Get More Money On eBay By Taking Good Photos Of Your Item

A picture is worth a thousand words. When selling items online on auction sites such as eBay this saying becomes more relevant. A picture is worth money and a lot of money. A good set of pictures can make the difference between an item that is sold and an item that is not sold. It can also make a big difference in the highest bid price received for an item.

It is not enough to just to take a photo of an item. A good photo can raise the value of the item and help sell it. This article provides a few rules to follow in order to take better photos of such items.

The first rule when taking photos of an item is to take more than one photo. Show the item from many angles show it zoomed in and zoomed out in different positions – for example if the item is a car show it with doors closed and with doors open. If it is a DVD show the front cover the back and the disc itself.

The quality of the photos must be as high as possible. Make sure that you have the right lighting. It is always better to take photos during the day time with natural light rather than with flash light. It is also better to take pictures when there is overcast rather than when the skies are clear and the sun light is strong. If the skies are clear try to take the photos either at the beginning or the end of the day. Follow the rules of good photography, use a tripod if long exposure is needed make sure the photo is not overexposed or underexposed and that it is not blurry.

When taking the photo make sure that you stage the right background for the item. Usually you would want to stage a background that is in contrast with the item and that has no details or interesting objects that can steal the viewer's attention. Also make sure that the background is a matte color and that it does not reflect light. For example when taking a photo of a black computer mouse and keyboard use a white or light gray background.

Emphasize the value and the details of the item. Every item has unique features or important details that you would like to draw the viewer's attention to. The best way to do that is to take close-up photos of those details. For example when selling a car that has very low mileage take a close-up photo of its odometer. Another example when selling a known brand product such as shirts or pants take a close-up photo of the tag or the logo to emphasize that the item is genuine.

Take photos that support the textual description of the item. For example when selling a high end brand purse if the description says "perfect stitches" take a close-up photo of the stitches to prove that the description is right.

If your item size is important you can use a known size object in order to help the viewer visualize the item's size. For example when selling a miniature spy camera take one photo of the camera side by side with an object such as a quarter or a matchbox. The viewer will find it much easier to visualize the camera's size when looking at such a photo rather than reading the camera's measurements.

And last but not least remember to keep the photo file size small. When viewing a photo on the user's screen a low resolution is more than enough. In most cases a VGA (640X480) picture is all that it takes and such a photo can be as small as 50Kbytes. It is important to keep this in mind and not be tempted to put high resolution photos that are big. Such big files load very slowly on the viewer's computer. In most cases the viewer will get frustrated and would just skip to the next seller.




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The Hidden Costs Of Selling On Ebay

There is little doubt that given the potential audience advertising on eBay can be very cost effective. Compared to other forms of advertising it is relatively inexpensive. However, many eBay users rarely bother to work out exactly what it is costing them to make a sale.

There are the obvious costs such as the listing, enhancements and final value fees. Also you have to add the charges made by Paypal if that is the option of payment chosen by the buyer. But then you should really also consider what I call the invisible costs. Let me explain, if for instance you buy many of the items that you sell from Flea markets and garage sales what value do you place on your time going to such events and don't forget any travel expenses to get there.

Once you have got your items home you will need more time to research, photograph and list your purchases. Now add the time you spend packaging the items after sale and standing in line to post them. You could easily find that each sale you make on eBay could take an hour or more of your time.

If you really want to know how much time you spend on your eBay business you need to keep a detailed diary for a few weeks. Record the time when you leave your home on "eBay business" and when you return. Add any expenses other than the cost of any items you buy to sell on eBay. Once you are home log any time you spend listing, photographing and packing items.

Do this for a few weeks and this will give you a good idea of the non costed time you spend on your ebay business in an average week. Next decide what you think your time is worth $10, $20 or $50 an hour, this figure is entirely up to you and represents what you would expect to be paid for an hours work by someone else.

You can then work out how many items you sell a week on average. So your figures might look something like this. Average hours per week 6 at $20 an hour, average number of items sold per week 30. This would mean your time is worth $120 a week to you and if you sell 30 items it has cost you $4 of time per item.

So to work out your true profit on any item you need to add not only the cost of the item but also the other costs. eBay, the Paypal and shipping fees and your time costs. You will now be able to calculate what profit or lose you made on the sale. You should also include something to cover those "mistakes" that we all buy that disprove the theory that you can sell anything on eBay. After that you will be able to calculate the true profit that you are making from your ebay business.

I am not knocking eBay, quite the contrary; I think it is one of the best methods for anyone to build a successful online business. The point is that if you are to make real profits on eBay it is important to make sure that you use your time to best advantage. This can mean getting software to speed up some tasks and possibly reviewing how and where you buy the items you sell through eBay. 


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An Introduction To Bidding And Buying On Ebay

Have you noticed that whenever you open a newspaper, watch the TV or have a conversation, people seem to be talking about eBay? If you've never used it and you've no idea what it's all about, then the chances are that you're starting to feel a little left out. But don't worry! This email contains everything you need to know about the basics of bidding and buying on eBay.

So What is eBay?

eBay is an online auction website – and not just any auction site, but the biggest one in the world. If you know how an auction works, then you already know how roughly eBay works. Someone adds something they want to sell to the site, and then buyers come along and place bids on it. The highest bid wins the item! It's that simple.

eBay being an online auction makes a big difference, though. Buying and selling are not reserved for any elite. eBay accept almost any item, no matter how small, and will then advertise it on their sites all over the world. It's a powerful combination of an auction and a slightly chaotic marketplace.

What is Bidding?

Bidding is when you say how much you will pay for an item in an auction. Bidding on eBay, however, doesn't work in exactly the same way as a normal auction, at least in theory. On eBay, you tell the site what the maximum you are willing to pay for each item is, and then eBay places the bids on your behalf. That means you could say you were willing to pay up to $100 for something and only have to pay $50, if that was the highest maximum bid anyone else placed.

It's not as complicated as it sounds – the best way to get used to it is to give it a try. First, the best thing to do is to go to the eBay website designed for your country. If you don't know the address for it, just go to http://www.ebay.com and it will tell you there. Now, on the front page you should see a big box marked 'search': just type in anything that you'd like to buy there.

Wasn't that easy? Now you should have a list of items for sale in front of you, along with how much people are currently bidding for them and the time when bidding ends for each item. If you click one of these, you can read the description, and then – if you're happy with the item and happy to pay more than the current highest bidder is – you can bid!

How Do I Bid?

Go ahead and scroll down to the bottom of an item's description page, and type the maximum you are willing to pay (your maximum bid) into the box. Then simply press the 'place bid' button – you will need to sign in once you press the button, or go through a quick registration process if you don't have an eBay username).

If someone else's maximum bid on that item is higher than yours, then eBay will tell you and give you the opportunity to bid again. Otherwise, you're now the new highest bidder! All you need to do now is wait until the end of the auction – if someone else outbids you, then eBay will email you and you can bid again.

All sounds great, doesn't it? But by now you might be wondering whether a site as chaotic as eBay can really be all that safe to buy from. That's why the next email in this series will be about your rights when you buy from eBay. 

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