By Aron Hsiao, About.com
It's one of the most fun and one of the least used features on eBay, and it has the potential to help your sales and increase your name recognition amongst bidders. If you're an eBay seller and you haven't created an eBay "About Me" page yet, now is a good time to consider doing so. It'll only take a few minutes!
The About Me page is a free page of HTML-based web space that eBay reserves for every member, whether you are a bidder, a seller, or both. You can use this space for almost anything, but since your About Me page will be linked anywhere your eBay member ID appears, the most obvious use is to promote your auction sales. Yes, you can also use it to talk about your kids, to link to photos of your boat, or to talk about how hard your college classes are, but these topics might be better suited for eBay Blogs.
When an eBay member maintains an About Me page, a small red and blue "me" icon appears next to their member ID wherever it is shown on eBay. Clicking on this icon displays the About Me page that the member has created.
For example, see these About Me pages created by active eBay members: sample1, sample2, sample3, sample4.
What's On About Me Pages?
Traditionally, sellers' About Me pages contain one or more of the following, all of which benefit bidders or buyers in some way:
In addition to the items listed above, it's not out of order to include a few details about yourself;anecdotes or information that might help to humanize you to your bidders. This is important because bidders are more likely to search for you and your items directly in order to make a repeat purchase if they think of you as a person or business that they are familiar with.
Fun About Me details can include things like a small paragraph about how you got started on eBay, your favorite types of items to sell, what you like best about being an eBay seller, or fun things you've bought over the years with your eBay earnings. Let your bidders know that in addition to being a competent eBay businessperson, you're also someone who simply has a lot of fun buying and selling online.
Ready to create your About Me page? Read on for an easy walk-through.
To create your About Me page, follow these steps:
1. Visit the eBay Community hub by clicking the "Community" button at the top of any eBay page.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the page so that the section titled "More Community Programs" is visible.
3. In the "More Community Programs" section, click on the link labeled "Create an About Me page" to be directed to an informational page that briefly details ways in which About Me is commonly used.
4. At the bottom of the informational page, click the button labeled "Create Your Page."
5. On the following page, you will be asked whether you'd prefer to follow a user-friendly step-by-step wizard or enter raw HTML code in order to create your About Me page.
If you selected the user-friendly step-by-step option, you'll be shown a longer, wizard-style form that will help you to create a fun, complete About Me page from scratch with a minimum of fuss.
Using the Step-by-Step Form
The step by step About Me page form is designed to be easy to use, but a walk-through can still be helpful if you're not yet familiar with features that typically appear on About Me pages.
Once you've completed the web form, click the Continue button to proceed to the following page, where you can select the basic layout (visual arrangement) for the information you've provided. Based on the small example diagrams, choose the layout that you like best. At the bottom of the page, you'll see a sample of what your About Me page will look like with the currently selected layout. Feel free to select each layout in turn to see which you like best.
Once you've decided on a layout, click the Submit button to save your About Me page. You'll notice that the "me" icon now appears next to your ID whenever it is shown on eBay;at the tops of your auctions, in your feedback profile, and even on your My eBay page.
About Me Common Sense
As a final note, keep in mind that your About Me page is public and that it is posted on eBay's website. While there are some explicit rules related to your About Me page, they can easily be summarized: don't put anything on your About Me page that someone might find offensive, don't put anything on your About Me page that you wouldn't want a stranger to know, and don't put anything on your About Me page that might hurt eBay or lead members to an eBay competitor or alternative sales avenue.
Most of all, enjoy expressing yourself with your About Me page!