posted on August 15, 2001 11:47:30 PM
I'm a firm believer in individuality. My auction templates are unique and classy. Question: would you pay me or another developer to design an auction template to your specifications? Do you think custom auction templates matter at all? What would you pay?
posted on August 16, 2001 05:20:09 AM
No I wouldn't pay someone to build an auction template. Or pay for picture hosting or pay $$$ for third party auction services.
I know tables inside out so I am perfectly happy designing my own templates. There are very few (if any) of those pre-built templates that are "classy" (in my opinion).
posted on August 16, 2001 05:28:19 AM
Since I create websites, I do my own. But, there are a pretty good number of people on ebay who have NO idea of HTML and might like to have something made just for them.
posted on August 16, 2001 05:54:44 AM
Look at the majority of auction listings on eBay and you can tell HTML ability is lacking. Most of these people could use help in jazzing up their listings. Auction templates are nice and give your auctions a classy and consistent look and feel (sorta like Amazon has a classy and consistent look and feel throughout their site). They can also make creating auction listings quick and easy. All of my auctions use a template I created with slots for the title, image URLs, captions, item descriptions, payment details, fonts, colors, etc. Most of the time its just a matter of cutting and pasting info into each of the slots. Building your own custom template also gives you more flexibility than using a canned one provided by an auction management service. For example what if you want to place more than 1 pic in your auction template (all of my auctions have 2 or more images) and vary the placement of captions and text, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, with a template you have no control over.
There's definitely a need for custom templates, but how do you capture that market and get people to pay you a fair price for the service?
posted on August 16, 2001 06:01:05 AM
i like templates to a degree but feel there are enough free ones out there to use. between AW and a few other sites plus snatching one or two i like for ebay auctions...ya gotta love that view source button.....I would never pay for one unless it was some really super duper customized one i just could not live without and i don't think there would ever be one of those.
