|
Products
About Us
Articles
Free Stuff
Newsletter Back Issues
Why You Should Avoid
Moving Images on Your eBay Listings
I
don’t know about you but I positively hate eBay listings with moving
icons and video clips, I think they look so unprofessional. I can’t
even stand moving images on sites belonging to top players like
Amazon and Google. But when they feature on web sites and eBay
listings from ordinary folk like you and me, it seems they turn most
people completely away from whatever web page they entered
potentially to buy.
There’s an old saying that describes many people’s reaction to
moving objects, which has changed considerably since it appeared
round about World War II, but generally it goes like this:
“If It
Moves Shoot It, If It Doesn’t Salute It.”
I’ve
heard lots of variations of that statement over the years, some
directly contradictory to this one.
But
generally, and specifically relating to eBay, I think most people,
buyers certainly, would agree that superficial moving objects should
be shot out of existence. I’m talking the likes of moving
wizard icons thanking you for visiting so-and-so’s eBay pages,
eBay pages that emerge like a slow moving snow storm and take ages
to open your chosen listing by which time you’re dizzy and totally
disinterested in what you wanted to see. And let’s not forget
video clips, to my mind THE worst thing to include in your eBay
listings. To my mind these moving objects look so
supercilious, completely amateurish, they are immensely off-putting
and can reveal the seller as totally unprofessional. Which of
course gets people escaping fast from strange moving listings and
leaving the would-be, should-be seller, wondering why no one ever
buys from him.
The
reason I’m saying this today is because a subscriber emailed last
night, asking me to view his listings to help determine why not one
of about fifty items he listed last week had sold. I looked,
but only at three items chosen randomly throughout his failed
listings. Any more than that and I’d have ended up with
migraine. I gave my friend my opinion, I said I think he’d do
better with static images for the books he had listed instead of the
video he’d created showing someone turning the pages of what were
otherwise very attractive books.
“Strange”, he said, “quite a few other people said the same thing”,
then asked why people swear you can increase your selling chances by
adding bells and whistles to your eBay listings.
Answer: “Because they’re selling bells and whistles!”
Recent
research shows that people do not like moving images on eBay, or off
eBay for that matter, the reason being they distract visitors too
much from what they originally wanted to see. Created by
non-Attenborough types they just look amateurish and leave people
wondering if whatever you are selling is also seriously flawed.
Having
said that, and I am definitely not in agreement with them, there are
sellers who insist video clips and moving icons are beneficial to
their listings. It’s up to you to decide, preferably by
testing a few listings with moving clips against static images for
similar products. To help you choose between shooting and
saluting I found two sites featuring software designed to upload
video images to your listings. You’ll find them at:
www.videoaddon.com
www.auctionvid.com
FOOTNOTE:
Here’s another reason I’ve focused on moving images today.
eBay has just announced it is adding video functionality to ‘About
Me’ pages so people can create moving images of themselves to help
create credibility and trust and overcome scepticism often
associated with eBay. Guess who won’t be using it?
|
