eBay Hacks

Customize Auction Page Backgrounds

Make your item stand out with a little personalization of the auction page using JavaScript.

Although the description area occupies only a portion of the auction page, it’s possible to include code with the ability to reach out and affect the entire page.

Why would you want to do this? Well, as the theory goes, a more distinct auction will get more attention from bidders. However, anyone who looks at your auction has already given you their attention, so the effect will not be earth-shattering. Still, a little tweaking may make your auction look nicer, or at least let you express your own personal style and have a little fun with your auctions.

Warning

Never build an auction such that it will be rendered inoperable if a bidder has disabled JavaScript support in his or her browser. For instance, if you place white text on a dark background but the background remains white due to the JavaScript code not working, then all you’ll have is white text on a white background and a very frustrated bidder.

This code, when placed anywhere in your auction description, will change your auction’s background color:

<script language=javascript><!--
document.bgColor='blue';
--></script>

Valid colors include aqua, black, blue, fuchsia, green, gray, lime, maroon, navy, olive, purple, red, silver, teal, white, and yellow. For more control, you may wish to use RGB (red-green-blue) color coding instead, like this:

document.bgColor='#C5D0EE';

The six-digit color code (here, ...