posted on November 26, 2000 02:47:56 PM new
But I do! I want to put a mouse trailer with my own message into my auctions, and I am not sure if I just copy and paste the script into my sellers preferences so they show up in every auction, or do I have to do it each time I list an auction? Anyone know which? Or either? Thanks!
posted on November 26, 2000 02:59:05 PM new
Thanks! Well alot of people here do not like them but then we are all not the only buyers and sellers on Ebay right? Just a small amount of people here when compared to the whole of registered users. If, in fact, they lock up machines, of course, I do not want to use them. No use making it any more difficult for bidders then need be. Thanks for the info! Appreciated!
posted on November 26, 2000 03:00:54 PM new
I love mouse trailers!
Thought I just saw one on an auction that kept artifacting all over the place...until I inadvertently covered the image of the item I wanted to bid on!
I know that I haven't figured out the scripting yet, my auctions are all hand coded so I don't know how to add them...tables I can do...java...well...'nuther story.
If anyone has a good site for understanding these, I would love to know!
Thanks!!!
ubb edito
[ edited by Capriole on Nov 26, 2000 03:01 PM ]
posted on November 26, 2000 03:17:06 PM new
I really do not like javascript in any webpage and even less in an auction page. I avoid because most of the time my poor (low speed low memory) computer crashes most of the times during a script encounter.
posted on November 26, 2000 03:34:25 PM new
You put midi's on your auctions? I hit my back button. You have jumping flashing cute little animals? I hit my back button. You put mouse chasers on your auctions? I hit my back button. Cluttered backgrounds and bright red text? Back button. All capitals, no paragraphs breaks and no puncuation? Back button.
Just put good clear pictures and concise complete descriptions and payment terms. Eye candy will drive away bidders. Remember that there are many buyers using old version of browsers, slow dial up connections, those with WebTV limitations, and those with eye trouble. Keep is simple is not just a good rule of thumb for your TOS.
I would rather take a chance on my auctions being a tad "boring" than being "obnoxious" and driving bidders away. I dare say no buyer has ever hit their back button because they said to themselves, "this auction is too plain".
posted on November 26, 2000 04:41:45 PM new
I keep my auctions pretty plain, with the exception of a sprinkling of html for text font, size & color...I have no music, flashing lights/pix, backrounds etc...I want (read:need) everyone to be able to see/tolerate my auctions, not just the guy/gal with the latest whiz-bang pc & a cable modem....When shopping, I typically back out of "flashy" auctions, with all the bells & whistles.......That said...I LOVE MOUSE TRAILERS!....I could sit & play in one auction that has 'em all day!....I suppose simple things amuse simple minds!....In this case my simple mind!
posted on November 26, 2000 04:48:43 PM new
I agree with Meya completely, especially in regards to keeping in mind other people may have poor eyesight. This is one reason I have decided to pass on using Auction Watch's holiday templates with Auction Manager Pro. The print looks so darn small! Is it just me or has anyone else noticed this? I use a 17 inch monitor but would hate to read it on a 15 inch screen!
James
posted on November 26, 2000 04:59:28 PM new
I used to agree completely & wholeheartedly with Meya. That was before I started buying so much of my inventory for resale on Ebay though! Now I love all that stuff because other buyers don't! Best deals I've found on Ebay have been from sellers with "busy" auctions.
I have to say that even if it weren't for that I adore those mouse trailers! The first one I ever encountered was on an auction that had about 8 pics & I had to wait for the pics to all load anyway. I used to be the type of person who wouldn't wait for 8 pics to load- I'd hit the back button after 20 seconds or so. But with that auction I was still sitting there playing with the mouse long after the pics had loaded. So in that case I think the mouse trailer helped the seller. (I won that auction BTW!)
posted on November 26, 2000 05:26:26 PM new
Most of those "mouse trailers" are provided by Comet Cursor, which is the rudest spyware I have ever encountered. It installs without asking, and it then keeps track of web movements after installation. NO THANK YOU. When I encounter comet cursor on a web page, I make a note of where I picked it up and NEVER go back. That goes double for auctions. I make a note of who I picked up this nasty thing from and NEVER buy from or look at their auctions.
I'm just somebody who buys stuff from Ebay every day from lots of different categories. A word to the wise.
posted on November 26, 2000 06:12:13 PM new
If anyone wants the easiest, NON-TRACKING mouse-tail curser to use, just let me know and I'll send you the link.
I aint read the TOS here in over 10 months, so I don't know if I can post the url here or not, so....NOT!
posted on November 26, 2000 07:09:38 PM new
Don't do it. YOU think its pretty and a draw and it is pretty and cute for people who have all day to surf ebay. Trust me tho, the average buyer has a very short attention span, most especially during Christmas shopping. I'd back button your auction in a New York minute.
Good pictures, thorough but short descriptions, bold it for those with vision probs and you have a winner.
<b><center><font color=> is all the html one really needs in my totally not humble opinion.
posted on November 27, 2000 06:18:24 AM new
for those of you who DO like trailers, this is a good site to check out. they have lots of them, with a lot of "kid" themes.
posted on November 27, 2000 08:56:59 AM newCAgrrl: I think you are agreeing with Meya, in the sense that sellers with cluttered auctions are driving away some buyers, leaving the remainder, as you indicated, to get all the cheap deals!
Count me in the former (driven away), though I've taken to turning images off when entering eBay (among other places), then finding the relevant picture and loading just that. This is still faster than loading all the images, and I can at least read the text first. If, however, there are thirty image icons (I'm not kidding, I've seen some such auctions), and the design layout doesn't make it clear which is the only truly important image or two, I'll still back out.
BTW, I also dumped the PayPal domain in HOSTS, and one or two other frequent of those kind of icons, so if I do choose to load all images instead of one or two, I'm not re-downloading or otherwise seeing all sorts of similar icons for services I don't intend to use (at least not anytime soon).
Sudden sound startles, and since I usually have music playing while working on the computer (to mask the sleep-inducing redundancy of the computer's fan), I then end up with two things playing at once. 99% of the time, I prefer what I was already playing. The best solution, if someone really wants sound, is to put up a sound panel on the page, but default it to Off. The curious can choose to click Play, while the majority can leave it off. Most auctions don't even provide the panel, however, leaving annoyed people with no way to shut off the extra sound without backing out (or messing with the volume settings they may prefer to leave alone).
Another complaint is with multi-colored fonts. Changing the color of each sentence and/or every fourth word makes it hard to read. Changing sentence colors may seem like a way to emphasize things, but if everything is "emphasized," then nothing is, especially if you render everything too hard to read smoothly by interrupting someone's eyes so frequently with style changes. IMO, emphasis -- whether by font color, all-CAPS, font size changes, or bolding -- is best reserved for a single sentence out of many, or for the occasional word out of many.
Yes, Comet cursors are known to be spyware for sake of tracking your clicks across the Web for direct marketing purposes. Not so cute.
Even aside from images, extremely complicated auction pages can be a turnoff. For selling something expensive, that's one thing, but writing three pages of (sometimes color or size changing fonts) TOS text for sake of selling a postcard is overkill (this is a true example).
Finally, the mostly "gee-whiz" but ultimately annoying (or flat out disruptive) uses of JavaScript are one reason I keep JavaScript and other active content (Java, ActiveX) turned off at the vast majority of websites.
Believe it or not, I actually like to turn on mouse trails sometimes, on my own system, but it is my choice whether to do so or not. I don't want someone else changing the look and feel of my system for me. I also have a fairly fat download pipe available, but that doesn't mean I like gaudy auction pages either.
posted on November 27, 2000 08:58:33 AM newfurkidmom: I suspect the people who complain here about multi-colored fonts, tracking mouse movements, excessive images, unexpected sound, and other excessive or gaudy styles may be more representative of the whole of users, in these issues at least, than you think. I frequently hear people personally express annoyance at gaudy pages, and I've given more than a few people tips on how to block some of the more excessive cases they are most annoyed with.
The basic viewing of webpages isn't a "more expert auction user" (like those of us on AW) vs. "novice auction user" (like those of us not on AW or other auction service) issue, but a "those how like gaudy style" vs. "those who don't like a gaudy style" -- or often more fundamentally, "those who have fast download" vs. "those who have slower download."
Actually, if you assume that people using AW are somewhat more "expert" in auctions, and they (especially sellers) may, on average, have thicker download pipes, then those who don't use AW or other auction services may actually have, on average, less computer capacity for handling extra junk. In a sense, AW users might, if my assumptions and reasoning are correct, may actually represent the minority of people better able to deal with extra junk, those who may be more tolerant of greater download times, while the greater bulk of eBay users might actually be less tolerant!
----
What's being done in the name of direct marketing nowadays is crazy.
The above are all just my opinions, except where I cite facts as such.
Oh, I am not dc9a320 anywhere except AW. Any others are not me.
Is eBay is changing from a world bazaar into a bizarre world?
posted on November 27, 2000 09:22:07 AM new
Thanks for all of the input! Appreciated...ummm dc9a320? I think the original question was " I am not sure if I just copy and paste the script into my sellers preferences so they show up in every auction, or do I have to do it each time I list an auction? Anyone know which? Or either? Thanks!" Were you talking to me with your answer (s)? (Although I do not remember making a statement that anyone coming here is any more the expert then anyone else.)
posted on November 27, 2000 09:40:12 AM new
yeah, I concede that too much is too much.
In fact most anything but a plain auction with good pix is too much for me.
But...
I just have a weakness for mouse trailers.
Prolly use it in another venue.
So...
I use tables in an auction because I can organize the text & pix nicely. And I can do tables in my sleep.
