You don’t even have to use your own video; you can just find a video on YouTube of your product, maybe a trailer for a videogame, or an expert review on your product.

So, how do you go about using a YouTube video on your ebay listing? Well, YouTube have already done 99% of the work for you, by providing you with an embed code.

You can now choose the size you wish, and also the colour scheme, I would suggest not showing other relevant videos because this could distract them from buying from your listing.

Once you have chosen your correct colour scheme and other options, you need to copy the embed code (see highlighted text in picture above). When creating your ebay listing in the description box, you can click the HTML tab, in the HTML tab paste your embed code. You can now go back to the normal tab.

Now when you preview your listing, you should have a perfectly working YouTube video. However don’t rely just on the video, still write your text as if the video was not there, some users may choose not to view the other video, and it may not be possible for some users, such as un-compatible browsers or people using mobile broadband.

This is no longer a problem. While creating your listing description, ebay give you two choices. The ‘standard’ tab and the ‘HTML’ tab. You can write / create your listing just like usual in the standard tab, and then switch the HTML tab when you want to add images.

Now locate the place where you want to place your image, whether it is at the top, bottom or even in between two paragraphs. You can use the following code to insert an image into your listing free of charge. However if you are using an ebay template you have purchased somewhere, please make sure it supports extra images. All of the templates here at Mumbo Design support extra images, see our templates here.

The code:
<img src=”IMGLINK” alt=”few descriptive words”>

That’s all there is to it, simply replace IMGLINK with the link to your image e.g. mumbodesign.com/example.jpg. The alt tag should also be used for SEO purposes, a few words to describe what is in the image is fine.

“Choose us, we offer CSS driven templates”

The difference is that one has been coded in tables, and one has been coded in CSS (cascading style sheet). Although this will not mean much to you, it does have a fairly large impact on loading times.

Most experienced designers are moving away from tables because of this, and also because tables make your source code look extremely cluttered and it makes them extremely hard to edit / add extra features at a later date.

You, as a customer / end user should be looking for CSS templates. These are generally the newer templates as tables are now a thing of the past (unless you actually want to display a table of data). If you purchase a template that has been coded with templates, the chances are that the source code will be much longer, and MUCH more confusing. CSS driven ebay templates however are organised and can often be changed very easily.

Tables are however much simpler and less time consuming for the designer; this is why there are still some tabled listings been created. Here at Mumbo Design we use CSS in all of our templates, so that they are much more user friendly and editable to your needs.

A lot of ebay template designers expect you to purchase your template, and then even with your template they still expect you to pay fees for extra images on eBay. There is however a solution to this. You can use HTML code to add images to your listing for free, providing you used a template that can support it.

You may now be thinking, “I don’t know HTML, so this isn’t possible”. We here at Mumbo Design realise that most people don’t know any programming languages. This is the reason why we give you a simple solution. In your documentation we give you a simple code that you can just copy and paste into your listing (we also show the exact place), so that you can have as many images as you like (FOR FREE).

If you aren’t a customer of mumbo design, the basic html code is below. Now, to anybody that knows HTML this is exceptionally simple, however this blog post was aimed at people who don’t know any programming knowledge at all.

<img src=”IMGLOCATION” alt=”IMAGEDESCRIPTION” />

Replace IMGLOCATION with the place where you placed the image on your web host / photobucket. Then replace IMAGEDESCRIPTION with a description (no longer than 5 words). Make sure that you keep the values inside the qoutes.

The same concept applies with an ebay listing, when people visit your listing if you still have just the plain white background with plain boring text on there – you’re making a huge mistake! You look just like the 10 listings they saw previous to viewing yours; you have nothing special about you to inspire them to ‘impulse buy’. They will just continue skipping through ebay looking for the cheapest price possible. However, if you have a professionally designed template, it makes you stand out from the crowd so to speak, it gives them confidence in your business (even if you are really just working from home).  When they just happen to browse along your ebay listing template, and it looks professional and sleek, they’re much more likely to purchase from you than the other ‘boring’ ebay sellers with no template at all.

Another main advantage is that it’s a way to get customers to remember about you without them even realising it. The next time they are browsing through ebay and see your listing, they will remember their previous experience with you. Now, providing that you gave them a good customer service and the quality of your last sale to them was up to standard, they will be much more likely to purchase from you again knowing they will get the same service. Now just imagine you’re the person with no ebay template, when somebody is browsing for a new item, is somebody going to remember they have previously bought from you? The chances are that they won’t, unless by a miracle they manage to remember your ebay ID.

So, how much is an ebay template going to cost me? Is it easy to use? Is it allowed on Ebay? These are all very good questions.

An ebay template can range from £5 to £1000+. The difference in price range is for a few reasons, one being that there isn’t many ebay designers out there, so they can charge what they wish. Another reason is whether you are happy with a template that has been sold to more than one person, or if you want a completely custom design for you.

Some ebay templates can be VERY complicated to use, some designers just don’t realise that not everybody knows programming languages, such as HTML / CSS, and just give the customer the template and send them on their way. This is not the correct way, here at Mumbo Design we give out full documentation with all of our templates (including our limited free collection), so that you can create listings with no problems what so ever even without any prior knowledge.

Another common question is whether ebay listings are allowed. Ebay listings are allowed, however there are some rules in place on what you can and can’t have. Some ebay designers do not read up on these rules and therefore offer templates that could get your account suspended or your listings removed. The main rule is the use of JavaScript, ebay have a strict policy on JavaScript and what you are allowed to use it for. Mumbo Design take this very seriously, we do not include any JavaScript in any of our listings that may even have the slightest chance of getting your listings removed. Even if this means we have to do things the long way and go out of our way!

I hope the above post has given you an insight into why you should use an ebay template, and has also relieved some of your worries regarding listings.

To find listings that are fully compliant with eBay’s rules and also give that professional looking image, please look at the menu at the top of this page.