Description Templates


Overview

Description Templates allow you to create multiple reusable templates for all your selling needs and ensure that you give your clients consistent information across listings. You can create ready-to-use templates for different types of products, or for different seasons to showcase seasonal information. Templates work by sending HTML-formatted documents with product information and company branding. Description templates are available for eBay, Walmart Marketplace, Shopify, and Bonanza. Note that Bonanza reuses eBay’s templates.


Create and Manage Description Templates

Create Description Templates

  1. Go to Settings > Companies > Manage Companies > Open a Company > Toolbox > Description Template.

    From this page, you can edit and delete templates, and view information like template names, kit templates, master templates, created on date, created by user, modified on date, and modified by user.
  2. Click on Create New Template.
  3. Enter Template name.
  4. Optional: Select Master Template from the drop-down menu to assign a master template. Read more about these templates below.
  5. Select Single Product Template or Kit Product Item Template.
  6. Optional: Check/uncheck Show Simple Editor to view placeholders.
    1. You can input placeholders by searching and choosing from the list on the right, or by clicking Insert Code Snippet and scrolling to the correct placeholder. You can also choose to write your text without placeholders.
    2. If you choose Kit Product Item Template, you will have three editors to work with.
  7. Enter your Static Data or Dynamic Data.
    Note: Static Data is content that does not change between products. For example, a company logo or contact information. Dynamic Data is content that is unique to each product.
  8. Press Preview to preview your template.
  9. Press Save.

Manage Description Templates

Description templates can be attached directly to products or set as default templates for each company.

To attach a description template to a product:

  1. Go to Catalog > Manage Catalog > Open a product.
  2. From the Toolbox, depending on the channel, select one of the following:
    1.  eBay Properties for eBay
    2. Walmart Marketplace for Walmart
    3. Website Properties for Shopify
    4. Bonanza for Bonanza
      Note: Bonanza reuses eBay’s templates. The Client Setting Reuse EBay Description Template For Bonanza must be enabled for these templates to sync.
  3. Click Edit > Listing Details > Description Template > Select your template from the dropdown menu.
  4. Click Save.

To set a template as default for your company:

  1. Go to Settings > Companies > Manage Companies > Open a Company.
  2. Click on Toolbox > eBay settings > eBay Attribute Defaults.
  3. From the Description Template drop-down, choose a default template.

Types of Templates

Description Template

Description Templates allow you to create multiple reusable templates for all your selling needs and ensure that you provide consistent information across listings. You can add placeholders when creating templates. Common placeholders are available on the right side of the description template editor, but you can access a full list of placeholders from the Insert Code Snippet dropdown on the template editor’s menu bar

Custom Columns can be used as placeholders. For example, user-defined Age Rating, can be placed in the description template as #?AGERATING?#. The actual columns can be added by the System Administrator or Sellercloud Support and set up in the Custom Columns page under the Setting tab. After you complete the fields on the individual product properties pages, you can add it to the description template by referencing the Custom Column as a placeholder.

Custom Tags can also be created and referenced with placeholders in the template. Custom tags are a great way to apply static information. For example, if you have numerous templates and want to apply a logo across all templates, you can create a custom tab as a placeholder that references a logo. Now all you need to do is enter that placeholder into the template and the logo will be displayed.

Click below to see a list of placeholders and definitions.

Placeholders
PLACEHOLDER DESCRIPTION
 #?TopTitle?# eBay listing title.
#?LongDescription?# Inserts the HTML description of the product.
#?ItemIncludesDescription?#
#?ProductSpecificName1?#
#?ProductSpecificValue1?#
Populates Item Specifics in your eBay template, Name and Value. Up to 35.
#?ProductSpecifications?# Creates a table with all Item Specifics.
#?CSSGallery?# Shows the main image with a gallery of thumbnails of the other images, revealing other images when hovering over thumbnails. There are some Client Settings to control thumbnail size and position (eBay Gallery Thumbnail Position, Alignment, Image Size)
#?ListingSubTitle?#  eBay subtitle
#?ListingShortTitle?#  eBay short title
#?BrandLogo?# Logo image of the product’s manufacturer as defined in the manufacturer profile.
#?BrandDescription?# Description of the product’s manufacturer as defined in the manufacturer profile.
#?ManufacturerURL?# URL of the product’s manufacturer as defined in the manufacturer profile.
#?ListPrice?# MSRP or Regular Price
#?BuyItNowPrice?# Price from the eBay listing.
#?StartPrice?#
#?ProductBullet?#

#?ProductBullet2?#

#?ProductBullet3?#

#?ProductBullet4?#

#?ProductBullet5?#

Populates with the Amazon Bullet points 1-5.
#?OtherAttributes1?#

#?OtherAttributes2?#

#?OtherAttributes3?#

#?OtherAttributes4?#

#?OtherAttributes5?#

Populates with the Amazon Other Attributes 1-5.
#?AmountDifferenceBetweenListPriceAndFixedPrice?# Calculates the dollar-amount difference between the list price and BuyItNowPrice.
#?PercentageDifferenceBetweenListPriceAndFixedPrice?# Calculates the percent difference between the list price and BuyItNowPrice.
#?MagentoAttribute_Name_attributeName?#

#?MagentoAttribute_attributeName?#

Replaces attributeName with attribute code name in Magento Admin to place the front name in templates.

For example, #? MagentoAttribute_Name_color?# will place Color in the template. Replace attributeName with attribute code name in Magento admin to pull value. For example,  #?MagentoAttribute_color?# will place Blue in the template.

#?PartsCompatibilityGrid?# Display the part compatibility chart for eBay Motors items. Additionally, the following tags can be defined in CSS classes to beautify the HTML.
#?EBayItemConditionName?# eBay condition name selected on the eBay Properties page.
#?ProductConditionInHouseName?# Product condition name used internally in SellerCloud. Read about product conditions here.
#?Variation1Price?# Pulls price for variation of Matrix parent. Up to 19.
#?Variation1FixedPriceQty?# Pulls quantity for variation of Matrix parent. Up to 19.
#?Variation1Dimension?# Pulls Dimension for variation of Matrix parent. Up to 19.
#?Variation1DimensionValue?# Pulls Dimension Value for variation of Matrix parent. Up to 19.
#?RelatedProducItemID1?# Pulls the SKU of the first related item. Similarly, you can change to RelatedProducItemID2 to pull information from the second related product.
Image-related placeholders
#?DescriptionDefaultImage?# Main Description image grabs the entire image HTML tag.
#?DescriptionDefaultImageURL?#  or #?ImageFileMedium?# Shows the URL of the main image of the product.
#?OtherImage01?” Shows additional images of the product. For example, you could show the condition of the product. Up to 20.
#?SupplementalImage01?# Creates a full image tag of the first product image marked supplemental.
#?SupplementalImage02?#
#?SupplementalImageURL01?# URL of the image. Corresponds to the count of images, not their numbers. If your images are numbered as 1,5,9, the placeholders should be #?SupplementalImageURL01?#, #?SupplementalImageURL02?#, #?SupplementalImageURL03?#.
#?ImageFileMediumResized?# Resized main product image, with maximum dimensions defined in the Client Settings. If the image is rectangular with a width greater than height, it will set the width to the maximum dimension defined in the Client Settings, and then calculate the height so the image stays to scale.
#?SupplementalImageResized01?#
#?HostedImageURLOnlyDescription?# URL of the main image if using third-party hosting, like Flickr.
#?HostedImageURL01?# URL of the supplemental image if using third-party hosting.

Master Template

When creating Description Templates, some information may overlap between products. For example, your header and footer information may all be identical. This is when a Master Template comes in handy. It acts as a “parent” to the description template.

To create a Master Template:

  1. Open a Company > ToolboxDescription Master Template.
    From the Description Master Templates page, you can view, delete, and edit your premade templates.
  2. Click on Create New Template.
  3. Enter Template Name and add your template information. You can input placeholders by searching and choosing from the list on the right, or by clicking Insert Code Snippet and scrolling for the correct placeholder. You can also choose to write your text without placeholders.
  4. Press Preview to preview your template.
  5. Press Save.
    For your information to connect, you must add the placeholder #?TemplateContent?# into the Master Description Template field.
  6. Finally, you can add it to a Description Template when creating a New Description Template by selecting Master Template from the drop-down menu.

Kit Template

Kits use a different type of Description Template. Kit templates have three HTML editors:

  • The top HTML editor is used to hold the main HTML information and has placeholders that refer to the bottom editors (#?BundledItemsDetail?# or #?BundledItemsDetailNotMainItem?#). You can set these placeholders where you want to have that component information appear. All formatting and branding are configured in the top template.
  • The middle HTML editor is used to style the kit component squares/image gallery. It is referenced in the top editor by the tag #?KitIncludesGallery?#.
  • The bottom HTML editor is called the Kit Item Template. In this template, you enter placeholders that refer to individual products, like #?TopTitle?# and #?LongDescription?#. The placeholders entered here must be referenced in the top HTML editor by the placeholder #?BundledItemsDetail?# or #?BundledItemsDetailNotMainItem?#.
Kit-related placeholders
#?KitIncludesGallery?# List of images of all child items.
#?KitIncludesGalleryNotMainItem?# List of images of all child items (excluding the main item).
#?KitIncludesNotMainItem?# Product names of all child products (excluding the main item).
#?BundledItemsDetail?#
#?BundledItemsDetailNotMainItem?# References tags in the bottom editor, excluding the main item.
#?KitMainItemIncludes?#
#?KitMainItemDescription?#  Description of the main item.
#?KitMainItemCustomProductSpecific?#
#?KitIncludesDescriptionImage01?# Pulls the description image. Up to 40.
#?KitIncludesShortTitle01?# Populates with the product’s Short Title. Up to 40.
#?KitIncludesItemQtyCurrent?# Displays the kit components with their quantity in the kit.

Check out this tutorial about creating eBay description templates in the Alpha interface.


Overview

Description Templates allow you to create reusable listing templates. This way you don’t have to write a new description each time you want to sell something on a channel. Templates also ensure that you give your clients consistent information across listings.

Templates work by sending HTML-formatted documents with product information and company branding. The Description Template appears on the listing directly below the item specifics.

You can create multiple ready-to-use description templates for all your selling needs. For example, you can create separate templates for different types of products, or for different seasons to showcase seasonal information.

Kits have their own template instructions, so please see below for those steps.

Create Description Templates

  1. Open a Company > Toolbox > Description Template. From this page, you can edit and delete templates, and view information like template names, kit templates, master templates, created on date, created by user, modified on date, and modified by user.
  2. Click on Create New Template.
  3. Enter the Template name.
  4. Optional: Select Master Template from the drop-down menu. Master templates are explained in the  Master Templates section below.
  5. Select Single Product Template or Kit Product Item Template. To learn more about the kit templates, see the section Kit Templates below.
  6. Optional: Check/uncheck Show Simple Editor to view placeholders. Placeholders are explained in the Placeholders section below.
    1. You can input placeholders by searching and choosing from the list on the right, or by clicking Insert Code Snippet and scrolling for the correct placeholder. You can also choose to write your text without placeholders.
    2. If you choose Kit Product Item Template, you will have three editors to work with.
  7. Enter your Static Data or Dynamic Data. For more information, see below.
  8. Press Preview to preview your template.
  9. Press Save.

Clone Description Template

  1. Select the description template you’d like to clone.
  2. Choose Clone Template from the Action menu.
  3. Click Go.
  4. Select the Company to which you want to clone the template. This could be the company where the template was originally created or another one.
  5. Click Continue.

 

If you are using another description tool, like Frooition, you must create and assign a blank description template to be able to post the item from Sellercloud. Once posted, the correct template must be assigned to the listing on the channel.

Static and Dynamic Data

When you create a template, you can enter two types of data, static or dynamic.

Static

Template content that does not change among products. For example, a company logo or contact information. Static content can be entered as text, and formatted with the tools on the toolbars. It can also be entered as HTML.

Dynamic

Content that is unique to each product. Each description template is defined in HTML like a webpage and has placeholders to enter product-specific details. Placeholders in the template are replaced with product information as the listing is published. For example, the #?TopTitle?# placeholder will grab the eBay listing title of the product to which the template has been applied, and include it in the description. Inserting #?LongDescription?# will grab the long description on the product detail page. The content will appear in the way it is placed on the template.


Master Templates

When creating Description Templates, some information may overlap between products. For example, your header and footer information may all be identical. This is when you create a Master Template.
You can add it to a description template when creating a new description template by selecting Master Template from the drop-down menu. A master template acts as a “parent” to the description template.

To create a master template:

  1. Open a Company > ToolboxDescription Master Template.
    From the Description Master Templates page, you can view, delete, and edit your premade templates.
  2. Click on Create New Template.
  3. Enter Template Name and add your template information. You can input placeholders by searching and choosing from the list on the right, or by clicking Insert Code Snippet and scrolling for the correct placeholder. You can also choose to write your text without placeholders.
  4. Press Preview to preview your template.
  5. Press Save.
    For your information to connect, you must add the placeholder #?TemplateContent?# into the Master Description Template field.

Placeholders

Placeholders are HTML snippets that can pull content from the product summary page. You can use placeholders to simply copy and paste information, which saves you time and ensures your information is correct. While these eBay templates and eBay placeholders are similar to Sellercloud’s e-mail templates and email placeholders, they are different and should not be confused.

Common placeholders are available on the right side of the description template editor, but you can access a full list of placeholders from the Insert Code Snippet dropdown on the template editor’s menu bar.

Click below to see a list of placeholders and definitions.

Placeholders
PLACEHOLDER DESCRIPTION
 #?TopTitle?# eBay listing title.
#?LongDescription?# Inserts the HTML description of the product.
#?ItemIncludesDescription?#
#?ProductSpecificName1?#

#?ProductSpecificValue1?#

To populate Item Specifics in your eBay template, Name and Value. Up to 35.
#?ProductSpecifications?# Will create a table with all Item Specifics.
#?CSSGallery?# Shows the main image with a gallery of thumbnails of the other images, revealing other images when hovering over thumbnails. There are some Client Settings to control thumbnail size and position (eBay Gallery Thumbnail Position, Alignment, Image Size)
#?ListingSubTitle?#  eBay Subtitle.
#?ListingShortTitle?#  eBay Short Title.
#?BrandLogo?# Logo image of the product’s manufacturer as defined in the manufacturer profile.
#?BrandDescription?# Description of the product’s manufacturer as defined in the manufacturer profile.
#?ManufacturerURL?# URL of the product’s manufacturer as defined in the manufacturer profile.
#?ListPrice?# MSRP or “Regular Price”
#?BuyItNowPrice?# Price from the eBay listing.
#?StartPrice?#
#?ProductBullet?#

#?ProductBullet2?#

#?ProductBullet3?#

#?ProductBullet4?#

#?ProductBullet5?#

Populates with the Amazon Bullet points 1-5.
#?OtherAttributes1?#

#?OtherAttributes2?#

#?OtherAttributes3?#

#?OtherAttributes4?#

#?OtherAttributes5?#

Populates with the Amazon Other Attributes 1-5.
#?AmountDifferenceBetweenListPriceAndFixedPrice?# Calculates the dollar amount difference between the list price and BuyItNowPrice.
#?PercentageDifferenceBetweenListPriceAndFixedPrice?# Calculates the percent difference between the list price and BuyItNowPrice.
#?MagentoAttribute_Name_attributeName?#

#?MagentoAttribute_attributeName?#

Replaces “attributeName” with attribute code name in Magento Admin to place the front name in templates.

For example, #? MagentoAttribute_Name_color?# will place “Color” in the template.  Replace “attributeName” with attribute code name in Magento admin to pull value. For example,  #?MagentoAttribute_color?# will place “Blue” in the template.

#?PartsCompatibilityGrid?# Display the part compatibility chart for eBay Motors items. Additionally, the following tags can be defined in CSS classes to beautify the HTML
#?EBayItemConditionName?# eBay condition name selected on the eBay Properties page.
#?ProductConditionInHouseName?# Product condition name used internally in SellerCloud. Read about product conditions here.
#?Variation1Price?# Pulls price for variation of Matrix parent. Up to 19.
#?Variation1FixedPriceQty?# Pulls Qty for variation of Matrix parent. Up to 19.
#?Variation1Dimension?# Pulls Dimension for variation of Matrix parent. Up to 19.
#?Variation1DimensionValue?# Pulls Dimension Value for variation of Matrix parent. Up to 19.
#?RelatedProducItemID1?# Pulls the SKU of the first related item. Similarly, you can change to RelatedProducItemID2 to pull information from the second related product.
Image-related placeholders
#?DescriptionDefaultImage?# Main Description image grabs the entire image HTML tag.
#?DescriptionDefaultImageURL?#  or #?ImageFileMedium?# Shows the URL of the main image of the product.
#?OtherImage01?” Shows additional images of the product. For example, you could show the condition of the product. Up to 20.
#?SupplementalImage01?# Creates a full image tag of the first product image marked supplemental.
#?SupplementalImage02?#
#?SupplementalImageURL01?# URL of the image. Corresponds to the count of images, not their numbers. If your images are numbered as 1,5,9, the placeholders should be #?SupplementalImageURL01?#, #?SupplementalImageURL02?#, #?SupplementalImageURL03?#.
#?ImageFileMediumResized?# Resized main product image, with maximum dimensions defined in the Client Settings. If the image is rectangular with a width greater than height, it will set the width to the maximum dimension defined in the Client Settings, and then calculate the height so the image stays to scale.
#?SupplementalImageResized01?#
#?HostedImageURLOnlyDescription?# URL of the main image if using third-party hosting, such as Flickr.
#?HostedImageURL01?# URL of the supplemental image if using third-party hosting.
Kit-related placeholders
#?KitIncludesGallery?#  Images’ list of all child items.
#?KitIncludesGalleryNotMainItem?# Images list of all child items (excluding main item).
#?KitIncludesNotMainItem?# Product names of all child products (excluding main item).
#?BundledItemsDetail?#
#?BundledItemsDetailNotMainItem?# References tags in bottom editor, excluding the main item.
#?KitMainItemIncludes?#
#?KitMainItemDescription?#  Description of the main item.
#?KitMainItemCustomProductSpecific?#
#?KitIncludesDescriptionImage01?# Pulls the description image. Up to 40.
#?KitIncludesShortTitle01?# Populates with the product’s Short Title. Up to 40.
#?KitIncludesItemQtyCurrent?# Displays the kit components with their quantity in kit.
  • Custom Columns can be used as placeholders. For example, if there is a user-defined field Age Rating, this can be placed in the description template as #?AGERATING?#. The actual columns can be added by the System Administrator or Sellercloud Support and set up in the Custom Columns page under the Setting tab. After you complete the fields on the individual product properties pages, you can add it to the description template by referencing the Custom Column as a placeholder.
  • Custom Tags can also be created and referenced with placeholders in the template. Custom tags are a great way to apply static information. For example, if you have numerous templates and want to apply a logo across all templates, you can create a custom tab as a placeholder that references a logo. Now all you need to do is enter that placeholder into the template and the logo will be displayed.

Edit the HTML

Click here to learn how to embed YouTube Videos in Description Templates.

Youtube videos can be embedded into the HTML of an Long Description and then sent to eBay in the description template..

You can use any of the following HTML. Replace the video link with the link to your video.

Version 1

<object width="560" height="315">
        <param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/qdqRu2BDbKc?&autoplay=1&version=2&fs=1"</param>
        <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>
        <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param>
        <embed src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/qdqRu2BDbKc?&autoplay=1&version=2&fs=1"
          type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
          allowfullscreen="true"
          allowscriptaccess="always"
          width="560" height="315">
        </embed>
        </object>

Version 2

        <object width="560" height="315"><param name="movie"
         value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qdqRu2BDbKc?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param
         name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param
         name="allowscriptaccess" value="always">
        <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qdqRu2BDbKc?fs=1&hl=en_US"
         type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always"
         allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="640"></object>
Click here to learn how to replace image URLs in HTML descriptions.

Sometimes, when a company is moving over to Sellercloud from another system, they have to change the hosting of all the images so that when they cancel their subscription the images aren’t lost. We developed a small application for this purpose and it can take all the HTML descriptions and download the related images and replace the URLs in the HTML.

  1.  Install the Interop file depending on your version of Microsoft Excel
  2.  Export the current descriptions and paste them into the Excel file named HTMLBlocks.xls
  3. Place the original HTML descriptions into the column named HTML
  4. Open the configuration file named ImageDownloader.exe.config and set values for FolderPath, for where the images will be saved and NewBaseURL for the new url that will appear in the descriptions.
  5. Upload the images to a place corresponding to the base URLs and upload the HTMLNew column to revise the descriptions in SellerCloud using Bulk Update Products.

Attachments:

ImageDownloader-source.zip

ImageDownloader-executables.zip


Kit templates

Kits use a different type of Description Template. Kit templates have three HTML editors:

  • The top HTML editor is used to hold the main HTML information and it has placeholders that refer to the bottom editors (#?BundledItemsDetail?# or #?BundledItemsDetailNotMainItem?#). You can set these placeholders where you want to have that component information appear. All formatting and branding is configured in the top template.
  • The middle HTML editor is used to style the kit component squares/image gallery. It is referenced in the top editor by the tag #?KitIncludesGallery?#See an example of the editor in HTML.
  • The bottom HTML editor is called the Kit Item Template. In this template, you enter placeholders that refer to individual products, like #?TopTitle?# and #?LongDescription?#. The placeholders entered here must be referenced in the top editor by the placeholder #?BundledItemsDetail?# or #?BundledItemsDetailNotMainItem?#.

Description templates can be attached directly to products or set as default templates per-company.

Click here to learn how to attach a template to a product.
  1. Open a product > Toolbox > *Channel* Properties.
  2. Scroll to find Description Template > Select your template from the dropdown menu.
  3. Click Save.
Click here to learn how to choose a default template.
  1. Open a Company > Toolbox > Description Template > Select your template from the dropdown menu.
    • For kit templates, click Description Template (Kit Products) > Select your template from the dropdown menu
Click here to learn how to upload a template.
  1. Open a Company > Toolbox Description Template.
  2. Next to Upload Template, click Choose File > Select your file > Click Upload Template.

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