Making the Most of Your About Me Page
by Maeve
eBay Staff Member

It's About You, It's About Your Business, It's About Your Passions. 

Everyone on eBay has space to create their own personal webpage using the About Me feature. We think it's an excellent opportunity for our members to share something about themselves and the way they do business. For many sellers their About Me page takes the place of a brick-and-mortar store where they can showcase their expertise and help build confidence for their trading partners. For collectors, About Me pages give you the opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge of your specialty and to show others the jewels of your collections. Still other members utilize the space as an educational tool by providing links to both eBay and offsite resources.

Recent changes to the About Me pages make it even easier to personalize your own space. To create your own About Me page, just click on the little About Me icon following some User IDs, or go directly there by clicking here.

This month we asked the members who post to the Photos / HTML board for their best About Me page tips.

"An About Me page should serve as a way of introducing yourself to a trading partner. It should instill confidence that you are a real and responsible person.  Your personality should come through, but do it without compromising your identity.  Be considerate of your reader: If I am surfing late at night, the last thing I want is a loud audio clip that will wake the rest of the family up.   Not everyone has a broadband connection - keep the images a reasonable size.   If you must use a background, keep it subdued so that the text can be read without eye-strain. If your viewer took the time to come to read your page, don't make it an optical challenge. Terms and Conditions belong on the auction. If you want to get me to stop a habit, see me saved, tell me about the latest diet, or whatever is your passion - go  ahead and put in links - but don't force it upon me."
nktower  

"I'm not sure about all the benefits of a Me Page but I think they are a good place for a seller to present their best self. They are best kept brief, pleasant, and attractive to look at. Like mine.   Seriously, except for those wonderful pages that people have which are dedicated to helping other users (i.e., dozens of links to information, details about shipping, how-to's about photography, etc.) I don't want to READ a lot. And I certainly don't want the details about why the the seller WILL NOT do this or that. It is not the place to rant (that is, if they want my bid) and I don't think it's the place to sell product either. Personally I think those never ending lists of items up for auction are very unattractive. I never go to a Me Page to see what someone currently has listed on eBay."
merrygocats  

"Ever since I started goofing around with HTML and Paint Shop Pro, the ME page I have has been my way of trying out new things, playing around with what I've learned since coming to the Community. And I have to agree with merrygocats, I hate the never ending list of rules and what nots that some peeps have in there...same thing for never ending list of items for sale or feedbacks that are a mile long...LOL."
chanchisfea

"I think the me page is a good place to introduce yourself to your potential customer. I try to let them know a little of who we are, and why we enjoy selling what we sell. Hopefully it will give them confidence in us as a sellers. In my case I collect what I sell (Art Glass.) It's a chance to show my potential customers/collector's that I care about what I'm selling because I collect it also.  I like to keep a little Photo link Gallery of my latest Auctions on my me page. Hopefully repeat customers and collectors like myself will book mark it and check back. It is handy for family and friends, some of whom are new to navigating around eBay. I just give them a card with my ME URL and they can visit my auctions from there. A few have even started selling too. LOLL ...A couple of friends have started collections too. This is sometimes not so good as they beat me to the good stuff."
sunnydayonline  

"If it's going to be nothing more than a personal page to let your potential buyers/sellers/fellow community members get to know you a little bit, the 'rules' would be very different from those for a page designed to augment the sales item page itself. In either case it would be best if the page were well designed, clean and easy to follow but I think you'd probably have more leeway with a personal page.  While it might be fun for some to decorate their personal page with banners, cutesy images and animated .gifs, there really isn't any place for those on a more sales-oriented one. How serious can this seller be if there's goofy  little images bouncing around every corner of the page? And, as noted above by others, try not to project a negative image with your terms of service. Nothing drives me away from an auction or me page quicker than a mile and a half of rules and regulations, do-this and don't-do-that and if-you-do-I-WILL-leave-you-a-negative-feedback...."
blackblue2

"An 'About Me' page should be 'About Me', NOT 'about My Terms'.  This would give a potential buyer (if potential buyers really go to these pages), the chance to learn a little about the  seller before they bid. Terms & conditions should be on the auction page.
eobcards

"So my personal experience leads me to believe that ME pages don't really need to be related to buying and selling.  They can be more about the person.  I also think a ME page is a great place to try out all that wonderful whizzy whirling new HTML stuff we learn, so  that we get rid of that urge before writing up an auction, LOL!"
shipscript2

"I think the ME page should be PERSONAL about the member that it belongs to. After all, it is called "About ME".   I know my ME page is "busy" to say the least. BUT, if you really, really know me it suits me to a tee."
2packrats4ever