Using Photos for eBay and Your Own Online Business

It really is surprising how some people neglect photos of their products when selling on eBay or through their own online store. I don't necessarily mean that sellers don't include any photos but rather the quality of their photos seems to actually hurt their chances of sales. Think about how you shop online. The words in a description are important and necessary but the photos almost always capture your attention first. Photos are simply another form of advertising your product.

In my experience there are 2 things that are most often ignored: The variety of photos and the lighting used in photos. On variety you should when ever possible and reasonable take photos of your item from multiple angles. Obviously, there are some occasions when 1 or 2 photos will do but think of all the sides and close details you would love to see if you were a buyer. For example, our website (www.sourcical.com) lists various shipping labels as an item. For these only one photo is good enough. As an idea though we could add images of a roll of the labels from a couple of angles. When it comes to lighting I mean watch for glare and also positioning of lighting. Try to move the object around and move your lighting source around if possible to try and show the detail in your item.

More photos can also save you trouble down the road. More photos mean fewer questions from buyers and more photos can also protect yourself if a buyer disputes something. If a blemish or some type of damage is seen in a photo and a buyer claims you were trying to hide it, the buyer obviously didn't view the photos well. As a side note, make sure that you are honest and note any damage or wear in the description and direct viewers to look at the photos for a look at what you mean.

Also keep in mind the type of digital camera you are using. You don't need a fancy SLR or professional equipment but you do need to take the time to do it right. Remember if you are going to crop photos for detail you may need to pay attention to the megapixels of the camera. In my experience 7 or so megapixels is good enough but if you are going to do more cropping then you may consider higher megapixels to keep the detail. A little extra time now can mean big sales dollars later.

Any other basic photo types for an web business out there? What are your thoughts on sellers and their use of photos? Comment and help us all out.