated pictures are of any value in
an auction listing? Possibly. For example, if you are selling to
graphic designers then animated elements might be appropriate. As
always, testing, testing, testing is the only way to truly know.

But for the rest of us folks - forget the glitter and focus on your
merchandise. That's what makes us buy.

About the author:
Learn how to sell on eBay with 16 hours of online instruction taught
by a 10 year eBay veteran. Own an eBay business instead of an eBay
hobby.
http://www.auction-genius-course.com