Auctiva Staff Selling Competition

All the templates are nice and clean. Everyone did a nice job! I think many will see green!

These are some that made an impression on me:

#4--pics are missing for me
#5--way to wide for my screen. My settings are 800X600.
#6--WOW!! Peeps won't bother unless it loads right away, if they have dial-up, forget about it! Great ad! My fave at this point.
#13--I like the use of road signs, goes with theme
#17--too big for screen

Best of luck to all!

I like 2 and 6

Ok... I viewed up to 10.... and # 6 sold me so far. Tomorrow I will look at some more... One thing... I would like to know the HTML specs on the Active X in #6 and how they found it.

Good Job Team Auctiva!!!!!

so far only viewed #13-24 & #6. from the ones i've looked at, the ones i'd buy (if i was going to buy) would be #21 or #13. 21 has a satisfaction guarantee, s/h is resonable, ad is eye-catching, description tells me most everything i'd want to know. 13 has nice look to it and most info would like to know, except doesnt state return policy.

Another one I *might* consider buying is #14 simply because is super cheap and shipping is lower than what the PO will charge. but that's only if already knew what movie was about and was willing to take chance on not being widesreen format.

for visual impact, the clear winner is #6.

in my critiques, one of the things i mention is return policy (or lack of) as a customer, i always look for return policy. i've never returned anything bought on ebay, but i like to know up front if all sales final or if there's a return period. Dont get me wrong, i've often bought from people that say "all sales final", but am more willing to buy from those that have allow returns.

6 - wow! extremely eye catching and great template! the preview of movie takes forever to d/l and even with high speed net i wouldnt have bothered if it wasnt for being asked to review listings. great description on movie, but nothing about region coding, and rating (rating is in preview window, but not in descrip). no return policy stated. if starting price was lower, would consider buying this one.

13 - cute template, but pic is tiny. tells what movie is about. tells region coding, format, rating, and condition. doesnt say if all sales final or if returns allowed. all in all, pretty nice ad.

14 - dont care for brown, but template is cute for movie. is this region 0, 1, 2? widescreen or regular? R rated, PG, PG13, X? 2.95 for priority - a bargain on shipping! (esp. since PO will charge more than that. good for customer, bad for seller) what's return policy? what's guarantee? and what's the movie about??

15 - template is nice, good description but doesnt tell me region coding (and since ship worldwide, is important when it comes to dvds), no real TOS. and movie rating not listed.

16 - template okay, would look better if colors for store window matched template. no TOS, used ebay's prefilled which causes a big chunk of description to be in seperate area.

17 - too wide, have to scroll left and right. uses ebay's prefilled info which causes half of description stuff to be in seperate location (annoying & visually unappealing), TOS doesnt have about returns, guarantee, etc.

18 - tells me most everything i need to know about the dvd (movie description, rating, format, who's in it), but return policy? warranty? and $5 for media mail????? for that price I expect priority or at least first class mail. because of using ebay stock info, have to scroll down to see what movie is about. essentially description of listing is broken up and part in one place, part in another. if i hadnt scrolled, i wouldnt have seen the movie description. visua impact of listing - clean but nothing exciting.


19 - nice template - the lights are eye catching. good description, but no mention of region, return policy, format (widescreen or regular?), movie rating, etc.

20 - very nice looking ad (sharp looking template!) with good info (region, description, etc) is this "all sales final", 30-day returns if unopened? ? I do like that you offer first class mail.

21 - free shipping - that's nice touch. using own pic rather than ebay's stock photos - nice, but i really dont care to see your carpet tells me region (thumbs up!), subtitles, return policy, the lights on border are eye catching and give a nice "movie theatre feel". Nice clean layout and easy to read.

22 - images way too tiny. description only says "Brand new dvd. unopened. widescreen version." what about the movie? what's it about? what are the TOS? what is your return policy?

23 - fairly clean listing, but what's the TOS? 30-day return? no returns? warranty?

24 - plain vanilla - *yawn!* in some ways it's nice cause no wait time for viewing, no long TOS, etc. BUT, doesnt tell me what the return policy is (if any), what the movie's about, what the region coding is, if it's widescreen or not, the movie rating, etc. and is visually unappealing.

quote:

has a satisfaction guarantee, s/h is resonable, ad is eye-catching, description tells me most everything i'd want to know.

You mean I'm supposed to look for all that?

Ha!

I was just looking at the design. Tells you how I shop

Hmm... I think the auctions posted by the programmers are not getting as high of reviews as the auctions posted by the graphic designers.

I suppose that's a good thing.

In addition to programmers and designers, we've also got auctions posted by some of the support staff, marketing, QA and myself. I should give you guys a contest of match the auction with the Auctiva staff member. Thanks all for your votes and feedback so far!

-Kevin

quote:

Originally posted by wahm922:

quote:

has a satisfaction guarantee, s/h is resonable, ad is eye-catching, description tells me most everything i'd want to know.

You mean I'm supposed to look for all that?

Ha!

I was just looking at the design. Tells you how I shop

i was just trying to see it through the eyes of a shopper and some of the things i look for i look for things like TOS & return policy and dvd's i always look for widescreen format, i prefer widescreen

lots of people shop without looking for things like TOS though.

looked at some more and edited my post above to keep it all in one place. will continue to add to post above as i browse more.

since part of the contest is to see who's listing sells for the most, would be interesting to see the results, esp. since some have very basic info, some are very elaborate, some are sellers with zero fb, others have pretty high fb., etc. will make for an interesting study on buyers on ebay

I looked at a few....
Critique of them...

#21... marquee lights are very distracting to me. I wished they would stop while I was reading! The note about not replying to email right away and if you don't hear within 5 days sounds pretty bad.

#3 blue on black text...made my eyes hurt trying t read it...

#22 teeny tiny picture! And they really could have taken a few minutes to type just a little more. But it's cheap and I'd probably be willing to bid anyhow, assuming I was already familiar with the movie and didn't really need to read more.

#16 looks pretty appealing from a buyer's perspective

I cant decide between #5 and #6 they are both eye catching and look professional. But they are definately imho, the best of the lot. Looks like the 1 cent starters are taking off.

I sell these DVDs now and then and have tried pricing them every way possible to draw the bids. I have found that $3.95 with exact media mail shipping seems to snagg em for me. Usually end up getting around $7 or $8 bucks for one.
By the way I looked at every single one of them, all were pretty good.

Number six crashes my Internet explorer. A box comes up and says click here to run active X then CRASH... My computer is old but I usually don't have problems.

My vote goes to #6, Awesome listing! It loaded pretty fast for me.No problems.

Number 2, is nice. I would make each header text unique (maybe color or make it larger) for each area, i.e. movie description, cast and so forth. Clean up the text and add a return policy (if it's there I missed it).

Number 6, is the best design. However the movie has to go. As cool as it is to have it in the listing, most users computers won't be able to handle it. The movie will cost you in the end.

Number 20, a lot like #2 but with better defined headers and text. Some cool movie pics would be neat but aren't needed.

The rest were all very nice. However some were too simplistic and well, boring. Some were too vague as well. Some sellers feedback would keep me from buying from them no matter how gorgeous and professional there listing appeared.

My .02 cents.

Alright, I couldn't just not comment on all of them. Here's my opinions..for what they're worth. (and that's alot <smile>

24. Basic auction, answered basic questions needed from the standpoint of a buyer
23. Run of the mill auction, answered all questions needed for a buyer from a buyers standpoint.
22. simple to the point and already purchased by the time I reviewed it.
21. My personal opinion is I dislike flashing templates so I would've booted out of the auction fast.
20. Sharp looking auction, plus I like the larger image picture at the bottom. I don't like the font Comic Sans though
19. Once again, the flashing template, PLUS the text was centered. I don't like that. Most buyers read from left to right and it throws off with centered text.
18. basic to the point with plenty of info including the info from muze. If a person didn't know what the movie was it's a nice way to inform the buyer.
17. Eye catching and sold by the time I looked at it.
16. Sold already. Basic format with the different color text to let buyer know it's awards is good.
15. Flashing template <blech> I like the boxed info though, crisp and clean.
14. Straight to the point auction. Nice and not overdone with information. Subtitle, too. (which I very rarely use)
13. Picture too small. Template just ok. Too many spaces after the actors name and just felt lacking somehow. Or in comparison to others..it lacked.
12. Straight info and straight to the point. I like the front & back images side by side, plus it's sold already.
11. minimalist and hoping that buyers know what the movie is about.
10. I like the text is all left centered. Easy to read, crisp and clean.
09. Sold. However, I would have clicked off the ad fast due to the colors aren't appealing to me. (unless the price was right of course)
08. Flashy template, pics not clear and bolded white text just doesn't work for me.
07. Looks good, crisp, clean, all info clear cut and loads fast.
06. OH MY GOSH! How kewl is that one! Active X could lock some users of IE browser if they have it blocked. I viewed it under FF and IE. The movie clip and the template with the screen actors pics at the bottom. Stunning!
05. Love the header on the auction template. Very catchy! Grabs the attention. I also like the oscars next to the awards. I also can't say if it's because I've seen the movie that the montage of the actors means more to me as a buyer or if it's just basically cool looking!
04. Some of the pics missing and <blechy> color scheme.
03. I like the template, but what I don't like is the font color being blue..it makes it too hard to read.
02. Clear, concise, nice use of pictures from the film, awards and everything else is well presented.
01. Nice template for the dvd. I didn't like how the auctiva messages were in the middle between the auction and the info from muze.

What I like about this contest is the varied types of auctions. Some fixed price, some start low at a .01 with a buy it now price, some are up for auction, some use sub-titles and some give lots of info and some are minimalist but you get the complete package of what's offered without alot of hoopla.

Sellers can glean alot of information from viewing each of the auctions, determining how and why some are already sold and others are still waiting to be purchased.

I am FLOORED by number 6. I loved it. You're losing sellers though with the movie clip. If a buyer isn't using broad band then they are SOL for viewing that auction. Great work!

Good Luck everyone!
Donna

That's great feedback, Donna! I confess, I just didn't have the attention span to look at them all the other day.

Finally someone else who hates moving templates as much as I do A little subtle blinking I can handle, but that's about it.

#6 looks cool, but at the same time, I think that's a lot of effort for one $2.99 listing! And I just looked at it with my sound on, and it's got one of my pet peeves....sound that starts when I don't expect it. If I was browsing away with iTunes blasting, using multiple browser windows, I would have backed out of that auction before I'd even scroll down to see how cool it is.

Take out the movie, or somehow make it not load til I indicate I want to see it, and that's a great looking listing!

Im gonna be a big ol' stick in the mud here... but I've been trained to be a stickler for copyright...and I'm not so sure it'd be OK with the studio to have the images made into a template like that. I dunno how it works with promotional materials for films...just know I can't use, say, Disney images in a template for Disney doodads. Not that people don't do it, but ya know what I mean.