Need your critique please!

[coxengines]

Item # 370135300848

After dispensing advice all year, Xena and I now kindly request your advice and guidance.

Please have a look at the test listing and critique it.

Appeal, layout, "optics", ease-of-reading, clutter, colours, fonts, sizes, terms of sale, left-right-centre alignment. In short, anything that you can think of that would "show" better in your opinion.

Either post here or email to ebay@xenalook.ca

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Bernie

[cottonwoodindustries]

I like it

[lina-mallows]

OK- if you insist!

Not really a bad layout at all. Clean easy to read, and it flows well.

HOWEVER- while I have no clue what a "This sale is for three (3) copper Glow Head Gaskets for Cox .010 engines" is- some indication in the photo as the size/scale of the product would be helpful. A cent? A ruler? Some type of easily recognized comparison, For this item it may be redundant. For other items size matters.

The following "We accept Paypal - money orders, personal cheques and Interac email money transfers.
If mailing a M/O from outside of Canada, please ensure that it is an "International" version." may well, and most likely, will run afoul with eBay's accepted payment policies.
The INFO for Canadian residents must not be seen by eBay DOT COM users.

For the first two lines in the returns area- I would break the sentences after the commas, to make reading easier.

On this one I am going out on a limb.
The text within the boxes do not compress when I change my browser width. So, on a small screen, this would mean sliding side to side, which I find annoying. I am using a full size MAC right now- so I have no clue how a PC would respond to this issue. But, on a handheld device, this lack of scaling may be annoying, and possibly easily solved.

[coxengines]

Thanks Lina-mallows!

On items where size matters, we include sizing (i.e. propellers). For most items, dimensions are irrelevant as there is only one size ever manufactured ("for Cox .010 engines" actually denotes the application).

The INFO for Canadian residents must not be seen by eBay DOT COM users.

I believe this to be incorrect when listing on .ca and the reason we actually highlight this.

I would break the sentences

Good point; implemented!

boxes do not compress

That is a very good point but I'm not sure if it is "fixable" or not. The table was designed for 1024 and higher resolution as 86% of PC/Mac users are using this size.

Does the eBay site itself resize? I'll have to look into this. I am listing via a table hosted in Auctiva and that may be part of the problem.

Thanks so much for your input!

Bernie

[lina-mallows]

Hi again,

I am still uncertain about the PayPal only issue in the US.
I realize WE are in Canada- and many of the sellers here list primarily on eBay.CA.
However- my understanding is that the payment methods must be placed in the eBay provided TEXT area for payments, so as it will ONLY be visible within the limited market for which it is applicable.
Therefore, for what its worth, I think that though the item is listed on eBay.CA- AND YOU SHIP TO THE US (therefore exposed on eBay.COM)- you will be violated the Accepted Payments Policy.
"Not permitted on eBay.com

Sellers may not solicit:
Buyers to mail cash.
Buyers to send cash or money orders through instant cash transfer services (non-bank, point-to-point cash transfers) such as Western Union or MoneyGram.
Buyers to mail checks or money orders (except for items in categories specifically permitted above)
Payment through bank-to-bank transfers (except for items in categories specifically permitted above)
Payment through "topping off" of a seller's pre-paid credit or debit card.
Payment through online payment methods not specifically permitted in this policy.
Payment through payment methods not listed in this policy."

I am certain that someone out there can find the exact CROSS BORDER references I remember reading regarding this issue.

Anyway- regardless of what happens the rest of the year, on these here boards- there is a moment to set aside our differences.

May PEACE, and happiness fill this Holiday Season. And may you all have a healthy and prosperous New Year.

[coxengines]

Okay,

took a few tries but it seems, if we list on .ca, we can still have "cheques, etc" in our listing details.

They would have to take down the listings from every other country's eBay, were they to enforce the US policy on non-.com listings.

Both reps from support did not even know we could still accept cheques. Both put me on hold when I insisted on being "right".

One said we could, one said we couldn't. It's going to be interesting come 15.01.09! This is what I found:

If you list directly on eBay.com, you will need to remove any reference to the prohibited payment methods from your item descriptions. We recommend you do the same on eBay.ca, and indicate you accept these payment methods in the "Decide how you'd like to be paid" section of the Sell Your Item form only.

Meaning it's a recommendation only.

Bernie

[lina-mallows]

90% of our listing are placed directly on eBay.COM, so removing any references to unacceptable payments is easier.

As for eBay enforcement- it's bad enough when they remove an ongoing auction for the WRONG reasons. Let's try not to give hem deliberate cause to remove auctions for the RIGHT reasons.

As we receive less than ten Money Orders a year- this new restriction has little impact on us.


As an aside- we achieved the the magic 1200 items for "Sales requirements To qualify for this PowerSeller level, you need to meet the 3- or 12- month sales requirements shown here. 12 month criteria
Jan 2008 - Dec 2008" While, for better or worse, we'll be around for a while.

[ampurtle]

My Blackberry is not and never will be 1024 pixel wide 😜

[coxengines]

My Blackberry is not and never will be 1024 pixel wide 😜

Should have gotten version 6.0 with the adjustable screen. Goes all the way to 1600x1200.

Bernie

[wesycool]

I don't like the first sentence:

"This item qualifies for free shipping"


It give the wrong impression that shipping is free. Also you already put "Free shipping for additional items!" in your shipping policy. So I guess you can remove the first sentence.

[coxengines]

wesycool,

that's a good point and certainly something I will take into consideration. It is (deliberately) a bit, how should I say... I'm trying to find a more subtle word for "misleading".

Buyers like bargains, perceived or otherwise and it befalls the seller to find an acceptable balance; hence my call for critique.

People such as yourself make a difference - thanks!

Bernie

[hockey_card_corner]

Looks simple & easy enough to understand to me.
Very little tweaking needed..If it were me I'd create another Tab in your table with a Store link. Especially when your offering Shipping discounts & other items of similar nature.

[coxengines]

Thanks hockey.

Could you please provide me with a listing # on eBay that has such a tab?

I do have a link to our store in all our listings but would be interested in seeing alternatives.

Thanks
Bernie