Step By Step Instructions

Step 1:  Title & Tags

Enter a Title and Tags for your Mercial video to make it easier to find when you add it to your Library. Tags are keywords. Tags can also be helpful in searching for your Mercial when your Library contains a lot of entries.

eBay Sellers can automatically import pictures and a text from their eBay auctions. Simply enter the eBay Item Number from the auction and we do the rest.

Step 2:  Photos

Photos can be added from your local computer, from your website, or from a picture hosting site like Flickr where you keep your pictures.

You can rearrange the order of your pictures by dragging them. Delete pictures by dragging them to the trash.

Step 3:  Description

Add text to describe the item featured in your video Mercial. The Description will be seen by the public.

Text-To-Speech Description features the text that will be converted to speech by our text-to-speech systems when you choose the "Convert Text To Speech" option for your VoiceOver. The Text-To-Speech Description is not seen by the public.

Step 4:  VoiceOver

VoiceOver lets you narrate your video Mercial. There are three options for adding a VoiceOver:  record By Phone, Convert Text-To-Speech Description, and Upload Voice file.

Record by Phone provides a phone number and unique code for your voice recording. Pick up the phone, dial the shown on the popup screen, and follow the voice prompts to enter your unique code.

Your pictures and Description are on the screen in front of you to help you organize and tell your story. Recording by Phone is no more difficult than training your telephone answering machine.

The idea of the VoiceOver is to get viewers interested enough to want further information.

Hint:
Be yourself! You’re building a personal relationship. You don’t need to have professional voice training.

Be brief!  Viewers of your Mercial video will get bored and go elsewhere if you drone on. More than a minute and you put yourself at risk. 

Convert Text-to-Speech Description allows you to create a VoiceOver quickly using our text-to-speech feature.

Although our text-to-speech is state-of-the-art technology, there will always be pronunciation issues with text-to-speech. The "tomato" (pronounced "toe may toe") versus "tomato" (pronounced "toe mah toe") is an example. Feel free to experiment to get the pronunciation you prefer. The text you create to get the pronunciation your want will never be seen by the public.

Hint: 
Be brief!  Viewers of your Mercial video will get bored and go elsewhere if your Mercial video is too long. More than a minute and you put yourself at risk.

Upload Voice File lets you upload a voice file you’ve recorded on your local computer.

Step 5:  Background Music

Add a little production value with background music

Play It! 

Creates a video using the pictures, voice, text, and music files you’ve specified. Make a change, Play It!.

How much does this cost?

Creating videos with Auction Mercial is currently free to registered eBay users.

How does it work?

It’s as simple as "Create", "Assign", and "Play".

To Create, you fill in the blanks with the pictures, voice, text, and music you want included in your video.

You can Assign a Mercial to your eBay auctions, to your eBay About Me, or as the "Intro" to all of your Mercials.

To Play, you need to include a Mercial Player in your auction listing or in your eBay AboutMe area. Without the Mercial Player, the video cannot be viewed.

What is a Mercial?

A Mercial, short for infomercial, is a video you create online by combining your auction’s pictures and description. It’s amazingly fast and easy.

Sign In

Start by registering for an AuctionMercial account. The registration process is simple.  Note:  verifying your email address let's us help if you need technical or account help.

Creating an Auction Mercial

Creating an Auction Mercial is similar to creating an eBay listing:  you fill in the blanks.

Title

The title for your Auction Mercial helps you find your Mercial in your MyLibrary and Edit Unfinished areas.

Tags

Tags are keywords that help you search for your Auction Mercial. Examples of tags are sku number, color, brand name, and anything else that helps you identify your item and its Mercial.

Pictures

Auction Mercial lets you quickly and easily add to your video the pictures that you already have, like product snapshots.

There are three ways to add pictures, "Upload from my computer" and "Upload from Internet" let you manually choose pictures to include in your Mercial video. "Get eBay Data" automatically imports the pictures from your eBay listing.

A note about pictures.
Auction Mercial is designed to save you time as you convert your pictures, text, voice, and music into a custom video. You can help save yourself a lot of time by resizing your pictures prior to sending them to Auction Mercial. eBay suggests a size of 400x300 for most pictures, unless you supersize at 600x400.

Microsoft image resizer (for XP).
A handy little utility from Microsoft you can download here for free!

Upload from my computer

Click the browse button and find pictures on your computer to send to Auction Mercial. Note:  when you find the image you want, double clicking on it is a fast way to select and enter the filename!

Upload from Internet

Lets you specify the full url for the picture you want to include, e.g. http://www.auctionmercial.com/examplepicture/picture1.jpg. It’s very helpful if you already have pictures on your website that you want to include in a Mercial.

Hint for Internet Explorer browser (you need to have two browser windows open)

1. In one browser window, find the picture on your website and right click your mouse button.
2. Select Properties
3. Under Address:  highlight the URL
4. Hold down the ctrl key and press c (for copy)
5. In the second browser window, in AuctionMercial.com’s "Upload from Internet" window, paste (hold down the ctrl key and press v) the picture url you copied
6. Click the "Add picture" button to be sure you got it right.

Hint for FireFox browser (you need to have two browser windows open)

1. In one browser window, find the picture on your website and right click your mouse button.
2. Select Copy Image Location
3. In the second browser window, in AuctionMercial.com’s "Upload from Internet" window, paste (hold down the ctrl key and press v) the picture url you copied
4. Click the "Add picture" button to be sure you got it right

Get eBay Data

Simply enter your eBay Item Number and click the Get eBay Data. We import your eBay pictures and description for you automatically.

About copyrighted material

Please do not use other people’s copyrighted material. It’s not legal and it’s not nice. We cooperate fully with eBay Trust & Safety and others on any allegation of misappropriated copyrighted material.

Description

This text describes your item. This text appears to the public, for instance, in a MercialShopper.com. The Description is also converted to speech if you choose Convert Description to Speech as your VoiceOver option.

VoiceOver

Auction Mercial provides three ways to add a VoiceOver, or voice track, to your video:  VoiceOver by Phone, Upload Voice file, and Convert Description to Speech, our state-of-the-art text-to-speech (TTS) capability.

VoiceOver by Phone

Selecting VoiceOver by Phone takes you to a page that includes a phone number to call, a unique User Code, your pictures, and your text description. Using your phone or cell phone, dial the phone number. You will be led through a series of prompts to record your voice description.

Upload Voice File

Lets you upload the Voice File you’ve created on your computer and that you want to include in your Mercial video.

Convert Description to Speech

Choose the voice you prefer from our selections and we’ll convert your text description to state-of-the-art synthetic speech!

Choose Background Music

Select the background music to add to your video from our selections and we’ll add it to your Mercial video!

Set Volume

Adjusts the volume for the background music you selected.

Play It! 

Creates a video using the pictures, voice, text, and music files you’ve specified.

Editing your video

Editing your video is as easy as updating the information on the page. When you’re ready to view your modified video, simply click "Play It!".

Publish & Assign

Publish.

Click the Publish button when your Mercial is complete to add it to your Library. Clicking on the Mercial in your library lets you direct where you want that Mercial to play.

Assign.

Mercial videos in your Library can play in two different areas:  an eBay auction and as an eBay About Me.

Assign to eBay auction listing

Your Mercial can be Assigned to any number of your eBay listings. Click the "Add to my Auction Listing" button, enter you eBay auction number, and let AuctionMercial insert the Mercial Player in your auction automatically.

For those adventurous few who want to add the Mercial Player to their auctions themselves, click the "Get Player html" link that appears when you choose not to have the Player automatically added to your listing.

Assign to eBay About Me

Create a Mercial video that features you, your interests, or your business the same way you create a Mercial video for an item: combine pictures, text, voice, and music. Publish the Mercial video when your satisfied.

In your Library, click on the Mercial video and "add" it as your eBay About Me.

Follow the step-by-step instructions for adding your newly Assigned Mercial video to your eBay About Me page.

Assign as Intro Mercial

Your Intro Mercial is a very brief Mercial video. Create an Intro Mercial video the same way you create a Mercial video for an item: combine pictures, text, voice, and music. Publish the Mercial video when your satisfied.

The Intro Mercial will play before the Mercials you have Assigned to eBay auctions. The Intro Mercial positions your business, or offers some other special message you want in front of viewers of your Mercial video.

Example Intro Mercials:

1. "eBayer since 1998. Check my feedback!"
2. "At Newco, we’re dedicated to your satisfaction."
3. "In December, we’re offering free shipping!"

MyLibrary

MyLibrary contains all of your Published Mercial videos, your Unfinished Mercial videos, your saved VoiceOvers, and your uploaded background music. Library entries are arranged with the most recent items at the top. Search the Library using Title or Tags.

Click on a Published Mercial video to Assign it to an eBay auction, as your eBay About Me, or as your Intro Mercial.

Click on an Unfinished Mercial, and continue to modify it until you Publish.