Choosing a Designer on eBay

Two of the biggest questions I get asked are “How do I know which designer to choose?”
and “How do I know that I am getting what I need for my eBay store?”. These are both very important questions so I have decided to write this guide to help you along the way.

First, I would like to say I am a Certified eBay designer and do sell my services on eBay and my personal website. But I have tried to make this guide as to what I would personally need to know if I was the one that was purchasing the design.

A Designers Portfolio

All legit Designers should have a portfolio on their site. If they do not, you should email them and ask if they have one available for you to see. Looking at their work is a great way to get an idea of what type of work you can expect from them. Be sure to follow links in the portfolio to see the design live on a site.

Ask if they are Legal

A designer is not someone who just pulls images off of google or any website and slaps them on a page for you. They must purchase specific licenses for the images they are using, unless they are hand drawn by the designer. Be sure to ask your designer if they do this. If they do not you will want to stay clear of them, if you happen to have an image on your store or auction that was taken illegally you will be held responsible. Punishment can range from having your Store Closed to a law suit by the copyright holder of the images. This is a VERY important matter and must be taken seriously.

Ask Questions

Asking questions is the best way for you to find out about your designer. They should be willing to answer all of your questions whether it be 1 or 50. Any designer that is not willing to answer your questions is not someone you should want to hire. If they are not willing to do this then will they be willing to do the job you pay for??

Price of Services

Obviously price is going to be important to you. But remember that you also get what you pay for. All designers choose their own pricing. I have seen very low priced designs that are wonderful, but I have seen much more that are not. So be sure to compare price to quality before purchasing.

Types of Images Used

Most Designers are using Stock Images. This usually means they are purchasing their images from a stock website. These images are NOT one of a kind. Although the designer may never use them again, that does not mean another designer is not.

The next type would be Hand Drawn images. These are hand drawn by your designer for use in your store. Usually this is much more expensive than the Stock Design. So be sure to ask your designer if these are going to be the only ones they sell or if they are going to resell the images they draw for you.

Types Of Coding

Most designers use HTML for their designs. The problem is the amature designer is taking a code and just slapping the images into a code they found or took from another designer. This happens more than you would think. The problem with this is that you never know if you are getting clean HTML codes for your design. There are many codes out there that are actually against eBay rules, and can result in your listings getting pulled. So its important that your designer knows the correct way of coding, and customizes your code to fit ebays regulations.

Web Designing

More and more I see people passing off site builders as a customized website. This is just not the case. A true designer will help you from start to finish on making sure you are getting the right type of site for your needs. There are many free builders out there if you are wanting something for personal use. But they are not recommended for business use.

Bravenet
Yahooo Geocities
Angel Fire

These are just a few that I see being advertised by designers as websites they are creating. These in fact are so simple to use that even my 10 year old son built one. And remember they are also filled with advertisements you can not remove.

Image Hosting

Most graphics designers will host your images on their own host. There are a few things to keep in mind when this happens. If they are using Photobucket and have a free account, then when they run out of bandwidth, your images are gone. Which means the design is useless for you. If they are hosting it on their own site, then you have the worry of making sure they never leave eBay and close their site down. Because if this happens you again are without your images. So be sure to ask your designer if they will also send you the images they use on your design, or to upload and link the code to your hosting. If the designer is not willing to do this, you probably will want to look else where.

Terms of Service

Most Designers have a terms of Service on their designs. Be sure to ask about this and read them. You will need to know what they will allow you to use the images for and if you are allowed to make any changes to them. Again if you have questions be sure to ask!

Guarantee

Most designers have a no refund policy due to the nature of their work. So be sure to make sure that you have all your questions answered before choosing your designer. Check their feedback, not only if its positive, but read some of the comments given to get a good idea of the satisfaction of their previous clients.

I hope that is was able to help you be more informed when choosing your own designer. And as always, if you ever have any questions I am here to help and happy to answer! Thanks!