Putting Frooition's money where my mouth is

24/01/2008 at 22:45

A couple of weeks ago, I left a rather facaecious comment on one of Dan’s eBay Shops posts:

Are “designer” shop fronts – e.g. Frooition’s offerings – worth it? Personally I think not: eBay spend a lot of money driving buyers to eBay, and shop fronts that suddenly make buyers feel like they’re not on eBay any more are surely off-putting?

I was more than a bit surprised to receive an email from Frooition‘s MD, Grenville Whelan, offering to redesign my Shop for free, if I’d only blog about it. Really, who could resist?

I spent an interesting half an hour on the phone to Andrew Pinner, Frooition‘s online sales manager. He talked me through the design process – essentially, tell us what you want, and we’ll work until you’re happy – and allayed some concerns I had. Then there was a web form to fill out, which asked me what sort of feel I wanted for my shop (fun, corporate, retro, industrial, etc.) and to pick my three main colours. I could also include three other sites which I like, and as much extra instruction (“NO PINK!!!”) as I wanted. As Andrew said, the more detail a client can supply, the easier it is for them to make a successful design.

Frooition aren’t cheap: the initial design process is £795, plus £9.95 per month subscription fee (the first three months are free), which covers any tweaks that eBay changes make necessary. For some people, this will put them beyond the realm of possibility, but for others, it will be a more than reasonable price.

My design request is now in the queue for the designer; I’m told they should get back to me in the next ten to fourteen days, when I’ll get to see the provisional design and be able to request as many tweaks as I want, or even demand a complete re-redesign. I can’t wait to see what they come up with.