eBay: The Missing Manual

Appendix B. HTML for eBayers

HTML is one of those acronyms that rolls off the tongues of computer geeks while the rest of the world wonders what the heck they're talking about. For most people, knowing that the letters stand for Hypertext Markup Language probably doesn't help much. So here's what HTML does: it tells Web browsers (like Internet Explorer and Netscape) how to display Web pages. If, for example, you run across a Web page with text that's bold, italicized, blinking, or three inches high and bright green against an eye-splitting magenta background, you're witnessing HTML at work.

What all this means to you, if you sell on eBay, is greater control of how your auction listings look. HTML is easy to learn—you can master the basics in an afternoon—and with it, you can make your own templates and fine-tune your listings to create a look and feel that's all your own.

Note

HTML mostly comes into play in step 2 of the Sell Your Item form (Describe Your Item, Section 5.4.4) to give your item description pizzazz with color, formatting, and extra photos (Section 6.2.4). When you type or paste your item description into the "Item description" box, you can use HTML tags to create tables, center text, add colors and photos, and so on. When you've used some HTML, say you've created a table to display a digital camera's features at a glance, click the "Preview description" link (it's just below the"Item description" box). A new window opens, showing you how your table will look when a Web ...