Take Auction Listing Photos Like a Pro

The #1 reason that potential buyers pass by a great listing is poor photo quality. It’s time to change that. If you want to make your auctions sizzle, let’s learn how to make, take and edit great photos.

Make it count. First, how to make a great photo: clean background, lots of light, and please, for the love of eBay, no blurry photos. Here’s a secret for a professional-looking background: buy a “beading mat” for just a few dollars (you can find one on eBay!). These are velvet-like mats that are used by jewelry makers to stop beads from rolling all over the place. These mats also make perfect backgrounds for photos of small items. Use a lint brush to keep them pristine. If you have a bigger item, you can use a large piece of cloth material, but keep it monotone and if necessary, iron it! I cannot even begin to count the number of auctions I have passed by because the items were photographed on wrinkled sheets (only cute if you are putting a kitten up for adoption and not on eBay) or wooden floors (hello: student desperate for money!).

Take a good photo. The best light is outdoor light. Even if you live in rainy Seattle or the sometimes-gray New England, there are usually a few hours each week of morning sunshine. Put everything that you are planning to sell in a box, and once the sun comes out, get snapping! If outdoor sunshine is impossible, try a full-spectrum light bulb to bring out the colors in the items that you are selling.

And now, for editing: there are many types of editing software available. I’ve always wanted to learn about Photoshop (especially for my online dating photo!) but it’s just too expensive for my taste. I can highly recommend FREE photo editing software from Irfanview. Yep, the name is a little tricky, but the software is a breeze. You can download it here!

Take a little time to edit your photos, and make sure that their size is reasonable enough to store on free or low-cost hosts. Yes, it’s a lot of fun to change color ranges but do make sure that what you post on eBay is a near-perfect reflection on the real deal – the item that you are selling.

For me, photos are the hardest part of selling on eBay. I’ve earned a little bit of confidence with Irfanview; it’s free; it’s fun, and you will definitely see results in your sales.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Irfanview is worth a million!