Adding & Viewing Animals
Quick Start
This video will walk you through setting up your profile and posting your first ad. For the most up to date instructions on creating a selling account read Start Selling.
Viewing Animals
The Animal Manager displays your animal data. Clicking orange link or pencil on any row will allow you to Modify that animal. In addition, there are other actions found at the side of the row for actions such as cloning animals and removing animals. Actions include:
| Edit | Edit this animal. | |
| Renew | Renew and/or un-expire an ad. Turns green once renewal is allowed (read more below under Ad Renewal and Expiration) | |
| Change Status | Same as clicking on the status column. Change state, visibility and activeness of the animal. | |
| Public View | See the ad as a user sees it. | |
| Duplicate | Clone this animal to create one with the same properties, which you can then modify. | |
| Remove | Remove an item by marking it as sold or deleting it. |
If you make changes here, don't forget to make them in your Price List file as well, so that it will be up-to-date for future Imports. You can also Export your Animals to produce an up to date Price List, which can be re-imported.
Where's my New Ad?
Our FAQ has a checklist of possible reasons.
Photos
After importing a Price List, you will still want to add photos to your ads.
Adding Photos to Ads
- File Chooser: In the manager, you can click on the image or image placeholder to upload an image. You can also manage images on the Modify ad page you can click the gray photo area to browse and select images.
- Drag & Drop: You can drag and drop images from your desktop or a file system folder to the Animal Manager (see limitations below). This is the fastest approach since you don't have to modify each ad individually. As you drag (before you drop) you should see the target row being highlighted. Note: dragging directly from other applications like a photo program will likely not work.
- The photo icon on each row (if present) will tell you that ad's photo status. This ad has a photo. Drag & drop will replace it.
- Uploading is in progress until it turns green.
- You've successfully updated this photo.
- You can also drag and drop onto the gray photo area on the Modify ad page.
URL Link: From the Modify ad or Import pages you can provide a URL link to your photos already on the web.
Tip: We recommend using images which are about 1500px on the longer edge (e.g., 1500x1000). Images larger than this will not provide any additional benefit.
Limitations:
- Drag and drop support is not available for older browsers.
- Currently each ad can have one photo at most, but this will be expanded later.
- Images cannot be larger than 30.0 megabytes.
- Image URL Links provided in import will be automatically downloaded within about an hour.
Example Photos
As described in our Rules, ads for live animals must display each and every exact animal for sale in the ad's photograph(s) unless the Example Photos feature is used by unchecking the box next to quantity for "Exact Items are All Pictured". An Example Photo is any picture that does not show the actual animal or animals being sold. This includes stock photos, photos of a similar animal from the seller's collection, or a sibling of the animal.
We generally discourage the use of Example Photos because every animal is unique and buyers want to see the exact animal before they purchase. In addition, failing to clearly disclose the use of Example Photos is misleading if not dishonest, and will often result in very upset buyers. On the other hand, we understand that it is more convenient for sellers to sometimes advertise multiple animals through a single ad without taking individual photos upfront. For these reasons, our policy is a compromise. We allow Example Photos for a limited number of categories, which we clearly communicate to buyers, but limit their usage to a subset of our members.
Videos
Videos are one of the best ways to set yourself apart from the competition. Standard and higher memberships can provide videos to feature their store as well as specific ads. Ad videos should be sure to include that specific animal, not just a generic video.
Videos can be hosted on either a free YouTube or Vimeo account. Just paste the video URL into the Store or Ad page.
- With Youtube, from the video page, click "share" then "embedded" and that URL:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/DCDqmNqTbcc. For older videos, the browser link should work:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCDqmNqTbcc. - With Vimeo, make sure to us the embedded URL format:
http://player.vimeo.com/video/80629469.