How does the design process work at PIXCLINIC?
After we have received your order and initial down payment, you will be assigned a Designer who will work with you one-on-one
and who will provide you the following:
A login to your PIXCLINIC preview page, where you will be able to see the work in progress.
A link to a project roadmap , listing all what we will need from you at the different stages of the project.
Once the project starts, you will communicate with your Designer, usually by email (and sometimes by phone if necessary)
with your input of what has been done and if some changes are requested.
Once a stage has been approved, your Designer will move to the next stage of the raodmap until the project is completed.
Once the project has been completed, you will receive an invoice for the balance due and the new design will
be installed in your ebay Store after your payment has been received.
Requirements to have a custom design for your store
You must be able to host all the graphics and images created by PIXCLINIC in a permanent place once the design work is finished:
Either your own domain name with an ftp access,
Or an image hosting service. Please note that this image hosting service must be able to accept both .gif and .jpeg file formats.
It is also essential that your files can be uploaded without being renamed, resized, are not recompressed to avoid quality
loss and are stored in a unique directory. Please note that some services don't meet these requirements (contact us first if you are not sure about these requirements)
Even if we strongly encourage that you already opened your eBay store, it is not mandatory when we start our design. However, you need to provide your
store custom categories list before we start.
You won't need to operate an eBay store if you plan to order an auction template only.
Do I need a featured Store subscription to have a custom design ?
Not at all. Most of the stores that we have designed are running on a basic subscription level, with just one custom page, the store homepage.
Templates are not considered as custom pages.
Your subscription level will however allow you to have more custom pages:
Basic: 5 pages
Featured: 10 pages
Anchored: 15 pages
What do I need to provide before the start?
Your eBay Store address (full URL)
All your categories names. If some categories do not show up on your store home page, please give us the full list or list an item in
this category to have it displayed in your left navigation bar.
If you plan to have subcategories installed in your store, please provide your inventory tree (structure with main categories and subcategories).
At least one item should be listed in your store if you plan to order an auction template , we will use the product listed in it as an example to show you the new design with this same product.
If you would like us to use specific images, please provide them as soon as you have access to your file uploader.
What are Headers, Store Fronts, Templates etc...
The Store Header : it's the part that contains your logo , your store description and your feedback rating line. It is fully customizable
with text, graphics and links. We usually use this part to install a bigger logo than the 310x90 allowed by eBay and introduce
your business with a small tagline. It can even be hidden if left blank.
The Left Navigation Bar : this is the column on the left that contains the names of your categories.
Custom design in this area allows us to install more than 20 categories or subcategories if needed .
The Store front is the area located on the right side of the Left Navigation Bar. By default, eBay
displays a page of 30 items. This part can look like a regular web site page, with images, text and links.
You may have several of these pages (the are called custom pages ) and create a miniwebsite with several pages with full navigation. The number of custom pages available
for your store design depends on your eBay subscription level:
Basic Stores may have 5 custom pages
Featured Stores may have 10 custom pages
Anchored Stores may have 15 custom pages
The Listing template : this is the page where your customers see your item for sale, with the "Place Bid" or "Buy it Now" buttons.
This part is in fact eBay's "Item Description" part, allowing HTML descriptions which can be very sophisiticated and much more
than plain text and one image. Most stores just need one listing template, common to every item. Some stores might need more than
one template if they sell items requiring a different layout to be presented the best way (if you sell baby clothes AND electronics for example
you might want different colors and design for these two types of products).
A left navigation bar an be installed in your auction template as well,
allowing visitors from your auction pages to reach your entire store inventory in one click.
Store Examples
How long does it take to build a store?
Usually 7 to 10 days, depending on our workload (and yours too!), the type of design you have requested. It may take longer
if there is some photo studio work involved or if your store has an complex inventory or requires categories remodeling and/or subcategorization.
Do I need to know HTML to use your templates? | View our page: eBay Store Templates
If you use a Online Marketplace Management Software or Service , integration will be completely transparent with some of these services.
If you use our templates "manually", we will also make it easy for your because we "Hand-Code" our HTML (meaning we do not use a software that produces incomprehensible HTML code).
You do not need to be an HTML expert to undestand how to use them. The only parts you will have
to change will be small portions of plain text, to adapt your descriptions for every item you will list, and the image reference to your image(s) (see below) You won't need
to write any HTML tags, except a <BR> sometimes, to start a new line.
However, you need to be able to locate your item picture URL ( the <IMG SRC="http://www.imagehost.com/image_name.jpg"> ) to have your pictures displayed within
the template. This is why you will need an image hosting service, providing you the image URL.
You will receive your template HTML code with directions how to use it and what to change in the code to adapt it to your auctions.
If you don't feel comfortable with working within the HTML code or if have an important number of items to manage, consider using an auction
service that interacts with eBay and will automate the process for you. (see auction services listed above)
Can I (or you) make changes to my store home page after it is launched?
Once your store is launched, we provide free suppport for ONE WEEK that includes minor
changes in the design: link changes, image replacement, etc... but not on the general layout, that should be approved before the launch.
We will then charge a minimum $20.00 fee for any intervention after this period.
You can of course make any changes yourself to your store if your HTML skills are good enough. Please note that we may
charge a fee if you ask to fix some damages you made to the design after you tried to modify the HTML/store
settings after we launched it (even during the one week free support)
Can you update/upgrade my store after a few months ?
Ask for a quote if you need to upgrade you store after a while,
we will be happy to implement new features in it!
Can I have some animated gifs or Flash animations and sounds included in my design ?
We do not currently design in Flash and do not create animated gifs in eBay Stores
What payment methods do you accept ? When Do I pay ?
We accept Credit Cards over the phone (Visa & Mastercard only) and PayPal.
We ask for a 50% dow-payment before the start, the balance due when the design is finished.
The balance must be paid in full before the launch.
Paypal eChecks must have cleared before the launch.
For orders under USD $300.00, the balance must be paid in full before the start.
May I see some proofs during the process?
You eBay Store is built in real time on a dedicated space on our server. You have access to this (these) page(s)
at anytime with a log-in to see the progress. You will be notified by email when
changes have been made to the page, asking for your input, some information or action to move to the next step.
Building your eBay store this way can be very fast if you check your page on a regular basis an anwer our emails fast.
Do I need to provide all the images for my store home page?
If the material found in your auctions can not be used in your design, we will ask you to provide images.
If you already have graphics or photos that you own or have the right to use, we might ask you to provide the original artwork so we can integrate
it to the eBay store. We generally do not charge the enhancements we do on your images to adapt them to your home page (cropping, resizing, web optimization, sometimes
color enhancement and resharpening). An extra charge may apply if we need to work on some images that require more complex work (like background removal, or collages).
If you want to use stock photos, you must provide (and generally buy) these images from images databases, we don't provide them. If you need help chosing stock images,
please provide a selection, we will help you to make the best choice.
I use an auction service. Will my template work with it?
Our templates work with every auction service that allows full HTML templates. We design templates with macros for
auction services like MarketWorks , and
ChannelAdvisor , allowing full integration of your data.
Sparedollar ,
Inkfrog and
Vendio
also allow some integration of your item images and description in our templates.
At this Time, Andale does not provide support for fully customized template designs. Call us for more information if you use another auction service.
Can PIXCLINIC create and launch my listings?
We do not create and launch your eBay listings. You will be reponsible to populate and submit them to eBay.