Learn HTML @ LyndaRoxanne.com, your eBay auction help site!

Lets Build an Auction Listing

Open Notepad (go to Start/Programs/Accessories/Notepad), this is where we'll type the HTML for our listing.

We'll use a table so we can add a background, first we'll center the table like this down arrow

Now lets add some features to the table. First we'll add a background colour, you can choose a colour from the browser safe colours here.

Now we'll add our first table row, this will be where the title of our listing will be, so we'll add a bit of colour and size to the font of our title, make it bold and center the title in the middle of the row down arrow

<CENTER>
<TABLE BGCOLOR="LIGHTBLUE">
<TR BGCOLOR="BLUE"><TD>
<CENTER>
<FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="WHITE">
<B>
The title of your item goes here
</B>
</FONT>
</CENTER>
</TD></TR>
</TABLE>
</CENTER>

And here's how it looks...

The title of your item goes here

You can see how we closed off the table row with </TD></TR> so now lets start a new row by opening those tags again down arrow

<CENTER>
<TABLE BGCOLOR="LIGHTBLUE">
<TR BGCOLOR="BLUE"><TD>
<CENTER>
<FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="WHITE">
<B>
The title of your item goes here
</B>
</FONT>
</CENTER>
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
</TABLE>
</CENTER>

And here's how it looks...(nothing has changed because we havent put any text in our new row yet)

The title of your item goes here

Now we want to talk about the features of our item, so lets bullet the features so they stand out down arrow

And here's how it looks...

The title of your item goes here

Put the features of your item here

Include things like colour, size, uses, technical specifications, brand name, model number etc

Mention whether or not the item is new

Dont forget to state any faults or wear the item has

Want to know how your HTML looks so far?
First we'll need to save our work in Notepad.
Click on File/Save and call your work listing.html and save it as type all files (click the dropdown box under the file name and select all files).
Now open a new window and click on File/Open/Browse and find the listing.html file you just saved and open it.
How did you go? Looks like the one above? If not look back over your HTML and double check you've written it properly, dont forget American spelling is used, so colour is spelt as color and centre is spelt as center.
OK, lets move on with making a great listing...

Do you have a picture of your item that you'd like in your listing? Lets add that in now down arrow

And here's how it looks...

The title of your item goes here

Put the features of your item here

Include things like colour, size, uses, technical specifications, brand name, model number etc

Mention whether or not the item is new

Dont forget to state any faults or wear the item has

Now click on File/Save Notepad and refresh the window you're viewing your listing in.
You should now see your picture in your listing!

How about your auction terms? Bidders can make a more informed bidding decision if they know a little about your terms of sale. These can include things like shipping costs and the payment methods you'll accept.
Lets add your auction terms in now down arrow

<CENTER>
<TABLE BGCOLOR="LIGHTBLUE">
<TR BGCOLOR="BLUE"><TD>
<CENTER>
<FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="WHITE">
<B>
The title of your item goes here
</B>
</FONT>
</CENTER>
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<UL>
<LI>Put the features of your item here
<LI>Include things like colour, size, uses, technical specifications, brand name, model number etc
<LI>Mention whether or not the item is new
<LI>Dont forget to state any faults or wear the item has
</UL>
<P>
<CENTER>
<IMG SRC="http://www.yourimagehost.com/yourname/yourpicsname">
</CENTER>
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<CENTER>
<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="BLUE">
<B>These are my auction terms</B>
</FONT>
</CENTER>
<P>
<FONT COLOR="BLACK">
Here is where you put your terms, for example postage/shipping, refund policy, insurance, the payment methods you accept...anything that is important for the buyer to know before they bid</font>
</FONT>
</TABLE>
</CENTER>

And here's how it looks...

The title of your item goes here

Put the features of your item here

Include things like colour, size, uses, technical specifications, brand name, model number etc

Mention whether or not the item is new

Dont forget to state any faults or wear the item has

These are my auction terms

Here is where you put your terms, for example postage/shipping, refund policy, insurance, the payment methods you accept...anything that is important for the buyer to know before they bid

Notice how we gave the font some colour and size? You can change those features to any colour or size you like.

Perhaps you have a background design you'd like to use instead of a plain colour?
Thats easily done! Choose a background you like and save it in the web space provided by your ISP or in a image host site like Boomspeed.
Once your chosen background is saved all you need is its URL (or address). You can find this out by right-clicking on the background and clicking on Properties. This will show you the address (it starts with http://) which you can then copy and put in your listing like this (notice the HTML for the background has changed from BGCOLOR to BACKGROUND) down arrow

<CENTER>
<TABLE BACKGROUND="http://www.yourimagehost.com/yourname/yourbackgroundname">
<TR BGCOLOR="BLUE"><TD>
<CENTER>
<FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="WHITE">
<B>
The title of your item goes here
</B>
</FONT>
</CENTER>
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<UL>
<LI>Put the features of your item here
<LI>Include things like colour, size, uses, technical specifications, brand name, model number etc
<LI>Mention whether or not the item is new
<LI>Dont forget to state any faults or wear the item has
</UL>
<P>
<CENTER>
<IMG SRC="http://www.yourimagehost.com/yourname/yourpicsname">
</CENTER>
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<CENTER><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="BLUE">
<B>These are my auction terms</B>
</FONT>
</CENTER>
<P>
<FONT COLOR="BLACK">
Here is where you put your terms, for example postage/shipping, refund policy, insurance, the payment methods you accept...anything that is important for the buyer to know before they bid</font>
</FONT>
</TABLE>
</CENTER>

And here's how it looks...

The title of your item goes here

Put the features of your item here

Include things like colour, size, uses, technical specifications, brand name, model number etc

Mention whether or not the item is new

Dont forget to state any faults or wear the item has

These are my auction terms

Here is where you put your terms, for example postage/shipping, refund policy, insurance, the payment methods you accept...anything that is important for the buyer to know before they bid

Click on Save again in Notepad and refresh your window to see how your listing is progressing.
You can add some flair by changing the features of your fonts or perhaps adding a border to your table down arrow

<CENTER>
<TABLE BACKGROUND="http://www.yourimagehost.com/yourname/yourbackgroundname" BORDER="5" BORDERCOLOR="BLUE">
<TR BGCOLOR="BLUE"><TD>
<CENTER>
<FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="WHITE">
<B>
The title of your item goes here
</B>
</FONT>
</CENTER>
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="BLUE">
<UL>
<LI>Put the features of your item here
<LI>Include things like colour, size, uses, technical specifications, brand name, model number etc
<LI>Mention whether or not the item is new
<LI>Dont forget to state any faults or wear the item has
</UL>
</FONT>
<P>
<CENTER>
<IMG SRC="http://www.yourimagehost.com/yourname/yourpicsname">
</CENTER>
</TD></TR>
<TR><TD>
<CENTER><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="NAVY">
<B><I>These are my auction terms</I></B>
</FONT>
</CENTER>
<P>
<FONT COLOR="NAVY" SIZE="3">
Here is where you put your terms, for example postage/shipping, refund policy, insurance, the payment methods you accept...anything that is important for the buyer to know before they bid</font>
</FONT>
</TABLE>
</CENTER>

And here's how it looks...

The title of your item goes here

Put the features of your item here

Include things like colour, size, uses, technical specifications, brand name, model number etc

Mention whether or not the item is new

Dont forget to state any faults or wear the item has

These are my auction terms

Here is where you put your terms, for example postage/shipping, refund policy, insurance, the payment methods you accept...anything that is important for the buyer to know before they bid

Now all you need to do is copy and paste your HTML table from Notepad into your auction description in the Sell Your Item form!
(click on edit in NotePad and then click on select all, then click on copy. Then put your mouse cursor into the description field in the SYI form and right-click and click on paste)