Description Templates

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.

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.

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 > Toolbox > Description 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.

• 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

<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>

        <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>

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.