Helpful Tips From Indizona

How to Use an eBay Listing Template With Turbo Lister

2013-06-11T21:40:00.002-04:00

I use Turbo Lister for all of my eBay listings for several reasons. One reason is that I can save my listing template in TL and start all of my listings from my template. I don't have to load it again and again. Just once and it's done. If you don't have Turbo Lister on your computer, you can get it free from eBay here.

I have mine already set up, so I don't have screen shots available for how to do that, but it is simple. TL will ask for your eBay user ID and your password so that it can upload your listings on your behalf. Once you have that done, you are ready to set up your template to use.

Saving Your New Template In Turbo Lister

Once you have TL open, click on the arrow for the drop-down menu next to the New button, and choose Create New Template, as shown in this screen shot.

Give your template a title..... name the template, not a listing title. You can have several templates saved. If you list in one category quite often, you can save a copy of your template in that category, and another template in another category. Let's say you sell a lot of books, you might have templates named "Fiction Books", "Antique Books", etc. or if you sell clothing, you might have templates named "Women's Shirts", "Men's Jeans" and stuff like that. You can edit your title any time and you can delete and add more templates whenever you want to.

For my instructions, to make things as simple as I can, just name your template Original Template or something so you know that there have been no changes made to it and it is the original template that you started with.

If you sell in a number of categories, don't choose a category. If you sell in one particular category more often than anything else, you can choose that category and it will be your default category chosen when you go to make a listing, and it can be changed.

Leave the start price, buy it now price, UPC, condition description, shipping and other information blank. Only fill in these spaces if those are always the same from one listing to another. (You can do this later if you make different templates for categories that you sell frequently, as suggested before)

Scroll to see the Description box and click on Description Builder:

Click the HTML View tab. Open your Notepad document that your listing template is saved in, select all, and then copy the code. Paste your template code into the box for the HTML view as shown.

Go to the Design View now.

If there is any text in your template that needs to be removed, do that now. This would be, for example, my terms of sale for the template that you bought from me (or from somebody else). If it was a pre-made template, the description of the template itself will need to be removed. You should remove everything except the word Description. It's a good idea to leave that word there. (for several reasons that I won't get into right now)

Now you need to add any text that you want to be in every one of your listings. This could be a message about your listings, your terms of sale, or whatever. If you sell the same kind of things all of the time, you might put the words Height, Length, Depth, etc. or whatever words you need for every one of your listings and then you just have to fill in the measurements when you go to make a listing.

When you have it set up just like you need it to be, click the save button.

Notice now that your code is in the Description Builder box.

Scroll down now to fill in your handling time, check the Global Shipping Program if you want to use it, Payment methods you accept, your return policy, Additional Instructions, and Buyer Requirements. Fill in anything that is always the same and leave the things blank that change from one listing to the next.

Click the save button and now you are ready for your first listing with your new template. Do NOT click "save as item". Just click save.

Making Your Listing From Turbo Lister

If you are already using Turbo Lister, then you have probably set up folders for your inventory. If this is your first time using TL, you will want to set up folders to keep track of your items and make them easier to find if you sell in more than one category. I sell in a wide variety of categories, and I have several folders already set up in mine. You don't have to think of every folder you ever will need right now because you can add folders and sub-folders any time you need to.

To add folders, click on the All Items folder so that you will add folders to that folder. Then click the arrow next to the New button and choose Create New Folder. If you want to add sub-folders to a folder, click on the folder that you want to add folders to in order to add folders to it.

After you have at least one folder set up, you are ready for your first listing. Click the New button (or the arrow) and then choose Create Item From Template and then choose your template. As you can see from my screen shot, I currently have 3 templates in mine and I want to use the first one. If you have more than one template, make sure you have them named so that you will not get confused about which one to use.

Next you will select a folder to save your item in. This is why you need to set up some folders first.

Now you will give your item a title, fill in the price, select your category, add photos, and fill in everything that was left blank in the template. Click on the Description Builder button and write your description in the place in your template where the description goes. If you ever mess anything up, you can click the undo arrow. If you ever lose the color of your font, you can get the color code from me and change it back. See the next screen shot:

After you are done with your description, click save. You can also add your photos from this page, or you can add them from the first page, it doesn't matter. Sometimes it's faster from the item description page. Try both ways and see how you prefer to do it.

Once you have all of your item details complete, click the save button. If you have forgotten anything that is required, you will be reminded of it.

Now you need to upload your item to eBay. Go ahead and upload your first one so that you can see how the process works. Click Add To Upload, and then choose Go Upload now if this is the first time you have ever used Turbo Lister. The next time you can choose Return to Inventory and continue to add more items, each time adding them to your upload and when you are ready, click on Waiting to Upload from the left side, as seen in the next screen shot.

As you can see, there is a Duplicate button too so that if you have another item that is either the same or very close to the same, you can duplicate any of your items and then edit the title, description, and other things wherever you need to.

Now let's upload that Item.... Click the arrow next to the Upload All button to see that you can either Upload All or Upload Selected if you have a list of items but only want to select some for the current upload and wait to upload the rest. There is also a choice to Upload to Selling Manage, but I don't use Selling Manager, so I cannot tell you anything about that.

You can click on Calculate Fees first if you need to see what your fees will be, but it will also tell you the fees before you confirm to upload. If you get any discounts, or free listings, it will not show as discounted or free until after the upload is complete. That's why I said if this is your first time to upload just one to see how it works.

That is it. I've told you enough to get you started. I have not explained every button or everything you can do with Turbo Lister. You just need to click on things and see what they are and read the Turbo Lister Tips from the Help Menu.

You will want to keep your TL backed up, and it will basically tell you when to check for updates and do your backup. You will also need to keep your Activity Log and your Listing Activity cleared out so it won't get full and slow your TL down. Also, I never ever synchronize mine because I did it one time and it got messed up and kept crashing and I ended up having to uninstall it and install it again. If your inventory gets close to a couple hundred items, you should delete a bunch of the items that you have sold if they were one of a kind, just to keep it from getting slowed down, or at least that's what I read in a blog somewhere.

Let me know if I can design any graphics for you or a listing template. Click the Contact Member link on the left side under my avatar on eBay, or click the Contact Seller link on the left side of my Bonanza booth, or use the Contact Me link on my Addoway profile page.

Thank you for reading my blog. Share it with your friends if you know somebody who can use the help.

Using a Listing Template for eBay Listings.... How to Use Your eBay Template From the Sell Page on eBay

2013-06-07T18:28:00.003-04:00

Whether you came here because I gave you the link to show you how to use the eBay template that I made for you, or if you found my page after searching online for help to use a template that you bought from somebody else, thank you for coming. I will be glad to help you to use your eBay Listing Template.

If you don't have a listing template, but are thinking of getting one and just want to see how to use one first, please consider allowing me to design one for you. My prices are reasonable and my customers are satisfied with my work. You can contact me through my Facebook page and I will answer as soon as I see your message. Just click the Message button on the right side, under the banner.

If you don't want to contact me through Facebook, you may contact me through any of my profile pages where I sell online. Click the Contact Member link on the left side under my avatar on eBay, or click the Contact Seller link on the left side of my Bonanza booth, or use the Contact Me link on my Addoway profile page.

Saving Your Template

If you buy a template that I make, I will send it to you as an email attachment in the form of a Notepad text document. Save it in your documents in a file where you can easily find it and never make any changes to the original document that I send to you. If you make any changes to your template, by adding boilerplate (policies and such) to it, you will need to save it with a new name so that you will always have the original template in case you ever need to go back to it. Do not ever try to save it as a Word or other type of document. It needs to remain a Notepad document.

I also keep a copy of my templates saved on my desktop so that I don't have to ever open the ones that I have saved in my documents. You can do this too and that way they are handy to get to in a hurry.

If you need any help with downloading your template and saving it to your computer, I have screen shots of the process on my blog for using a template on Addoway.

Putting Your Template Into a New Listing on eBay

I'm writing this with the assumption that you already know how to list an item on eBay, so I will skip the process of finding your category, giving your listing a title, uploading photos, and all of the rest. I will only be concentrating on putting your template into a listing and adding your description and policies to the template.

When you get to the Describe the item you're selling window, click on the HTML tab.

Open your Notepad template document if you don't have it open already. Right click, select all, right click, and copy the code. Right-Click at the beginning of the HTML edit window in your eBay listing and paste your code into the editor. Now you can click on the Standard tab to see your template and write your description.

Find the place where I wrote that your description goes and just left click at the end of the phrase and drag your mouse over it to the beginning to select it and just start writing over it. This will keep the font the same and keep it the same color and size for you.

If you have policy information that you need to add to your template, do it now. Write your policies or anything else that you want to be in every listing that you make. When you have everything added that you want to add you need to save your template again with a new file name so that you won't have to add it again. Do this before you write any description.

Write your policies and any other information that you want included in every listing
Click the HTML tab again
Select the entire code and copy it and paste it into a NEW Notepad document
Save your edited template with a NEW NAME so that you will not overwrite the original template that I sent to you.
Use your revised template now for your listings.

Adding Your Template to an Existing Listing

You will need to revise your listings one at a time in order to add your template to them. Once you have clicked to revise your listing, go to the Describe the item you're selling edit window, just like when you are putting it into a new listing, and click the HTML tab.

You will see the code for your description. Place your cursor at the very beginning of the code and press enter on your keyboard 3 times to make 3 lines of blank space.

Copy your template code from your Notepad document and paste it at the top of the HTML edit window and then click the Standard button to return to the regular view.

Scroll to find your item description below your template. Left click and hold while moving your mouse over all of your description to highlight (select) it. Right click and cut your description. Now scroll up to find where it goes in your template. Hold the left click button while you move your mouse over the phrase where your description starts and then right click and paste your description over it. Depending on your browser, it might not keep the font and size and color for you, but you can change your font and the size and the color with the editor buttons, just like you can when you are making a listing without a template.

I use Turbo Lister, which is free from eBay, to keep my template in. That way I do not have to paste it into every listing that I make. I just start a new listing from my template and it's so easy. I wrote another blog post about using Turbo Lister with templates and you can see it here.

Thank you for reading my blog. Share it with your friends if you know somebody who can use the help.

Print Your Custom Business Cards Online - How To Upload And Align

2012-04-12T22:33:00.001-04:00

I can design your custom business cards for you and send the PDF file to you so that you can upload them to your favorite printing site to have them printed any time you want and sent to you. The screen shots I have taken are from Vistaprint.com, but you do the same thing when uploading to Office Depot or Staples. I didn't check any other web site, but I imagine that it is either the same procedure, or close to it.

From the Vistaprint home page, choose Personal Business Cards.

Next you will choose to Upload A Complete Design.

Now you will browse for your file and upload it from your computer. I didn't make screen shots of the browse process because the files on my computer aren't the same as your files. Just find the folder where you saved your business card PDF and click "open" when you find it.

Now that you have uploaded your card, click on "Crop This Image".

Click "Scale To Fit" and then click OK. Do not worry that it looks a little blurry. The image on the screen is a lot larger than actual size, and it will not be blurry when it is printed at actual size.

Click next.

If your card is centered correctly and inside of the dotted lines, you may continue with your order. Check the box for "Online Proof Approval" and then click next. Follow the instructions from Vistaprint for placing your order.

If your card is sitting right up next to the lines, as my example is, then you may want to shrink it down just a little to be sure everything prints. If it isn't quite centered, you will want to center it. The next screen shots show you how to do that.

When you hover your mouse over your card, you will see an edit button in the top left corner. Click on it and then click move/resize from the drop-down menu.

If you need to shrink it just a little, simply move your mouse to a corner until a small line with an arrow on each end appears. Click on the little arrow and hold it while you move the mouse in toward the center of the card. If you move it in too far, just pull it back out until everything is inside the dotted lines.

Once you have shrunk it just slightly, then you will need to center it. Hover your mouse over the card and you will see two small arrows with points on both ends that are crossed. Click and hold while moving your mouse to move the card and center it.

When your card is sized and centered and looks just like you want it to look, check the box for "Online Proof Approval" and then click next. Follow instructions that follow for placing your order.

If you are needing somebody to design your business cards for you, I will be happy to do it. You may contact me at any of the following places:
www.Bonanza.com/Indizona
http://www.addoway.com/Indizona/storefront
www.Facebook.com/IndizonaVariety

I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great day!

Make Yourself the Featured Owner of Your Fan Page So Your Friends Can Easily Find It From Your Facebook Profile

2012-04-10T14:26:00.000-04:00

If you have you ever tried to find a friend's fan page, then you have probably had to ask your Facebook friend for a link to their fan page. Do you find yourself wishing that your friends could find your page without having to post a link to your fan page? Wouldn't it be nice if we could just go to a friend's profile and find the link? Read on to see how easily it can be done!!

To make it possible for your Facebook friends to find your fan page from your profile, wall, Timeline (whatever you want to call it), all you have to do is make yourself the Featured Owner of your page. If you have more than one page, make yourself the Featured Owner of every one of your pages and all of the links will then be ready to be found from your profile. (wall, Timeline)

First, go to your fan page and open up your Admin Panel if you have it hidden. You need to choose the Edit Page link from the Manage drop down menu.

It will open on the Manage Permissions page. Find the Featured link on the left and click on it and then Edit Featured Page Owners.

Now you are going to choose yourself as a featured page owner and save it.

That's all there is to it. You are now featured as the owner of your page and your fans can find your profile and your friends can find your fan page because they are linked now. There is an About link under your banner on your fan page. This is where your links are to your websites, storefronts, blogs, etc. that you have listed in the website blank on the Basic Information tab. To have all of your links listed, simply put a space between every one of them and they will all be listed for your fans and friends on your About tab.

Now doesn't that look nice to have yourself listed as the page owner?

Now go back to your wall so you can see how you are featured as a page owner. I have not switched my profile over to the new Timeline yet, so I made a screen shot of mine so you can see where it is featured on the old style.

I checked several friends who have the new Timeline to see if they are a featured page owner yet and most of them are not, but I did find a couple who have featured themselves as their page owners so I could tell you where to look if you have the new Timeline. It is in the same place, under your banner, that it is on the new fan page format. Just click the About tab.

I hope that you have enjoyed my instructional blog today and that you will share with your friends so that they can be featured owners of their fan pages too.

I must admit that I did not learn this on my own either. I learned about featuring myself as my page owner from one of my Facebook friends, Linda Kelly Lee, in a post that she made in her group a while back. I just took it one step farther and made screen shots to help those who need the visual help.

I'm looking forward to seeing all of you featured page owners on Facebook. Please leave your comments, as I do love to read them.

Fan Page Timeline Apps - How To Customize Your Tabs

2012-04-04T15:45:00.000-04:00

The new Facebook fan pages have a nice banner across the top of the page now. I really like them. Besides that, our apps are now displayed under the banner, where they are much more noticable. Not only that, but they can be rearranged and can also be renamed and the graphics can be replaced.

There is only one app that cannot be edited or moved in any way, and that is the photos app. I would like to be able to move it, but for some reason, Facebook thinks that it needs to remain in the first position. There are a couple of other apps that can be moved, but you can't change the name and you can't change the graphic. Those are the "likes" and the "notes". There may be others, but I am not aware of them, as I don't have any other apps on my fan page which cannot be edited like that.

I will explain just how to customize your apps, complete with screen shots. It is an easy process, and you should have fun getting your fan page set up just how you would like it to be seen by visitors and fans.

Your apps are now displayed under your banner. You can have up to 12 apps, but only 11 are your choice because the photos app remains in the first spot and cannot be deleted. There are only 4 that show, and a number next to them tells how many are hidden. When you click on that number, the apps expand to show the rest of your apps if you have more than four installed. Go ahead and click that to expand. (see the illustration)

My screen shots and instructions were made while using Internet Explorer 9. There might be differences in the way you will do it and what you see if you are using another browser, but it should be close to the same.

After you click that number at the end of your apps that are showing, you can see the rest of your apps as well as how many spaces you have left if you would like to add any more apps.

Now you can edit any one that you like. Hover your mouse over any, except the photos, and you will see a pencil appear for editing.

Once you click the pencil, you will see your edit options.

You can only swap one position at a time, but keep on swapping until you have them in the order that you want. Simply click on the app to swap positions with and it is done.

If you would like to rename your app and/or change the graphic on the tab, click on Edit Settings and another box pops up for you to make your changes.

To change the name, just fill in the box and save it. If you want to change the graphic to a custom tab image, click on change and a new window will open.

Click on the change link in the new window that opens.

Use the box that pops up to choose an image from your computer to upload. It will replace the image and you will see the image replaced, but there will be no save button in this window. You will have to leave this window (or browser tab) open and return to the other window that you left open in order to click the okay button to save your new image.

After your new image has uploaded, click on the tab that has your fan page open and click the okay button to save your new image. After you have saved it, you can close this window.

And that's it. Your image size that you need is 111 pixels wide x 74 pixels high. I hope that this has been helpful for you. I welcome your comments. Please be sure to come by my fan page and click the like button. http://www.facebook.com/IndizonaVariety

If you need somebody to make the graphics for your new app tabs, let me know. My prices are reasonable. Have a nice day!!! Thank you for stopping by.

Motivation for The Ladder of Success

2011-06-27T14:29:00.000-04:00

All that stands between you and the top of the ladder is the ladder. Our ladders aren't all in the same place - and they aren't all the same size. It is up to each of us to climb our own ladders though. If we don't climb the ladder, we will never see the top! If your ladder looks too high to climb, remember that you have to climb it one rung at a time and not take a flying leap for the top! When you have a task to do and it seems too big to do, break it down into smaller tasks so you can feel accomplishment as you climb each rung.

The ladder of success is not truly one ladder, but many ladders that we climb with landings or platforms in between. Each task is a ladder in itself. We've all heard that Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither are our lives built in a day. Set reasonable goals for yourself and set deadlines to get those things done. Make a list, prioritize your tasks, and keep your eye on the goal as you climb the rungs on your ladder.

As an online seller, there are many things behind the scenes that I do to serve my buyers. I may have to do extensive research online to find information about an item or many items I am listing. I have to take photos that are well focused and interesting and write a detailed description that gives all of the facts in an interesting manner. I need to find packaging and weigh the item(s) to determine weight for shipping charges and decide if shipping should be included in the price or not. After listing my items on eBay, Bonanza or Addoway, I need to keep up with my Facebook friends and fans, Twitter followers, and run my house. If I look at everything I have to do at once, it is quite overwhelming, and not easy to get motivated to start any of it. I break it down into small tasks and take care of one thing at a time. If I need to work on listings, I close the Facebook and Twitter tabs so they are not popping up with new posts to distract me. For instance, I take photos of many items at once, and then sit down to write descriptions for those items.

Zig Ziglar said, “People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily.” It might help every day to remind yourself why you do what you are doing. (in my case, selling online) Think about what it is that you wanted when you first started and decide if your motives are the same now, or if they are the same. Do you do what you do to make money just for the sake of having money? I sincerely doubt it. Are you working toward a goal? What is that goal? Is it a vacation? A house? College education? Putting groceries on the table? Once you know what it is you are working for, you can focus on that to motivate yourself to “just do it”.

Mark Twain once said, “A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.” Since experience is our best teacher, it is best to just start doing whatever it is you are dreaming of doing and you will learn as you go. Your mistakes will teach you what to avoid and what to change. Your failures are not failures, but opportunities to learn. Do you know how WD-40 got its name? WD stands for Water Displacement and the 40 stands for the 40^th try. That's right... the formula failed 39 times, but on the 40^th try, they got it right! So don't give up, keep going... making little changes each time, until you get it right.

I asked a variety of people to tell me what they do to motivate themselves when they just don't feel like doing anything. I asked young, old, and in-between, both male and female and even though their answers were all different, there were similarities in many of the answers. So when you just don't feel like doing those things that you know need to get done, try some of their methods:

tell yourself that it just has to be done and you're the only one that can do it
put on some upbeat music
shut off the TV and just do it
think about the results
look past the task and look forward to what you can do when it is done
find somebody to be accountable to and have them keep track of your progress for you
pray and ask God to motivate you and get you through it
just don't do it.. do something that you thoroughly enjoy first and then come back to it with a fresh mind
picture the goal
break it down in little pieces and get one piece done before moving on to the next one
list and prioritize
set a deadline
go for a power walk early in the morning to get yourself ready for the day

I plan to climb my ladder one rung at a time and see where it takes me! I am trusting The Lord to lean my ladder against the right building and take me to the top of it. I wish you success in finding the top of your ladder too!

In closing, I would like to share this poem by Dr. Seuss:

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the one who'll decide where to go.

Thank you for reading, and God bless! I hope that I have helped to motivate you in some way today. Your comments are welcome.

How to Use the Templates I Make for Addoway Listings

2011-04-09T15:24:00.004-04:00

I am now selling on addoway and I created my own listing template to use for my addoway listings. After posting it on Facebook and receiving compliments, I made a listing template for one of my Facebook friends who is also selling on addoway. I will be making more templates and listing them for sale in my storefront on addoway.
Some people have never used a template before and don't know how to use one. Out of those people, some will choose to figure it out by themselves, while others would like very much to have detailed step-by-step instructions with screen shots. This tutorial is for all of you who need help to use your template that you buy from me. I have made my instructions easy to follow for those who need help with the basics, and anyone who just needs a little help can find the portions of help they need.
When you buy a listing template from me, I will send the file to you in an email attachment. The file will be a notepad document and you will need to first save it to your computer. I suggest that you name it "My Addoway Template" because the code fits into addoway's website, but it might not display correctly on another website without tweaking it a little. Also, if you have links to your policy pages on Addoway, you don't want to use those links if you use the same template on Bonanza or eBay or any other site. (I can fix those links for you for an additional fee, of course.)

Saving Your Template To Your Computer

When you save it to your documents folder, you should add "Original" to the file name and possibly "do not make any changes". (The reason for this will be explained later.)

After you have saved it to your desktop and your documents folder, you will need to save it to your addoway and personalize it with any boilerplate information that you need to add. (Your storefront policies is referred to as boilerplate.)

Open your notepad doc on your desktop and minimize it so that it is open and ready for you to use. Unless you are used to seeing HTML, it will look strange to you, but all is well. It is the code that makes your template display on a website.

Saving Your Template To Your Addoway

Now sign in to your addoway and click the Sell tab to make a new listing. You will first need to select a category, just like with any other listing.

Continue to fill in the required information for a new listing. You will be making new listings from this new listing that you are creating. So any information that is constant in all of your listings will save you time when you make listings from your saved template. Some fields will change with each new listing, but it is easy enough to edit. For this listing, it will be your template, so it will not matter how you fill in the blanks if you don't always sell in the same category.

After you fill in the shipping information, you will be ready to put your template into your template listing. Click on the HTML button in the description editor, as illustrated in the next screen shot. (the HTML button could also be named SOURCE)

Now you are ready for your notepad file that you have open and waiting for you. Click on it in your task bar so you can see it. You will need to copy the file from your notepad and paste it into the HTML editor. If you are not used to copying and pasting, follow the next screen shots.

Now that you have copied your file, you need to right click inside the HTML editor and paste your template code in the window.

When you click the HTML button again, you will see your template in the description editor. This view is also known as the WYSIWYG view, which stands for What You See Is What You Get. The HTML code tells your browser what to display in the WYSIWYG window. (the HTML button could also be named SOURCE)

If I made buttons for your template linking to your shipping, return, and payment policies, your template should be ready to save. If you have any more information to add that ALWAYS REMAINS THE SAME in EVERY LISTING, enter that information in your template now.

If I made boxes for you to enter your policy information, fill those in now. Make sure that all of the information that you need to have in every listing is put into your template now.

Do NOT add a description because that will always change unless you sell the exact same thing over and over again.

You might not see the borders of your template in the editor, but you will see the entire template when you click the preview ad button.

If you have your template set up just the way you want it now, click the submit ad button, if not, click the other one and make your changes.

Once you click the submit finished ad button, it is an active listing. You don't want it to be active because you don't want it showing in your storefront as an item for sale. So, immediately go to your ads and deactivate it.

Make A New Listing With Your Template

When you make a new listing, you can click the Duplicate button on your deactivated template listing and it will bring the duplicate up for you to edit and submit a new listing. This is why you want all of your information that is always the same to be there so you have less editing to do and your main task will be to add a description.

If You Made Any Changes To Your Template, You Will Need To Save Those Changes To Your Computer Too

If you made any changes to your template when you created your template listing on addoway, your HTML is different than it was when I sent the file to you. Now that your template is saved in your addoway, you will want to save your new HTML into the notepad doc that you saved on your desktop.

First, open your template that you saved on your desktop and delete all of it. Keep the file open so you can paste your new code into it. Now you will need to open the template in your addoway again.

Either click "edit" or "duplicate" on your new template listing that you just created and deactivated. Click the HTML button to bring up the code again. Now copy all of the HTML of your edited template. (the HTML button could also be named SOURCE)

Paste your new HTML code into your notepad document and save it. You will be replacing the original, so this is why I told you to mark one as original and save in your documents folder so that if you need to go back to it, you will have it. After you have saved your new file, you can just click out of your template on addoway by clicking one of the tabs at the top, like "my addoway".

Inserting Your Template Into An Existing Listing

From here I will explain how to insert your new template into an existing listing, whether it is an active listing or deactivated listing does not matter. Follow these instructions if you are changing from an old template to a new template too.

You will have to first click the edit button to bring it up and then click the HTML button in the description editor. (the HTML button could also be named SOURCE)

When you have the HTML editor view, place the curser at the very beginning of the code and hit "enter" a couple of times and then place the curser back at the beginning.

Copy your template HTML from your notepad doc on your desktop. (you should have it open already, but it not, open it now) With the curser placed at the top left of the HTML editor on addoway, paste your template ABOVE the HTML for the description that is already there.

Click the HTML button again to get the description editor back. Your template will be displayed above your original listing. (the HTML button could also be named SOURCE)

Scroll down to your description and copy it. Then scroll back up to the description area of your template and paste it there.

Right click and drag the mouse to highlight what you need to copy, then right click again and click copy. To paste, you right click and click paste. (then click allow access)

Your original text will paste in the same color it was when you paste it into your template. You might need to change the font color. If your font color in your template is black, you can choose black from the dop-down font color. If I made your font any other color than black, I gave you the color code for it. Now I will explain how to use that code.

First, right click and drag your mouse over the part that you need to change the color and click on the font color button.

Click the more colors option so that you can enter the code for the color that you need. Enter your code in the box and click OK.

Your description should now have the right font color for you. If it does not, then there is a problem in the HTML of your original listing. You might find help for that in my previous post about editing HTML code. If you cannot find help there, I will do what I can to help you when you are using a template that you purchased from me.

Don't forget to scroll back down to the original description and delete all of it before you click the Preview Ad button. When you preview your ad, check for anything that you need to change, just like with any other listing and if it's good to go, click the Submit Finished Ad button and move on to your next listing.

I hope this has been a helpful post, if you use one of my templates, or one from somebody else. Your comments are welcome, and I will enjoy hearing feedback from you.

Using The Batch Editor on Bonanza to Change HTML

2011-01-10T01:39:00.001-05:00

I have been a member on Bonanza.com (formerly Bonanzle.com) for almost a year now. I like it more all the time, especially when I discover how to do something that makes things easier!

When I had an eBay store, I named it Indizona's Variety Mall and this storefront is in my template that I use on eBay for all of my listings.

When I came to Bonanza, I needed to have an avatar and a banner for my new booth. I wanted to use this same storefront, but could not make it work because you can't see it well enough when it is small enough to fit in the space for the banner or the avatar. Therefore, I had to come up with something new.

Seeing how that I have a booth on Bonanza instead of a store, Variety Mall didn't seem to fit any more. I decided to just simply name it "Indizona's Booth". After making my avatar and booth banner, I set out to get a listing template made. I made my graphics and then paid VirtualDesigns on Bonanza to put it together for me.

I felt the need to tie the banner and avatar together into this welcome badge in my listings.

I have been thinking on my name, Indizona's Booth, for some time now and comparing it to my name I was using on eBay, Indizona's Variety Mall. Knowing that I can't make my storefront image work, I still don't want to use the word "mall" in my name. So, I decided to change the name from Indizona's Booth to Indizona Variety. Changing the booth banner was easy. One click, one upload, done. But, changing my welcome badge in my listing template to this one was not going to be an easy task. I was looking at having to edit every listing, one at a time to make the change and then I thought to check out the batch editor to see if I could use it to get it done.

I have known that Bonanza has a batch editor, but I had only used it a few times to do simple things like put items in reserve, make them active again, add item traits and insurance to the shipping. Now I needed a way to replace the HTML for my welcome badge to change all of my listings at once instead of one at a time. So I went to the batch editor to see if it was possible. I discovered that I can replace the HTML in my listings too!! WooHoo!!!

First, I opened 2 browser windows to work from. One window had the batch editor open and the other window had the edit items page open. From my edit items page, I chose the first listing and clicked edit and brought up the HTML editor. The screen shot shows my new image because I have already made the change. I will now explain how.

Click on the image button at the top of the editing box. I circled it in the screen shot for you.

A little box pops up as seen in the next screen shot. Copy the web address for the image that you need to change from the source line in the box. I circled the source line for you.

On the batch editor page, click on Text Editing from the list of options on the left. Click the circle where it says "Replace this text in selected items' descriptions" and paste the web address that you copied in the top box. Next, get the web address for your new image that you are going to put in place of the old image and paste it in the next box where it says "With this text:". If you are using Photobucket to host your images, it gives you several options for linking to the image. You need the one that says it is a direct link.

After you have selected the listings that you are going to change, click the submit button. I did one first to be sure that I did it correctly and that it would work. When I saw that it worked, I did the rest of my listings.

I then used the top box, "Add text to end of items' descriptions" to put the HTML code in for my Facebook and Twitter buttons that I added to the end of all of my listings.

Do you want to change the font in all of your listings at once? Get the HTML for it and use the batch editor. Change the color of the font? Get the HTML and use the batch editor. From your edit item window, highlight a word or two and click the source button.

After you click the view/edit source button, pointed out for you in the screen shot just above, it will bring up the source editor for you and the words that you highlighted will be highlighted, along with the HTML code for the font and the font color and the font size. The HTML for the font is written like this: FONT-FAMILY: Freehand591 BT and the HTML for the font color looks like this:
COLOR: rgb(238,204,101). The font size is written like this: FONT-SIZE: 14pt and so on. See the next screen shots.

When changing the font you simply replace the name of the font you don't want with the name of the font you do want. In my illustration, the font name is Freehand591 BT and that is the only thing you need to replace with say, Times New Roman. Leave the FONT-FAMILY: alone and just change the name of the font. In order to change the color, you change the rgb and what's in the parenthesis and leave the command,COLOR: alone. To get the code for your new color, change the color in your item editor and bring up the source editor to see the code for your new color.

So, if your font is Arial and you want it to be Verdana, you would put FONT-FAMILY: Arial in the "Replace this text" box in the batch editor and put FONT-FAMILY: Verdana in the "with this text" box in the batch editor. Choose the listings that need to be changed and click submit.

I am so glad to know that when I need to change one piece of my template I can just find the HTML for that which I need to change and put in the HTML to replace the old with. It makes things so much easier and I can choose to make the changes in every listing, or only ones I have checked. How cool is that? I am also glad that Bonanza makes it easy so that I don't have to know a whole lot about HTML in order to find what I need to replace. I hope that you will find it as easy to work with.

Please be sure to visit me at Indizona Variety.

Low Cost Photo Studio for Selling Online on eBay, Bonanza, etc.

2010-11-30T18:28:00.000-05:00

It is easy to make a low cost photo studio to take pictures for your online listings on Bonanza, eBay, or any other site you sell on.

If you do not have a mannequin to display your clothing items on, you will need to find a place in your home to display them. Laying them out on the floor or a bed is not attractive and fails to give you a good perspective of the true shape of the garment. Hanging the garments on hangers is good, but then you need a place to hang the hanger to get good photos. Doors are not very practical, and if your house is like mine, there isn't another location that is any better. That was the trouble I had, so I came up with a solution. Even if you use a mannequin, you still need a nice background and this will solve that problem for you too.

First, I bought some PVC pipe and made a frame. Actually, I had my husband make it for me. I determined what size I wanted and then had him make 3 sections for me. He spray painted them for me so they would look nice. I used electrical ties to hold the three sections together and have them hinged in order to stand. These first two photos show the frame from two different angles, in the location where I use it.

Next, you will need to have a solid color fabric to hang over the top of the frame. Mine is in two pieces. You can have a few colors on hand so that you can change them out as needed, depending on the color of the items you are photographing.

As you can see, I have the fabric on the floor and have sufficient hanging over the top to hold it in place without using anything to attach it to the frame.

When taking photos without any extra lighting, it is very difficult to get them to come out with the correct coloring and there are dark shadows and it's hard to see details without using flash. I have wasted many hours taking photos of the same item over and over and over in an attempt to get the perfect picture.

There are studio lights that you can purchase to solve that problem and get the most professional results. However, I live on a tight budget and cannot afford those lights at this time.

If you use the wrong lighting, you will have yellow-colored photos, like this one on the right.

As you can see, the 2 lights that I clamped to the top are not sufficient to light my items that I need to photograph.

Next, I added more lights and changed the light bulbs to the GE Reveal light bulbs. You can also use the GE CFL Daylight bulbs, which might be even better than the Reveal bulbs.

As you can see, there are still dark shadows and more lighting is needed to fill in the space with light.

Next I used a couple of TV tray tables to raise the height of the lights and added a couple of shorter lamps in an attempt to fill in the dark shadows. These two photos show a garment hanging on the background with the lights illuminating it.

Now just setting up the lights and taking pictures isn't all there is to it. I am not a professional photographer, so I try just about every setting on my camera there is in order to come up with something that works well.

After trying many settings, and searching for information online, I came up with these settings, using a Sony CyberShot, for my pictures taken in my low cost photo studio.

Metering - Center
Focus - Center AF
WB - WB Auto
ISO - 100
EV - -1.0EV
RecMode - Normal
Image Size - 12m
Color Mode - Normal
D-R - D-R Off DRO Standard
No flash, or Flash Level -

When taking actual photos to use in a listing, I do not stand back to get the lights in the pictures. I get up close enough to keep the lights out of the picture and then I crop the photos. This is an actual photo used in one of my listings.

It isn't perfect, but with more practice, and experimenting with lighting and camera settings, my photos will get better.

You may view the listing here: Dream On Negligee Nightgown Nightie size Large

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2010-08-16T20:11:00.000-04:00

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Handmade Home Decor

2010-07-13T13:58:00.002-04:00

I am a third generation seamstress and I love to sew. My mom has sewn professionally for several years now, making children's clothes and baby bibs and such for various companies. Her last job was sewing clothes for a company who sells their items at home parties, much like a Tupperware party. My grandma sewed so well that she won grand champion ribbons at the county and state fairs in Indiana, year after year. I take great pride in my work too, even though I have not entered anything in a fair, nor have I been hired by companies to sew. I have been paid by several people to sew clothes and small items for them, so I guess you can call me a professional too.

I never buy curtains or drapes because I make my own. When I moved into the house where I live now, I made all new curtains and lined them.

This is the valance that I made for my master bathroom tub. I hung two spring-loaded shower curtain rods and hung the fabric shower curtain with regular shower curtain hooks. I bought the shower curtain instead of making it. The conchos are attached with Velcro so that they can be taken off when the valance is washed. Underneath the conchos are snaps so that the valance can be taken off the rod without taking the rod down and having to put it back up.

This is the window curtain in my master bathroom. It is on the north side of the house, where not much daylight comes in, and the glass is privacy glass that you cannot see through. There is a cabinet to the right of the window, so a curtain rod over the top would be in the way. Therefore, I placed a spring-loaded curtain rod inside the window frame and the curtain covers just over half of the height of the window. This is the only curtain that I didn't line because there was no need to.

I found this wonderful western fabric and had to have it for my master bedroom curtains. I have two windows in my bedroom, and this is one of the windows. I trimmed the valance with some luscious fringe to perfect the look.

I am going to make a quilt for my bed to match these curtains someday. I have some of my fabric ready, but have not made my design yet.

These are the country curtains that I made for a double window that is on one side of my living room. These photos show two different angles of the same window. They were obviously not taken on the same day, as you can see by the chair not being the same one in front of the window.

I did not have enough of the striped fabric for the entire length of the curtains. I had 2 pieces that needed to be pieced together, so I cut a strip of the fabric that was used in the valance to put a horizontal stripe in the curtains. It looks really nice.

There are three layers on this window. The shears, then the country curtains, and the scalloped valance with ruffle lace trim. There are vinyl blinds in the window too for privacy.

On the other side of my living room is a sliding glass door. The country curtain needs to pull open and shut on the curtain rod, so it needed the rings. In order to wash the curtain, the rings need to be removed, so I attached each ring with a small piece of fabric that snaps to the curtain. I wanted to have a valance, but could not figure a way to hang two rods and have the look that I wanted, so I attached the valance to the curtain. This curtain was a lot of work, but well worth it. I like it.

I have only one window in my kitchen, which is over my sink. I have vinyl blinds in the window for privacy at night, but I did not want a curtain to keep daylight out during the day since it is on the north side of the house. I chose to make a valance for my curtain, and I found this great country fabric at Hobby Lobby to make it with. I love the windmills in the fabric!! I made a pot holder, seat cushions, and a tablecloth to match.

My husband has a hobby room where he paints scenic pictures and plays his guitars. He loves NASCAR and his favorite driver was Dale Earnhardt. I put a racing themed wallpaper border around the top of the walls for him and then I made these curtains for the one window that is in that room.

The valance is checkered flag fabric. The curtain panels are made from white fabric with the red number 3 on it and Dale's car and the BF Goodwrench logo. I trimmed them with black in the center and put more black and white check fabric on the bottom to give them a finished look.

The white vinyl shades look very nice in the window behind the curtains.

These are most certainly the most expensive curtains that I have ever made. My daughter loves this designer curtain fabric and wanted me to make curtains for her room with it. In order to have the valance not blend in with the curtain panels, I needed to trim them with something. As you can see, lace and fringe was not an option, and my daughter would not have wanted either of those trims anyway.

I found some bead fringe for the trim that goes very well with the fabric. It is probably the hardest thing I have ever sewn.

The only room in my house that I did not make my own curtains, believe it or not, is my sewing room. My mom made those curtains. She had them from a house that my parents used to live in, and they didn't fit in the sewing room that she had at the time she gave them to me. I love them, so I've not bothered to make anything else. I did make the lace shears though.

The fabric that you see on my sewing table is the windmill fabric I used in my kitchen.

In the winter, it costs far more to heat this house than it ever does to cool it in the hottest summer months. In order to save electricity, I turn the thermostat down at night so that it is only about 60 degrees when we wake up. To keep warm at night, we add extra blankets. This past winter I decided to make a fleece blanket to place on top of the bedspread on our bed for those extra cold nights. (there are 2 pillows on one side of the bed and only 1 on the other)

This project started with this great looking fleece picture panel of a team of farm horses. Then I bought a fleece fabric to go with it and pieced the top layer together like a simple quilt. The bottom layer only had to be pieced together to get the width that was necessary to match the top. I found a serging yarn online to serge the top and bottom layers together. I stitched in the ditch of the seams of the top layer to keep the two layers from shifting. This blanket is very beautiful and warm and cozy!!

I haven't had much time for sewing ever since I discovered eBay and now Bonanzle, but I do plan to get back in my sewing room again. I have plans for sewing items to sell in my booth on Bonanzle. I have a few handmade items in my booth now. Some that my mom made, and I think there are a couple of things that I have made in my booth as well.

Please come by and visit my booth at http://www.Bonanzle.com/Indizona. You can leave a comment about my post in my booth chat window if you would like. Thank you so much for reading my blog. Have a wonderful day!

Bonanzle Is An eBay Alternative That Allows You To Import Your Items From eBay

2010-06-27T23:58:00.000-04:00

Bonanzle.com is a great place to list items for sale on the web. It is a great eBay alternative if you are looking for a way of making money on the Internet. Not only is it much simpler than eBay, it is friendlier too! When you sell on Bonanzle, the fee schedule is straight-forward and easy to remember. It can even be memorized. When you sell on eBay, the fee schedule is complex and complicated and would be very difficult to try to memorize. Besides that, it costs much more to sell on eBay.

Bonanzle is nick-named "The Ranch" and integrates live chat with the sellers and buyers into every booth. Every seller gets a booth on Bonanzle, and they are set up much better than the seller's stores on eBay. The support is like none I've seen on any other site. When you contact support, they get right back to you with a real answer.

You can import your listings from eBay to Bonanzle, but you can't just do that and walk away. If you are importing your listings from the bay, you need to look at them for any language that doesn't belong in a Bonanzle listing. These words need to be edited out of your listings:

store, pro-store
power-seller
eBay
sign up for PayPal
Turbo Lister
auction
bid
end of listing, listing end, etc.
non-paying bidder
5 star seller ratings
detailed seller ratings
visit my other items (unless it's a link to your Bonanzle booth)
add me to your favorite sellers (if it's a link back to eBay)
any other reference to eBay or links back to eBay

When you make a listing for Bonanzle, you want it to be good enough to show up in a Google search. You have about 60 spaces allowed for your title, which needs to be filled with as many keywords as possible that relate to the item that you are selling. Don't fill it with things that you used on eBay like NEW, NWT, NWOT, etc. Don't use words that nobody is going to use to search for your item. Examples are beautiful, pretty, LOOK, etc. When you write your description, the first 250 characters are sent to Google, so you need to fill that with descriptive keywords that will be picked up in web searches. You need to write a description like there are no photos to look at. Paint a picture with your words. Then you need to take pictures that are good enough to show the item to your buyers like there are no words to describe it. Bonanzle allows up to 6 photos for every listing, so if you take at least the front and the back, that is the least you should do. Top and bottom photos are next, and then each side, when appropriate. Not every item needs 6 photos, but when an item needs that many, take that many.

On eBay, they give you stock photos to use for many items. This feature is not available on Bonanzle, but that is actually good because a lot of buyers (like myself) will not buy a used item when the only photo given is a stock photo. I don't even like to see a stock photo for a new item, and will pay a little more sometimes for the same item from another seller who used a photo of the actual item instead of a stock photo.

If you have not experienced Bonanzle already, either as a buyer or a seller, I encourage you to go to Bonanzle.com and check it out for yourself. You can start your tour in my booth at www.Bonanzle.com/Indizona

Indizona's Booth on Bonanzle

2010-06-15T14:24:00.000-04:00

I have a variety of items for sale on a great website called Bonanzle. It is free to list your items and the fees are very reasonable for selling them. It is a friendly community of sellers and buyers who engage in chat and forum posts. Chatting and posting is not necessary, but it is fun and informative.

http://www.Bonanzle.com/Indizona

I have several vintage matchbooks that I haven't found any place else. You can find books in my booth on various subjects, including sewing, crafts and home school educational books. There are some one-of-a-kind collectibles for you too. I have sewing patterns from various decades as well as some homemade items.

You never know what I may find to place in my booth, but it's Always A Variety!