Common eBay Listing Design Flaws

The following article was contributed by author Phil Dunn. Phil has spent his career as a student of marketing, and persuasive writing in particular. Thanks, Phil for the following tips on text design for eBay listings.

Common eBay Listing Design Flaws: Text and Color

by Phil Dunn, author of 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing

When you sell on eBay, the text should be designed to communicate.

Pretty obvious, right?

Well, some people make choices that work in the opposite direction. They choose fonts, colors, and layout designs that hinder rather than enhance communication.

I'm going to touch on just a few tips here relating to background colors and font color. There have been a number of studies that back up the information that follows. If you’d like more detailed background info, I highly recommend reading “Type & Layout: Are You Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes� by Colin Wheildon.

1) Black text set on shades of grey makes for difficult reading.
2) Dark text on color tints makes for difficult reading.
3) Brightly colored text on light color tints is “the enemy of comprehension.�
4) Don’t use reverse – white or light text on a black or dark background. Especially with bigger chunks of text. People just can’t comprehend and retain the information very well.
5) Contrary to some “old school� assertions about black text on white background, it’s ok to put black text on light color tints. The light color can attract attention, in fact. Just don’t let the tint get too heavy. The darker the tint gets, the more reader comprehension suffers.

From “Type & Layout�:

“It is impossible to avoid the fact that comprehensibility of colored text increases as the color gets closer to black.�