Basic HTML Primer (and Other Boring Tips That Will Save You Money)

Most of my posts are about increasing your revenue, but we all know profit is made up of revenue minus costs (eBay fees, Paypal fees, etc...) so this post is about keeping your costs down.

I discovered not that long ago that using self-hosted pictures in your eBay listings is FREE and allowed by eBay policy. Buyers are also much more likely to buy your stuff if they can have a close look at what they're actually buying. So, I've started using Photobucket and basic HTML to include additional pics in my listings.

Here's how it works. In the listing description window, write your description as normal. When you're done, pick a spot within the text where you think a picture might fit well. The easiest thing to do is to put your picture at the end of the listing.

If you've been following my advice, you will have created a Photobucket account. Go to that account and click on the picture you want to include in your listing. There should be a small panel on the left that says "Share this image." Under there you'll find three or four URL codes. Select the one that says "Direct Link" and copy it.

Now go back to you eBay listing description and go to the HTML tab in the item description window. Put the cursor where you would like the picture to appear and type this but replace the ( and ) with <> (didn't know how to include the exact tags without having it show up as a broken picture!):

(center)(img src="the URL you copied from Photobucket")(/center)

Alternatively, if you don't want to center the picture, get rid of the center tags and use only the img src tag.

Now go back to the "Standard" tab of the item description to check whether your picture is showing up. It should now look something this:

This beautiful christening gown has been worn once. It comes from a smoke and pet free home. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Now, depending on how you saved the picture in Photobucket, you might get something like the picture above, or something ginormous. Photobucket's editor allows you to resize your picture and replace the original, meaning that because your description is now linked directly to the Photobucket link, once you resize it in Photobucket is automatically changes size in eBay too.

Give it a shot! And feel free to send me questions, I'm happy to respond to them in the blog or in private.