• Discover Trade Show Displays

• Design Your Trade Show Displays

• Care for Your Trade Show Displays

• Find Trade Show Displays on eBay

• Buy Trade Show Displays With Confidence

Discover Trade Show Displays

Discover Trade Show Displays

Whether you want to create leads, generate sales, educate potential clients, publicize your business or particular products, or build an image for your company, you'll want a travel-friendly and easy-to-assemble trade show display. Pop-up trade show displays and panel trade show displays almost always fit the bill and similarly configured pop-up and panel trade show display systems come with similar price tags.

• Pop-up trade show displays: Pop-up trade show displays are fairly lightweight and compact. A 10-foot display can fold into one or two cases, each about the size of a large golf bag, and weighs less than 70 pounds. Pop-up trade show displays are fairly easy to set up, but offer little in the way of size flexibility. Their frames must be fully open to remain stable, so you cannot adjust them to fit smaller or larger spaces. Pop-up trade show displays will require either small graphics or graphics that you can apply to flexible curved surfaces.

• Panel trade show displays: Panel trade show displays are composed of many separate folding panels that you can arrange in different configurations. This functionality allows you to use the same trade show display for different exhibition spaces. Panel trade show displays can support large, flat images. You'll typically need more than one person to assemble a panel trade show display.

Other types of trade show displays — running the gamut in terms of portability, price, and ease of assembly — include modular trade show displays, frameless trade show displays, pipe and drape trade show displays, and tabletop trade show displays.

• Modular trade show displays: Modular trade show displays are particularly convenient if your spatial requirements change regularly. You can combine them with custom display components to create trade show displays at a lower cost than buying entire custom-designed units.

• Frameless trade show displays: Frameless trade show displays have a plastic panel that you bend so the ends meet to create a standing structure. The side of the structure that contains graphics faces out for display. Frameless trade show displays combine the convenience of a lightweight package (about 28 pounds), which translates into much lower shipping costs, with the ease of one-person setup. Frameless trade show displays work well as backdrops, but you can't rest equipment on the display itself.

• Pipe and drape trade show displays: A pipe and drape trade show display is constructed by clipping a fabric drape onto pipes. Pipe and drape displays can be useful as backdrops or, if you want, as skirts for the front of tables. You'll need additional trade show display equipment for your photo-based graphics and other display elements. Pipe and drape trade show displays cannot directly support weight.

• Tabletop trade show displays: Tabletop trade show displays, smaller versions of pop-up trade show displays and panel trade show displays, may meet your needs if you require a smaller display exhibit. You can quickly set up and disassemble travel-friendly tabletop trade show displays, use only part of the display, or fold panels in and out to fit smaller or larger spaces. Briefcase trade show displays, a form of tabletop trade show display, offer even more convenience for frequent travelers. Keep in mind that smaller tabletop displays, such as briefcase displays, may limit the extent to which your display will stand out.

A variety of materials can be used to cover displays, including plastic and fabric. When choosing a fabric covering, keep in mind that heavier carpet-like fabric tends to withstand wear better than smooth fabrics.

Design Your Trade Show Displays

Design Your Trade Show Displays

Once you decide what kind of trade show display you need, consider its design and setup. The average visitor spends less than three seconds looking at your trade show display, so your design must quickly grab attention. You want your graphics to grab people's attention, but they also shouldn't take up too much of their time. If you're including text, be sure to use large letters, and keep the message clear and concise. Let trade show visitors know who you are, what you do, and how you can help them. Avoid complex explanations or elaborate descriptions of the company; instead, focus on messages that will prompt visitors to stop at your booth, where you can explain everything they might need to know.

The impact of your trade show display hinges upon the different elements of your design, including graphics, sample products, promotional products, business cards, brochures, and lead cards. Most systems can be equipped with shelving to display products your company manufactures or sells, or promotional products that provide publicity for your business.

• Text and graphics: Trade show displays can feature both text and images. You can either use mounted graphics backed with Velcro, which then attach to fabric-covered trade show displays, or incorporate text and images into the trade show display surface (typically by applying large photomurals to the display). Begin shopping for trade show display graphics about two months before a trade show to allow time to create the proper artwork. The seller who provides you with your display often sells graphics for it, or you can turn to a graphic designer who specializes in producing artwork for trade show displays.

• Sample products: Select sample products that are easy to travel with and display, and give your booth visitors a good idea of what your company sells. Demonstrations, if possible, always attract booth traffic.

• Promotional products: Think about useful, small, and unique promotional products. Consider keeping higher-end promotional products tucked away so that you can give them to potential customers showing genuine interest. Leaving a basket full of promotional products in front of your trade show display might generate a high level of booth traffic, but most people will come only for the gift.

• Business cards: Always keep business cards handy. If you rely on them for leads, also try to find ways to stand out next to other booths handing out business cards.

• Brochures and other literature: The majority of literature handed out at trade shows ends up on the floor or in the garbage. If you plan to hand out literature to every person who passes by, use simpler, less expensive flyers or brochures. Save literature printed on nicer paper for genuinely interested visitors who have questions.

• Lead cards: Lead cards are the best means of collecting information about potential clients. While establishing contact with potential customers, keep in mind that they want to know you're genuinely interested in satisfying their needs. Find out what they're looking for first and then ask for mailing information. Be sure to contact your leads within a few days after the show. Even the best impressions will only last so long without follow-up.

On top of the basic trade show display cost, you should expect to pay an additional 40 percent to 80 percent for graphics and accessories.

Care for Your Trade Show Displays

Care for Your Trade Show Displays

Trade show displays receive a lot of rough treatment from shippers, customers, and those setting them up. To ensure longer life for a display, make sure it can be securely packed. Look for trade show displays with cases that have separate spaces for each display component and avoid tucking non-display components into trade show display cases.

Portable trade show displays fit into cases that you can check onto airlines or have transported via standard ground shipping services. This portability allows you to bring in and set up displays yourself, avoiding the added complexity and expense of professional movers and builders. Remember to consider airplane, ground shipping, and personal car requirements when determining the overall cost of a particular display system.

Know your warranty options

Some sellers offer trade show display warranties. Pop-up trade show display frames typically have a lifetime warranty while the warranties on panel trade show displays vary a bit more, lasting anywhere from two to five years.

Be sure to read the fine print. Some manufacturers require you to send a trade show display back to them if a display breaks, which could take more time and put a freeze on your trade show attendance. Others, however, can be fixed in the field or at a distributor.

Find Trade Show Displays on eBay

Find Trade Show Displays on eBay

Once you know what type of trade show displays you need, go to the Business & Industrial category portal, click the Trade Show Displays link under Office, Printing & Shipping, and start searching for trade show displays and accessories on eBay.

• Categories: The Categories list on the left side of each page will help you narrow down listings by item type. You'll find links for Banner Systems, Signage, Pop-Up & Booth Displays, Tabletop & Portable Displays, Trade Show Display Accessories, and Other Trade Show Displays.

• Keyword search: Search eBay listing titles for specific words. For example, if you want to find pop-up trade show displays, type "pop up display" (without quotation marks) into the Search box. Click "Search title and description" to expand your results. Visit eBay's Search Commands page for more tips on searching with keywords.

If you can't find exactly what you want, try shopping eBay Stores, tell the eBay Community what you want by creating a post on Want It Now, or save a search on My eBay and eBay will email you when a match becomes available.

Buy Trade Show Displays With Confidence

Buy Trade Show Displays With Confidence

Hundreds of trade show displays listed on eBay in the Business & Industrial category will likely interest you. When trying to select the right trade show display, get to know exactly what you're buying, research the seller, and understand how eBay and PayPal protect you.

Know your purchase

Many sellers put a lot of time into creating their listings, making an effort to ensure they include all the information buyers need. Carefully read the details in listings for the trade show display you consider buying and carefully review available photos. Before placing a bid or buying an item, be sure to:

• Have all your questions answered: If you still have questions after reading the listing and reviewing the photos, contact the seller using the Ask seller a question link in the “Seller information” box in the top right corner of every item listing. Also request additional photos if you want to see the trade show display from a particular angle that isn’t shown in the photos included in the listing. If you have more questions than you can address in email, get the seller’s phone number and give him/her a call. Some sellers even include their phone number so you can call them directly. Just remember that you need to actually bid and buy on eBay in order to be covered by eBay and PayPal protection programs (see "Buyer protection" below for more details).

• Get delivery details: Calculate and include delivery costs into your final price.

• Complete your transaction on eBay: Always complete your transaction on eBay (with a bid, Buy It Now, or Best Offer). Transactions conducted outside of eBay are not covered by eBay and PayPal protection programs (see "Buyer protection" below for more details).

• Know your payment options: Never pay for your eBay item using instant cash wire transfer services such as Western Union or MoneyGram. These payment methods are unsafe when paying someone you do not know. Instead, pay with PayPal for amounts less than $2,000 (including deposits), a money order, or direct bank-to-bank fund transfer.

• Track items with eBay Toolbar: Use the free eBay Toolbar to track items you bid on and watch. It includes Account Guard, a feature that indicates when you're visiting a verified eBay or PayPal website and warns you when you enter your eBay password into an unverified site, even if it looks like eBay or PayPal.

Know your seller

Just as important as researching your trade show display purchase is getting to know the seller. Take time to research the seller so that you can feel positive and secure about every transaction. Key things to look for when evaluating a seller are:

• Positive Feedback: What is the seller's Feedback rating? How many transactions have they completed? What percentage of positive responses do they have? What do buyers and sellers say in their Feedback? Did the seller receive praise?

• Sales history: Find out how long the seller has been a registered eBay user and look at the types of items a seller typically offers. If the seller’s Feedback seems low, take the time to look at the Feedback details; sometimes a seller's Feedback looks low until you realize that they’re a trade show booth and display dealer and their Feedback count comes entirely from the sale of these items.

• Terms and conditions: What are the terms and conditions of the sale? Are the terms agreeable to you? Sellers typically set terms and conditions, but you should make sure you agree with them. If not, find another seller/trade show display or contact the seller to find out if he/she is open to your suggestions.

• Good communication: Once you’ve initiated communications with the seller, how is he/she communicating with you? Is the seller courteous and professional? Is the seller responsive? Once you bid, communicate with the seller through My Messages in My eBay. All legitimate Second Chance Offer messages will come through My Messages and not to your email address alone. Always contact the seller before accepting a Second Chance Offer, and never respond to any request to send money via Western Union or other instant cash transfer service.

Buyer protection

In the unlikely event a problem arises during your transaction, you can typically work it out with the seller. However, if you can’t, eBay and PayPal are there for you.

• Use PayPal: PayPal enables you to pay up to $2,000 without the seller ever seeing your bank account or credit card numbers. Also, PayPal protects buyers 100% against unauthorized payments from their accounts.

• eBay Security & Resolution Center: Visit the Security & Resolution Center to learn how to protect your account and use eBay's quick and efficient resolution tools.