Photo weekly tip – Selling on Ebay

Just about all of us have sold items on ebay right? And just about all of us have parted with our item to sell at far less than what we thought it was worth right?  So how can you get a great price on ebay?

Sure you can add banners and bold bits but that all costs  $ and eats the fat from your sale price.

Now one thing I love about being a photographer – is when it comes to taking pics I should do a far better job than non photographers and thereby reap more dollars.

For example 18 months ago we replaced our  pool, the pool builder said “yep put the metal picket fence on ebay you might get a couple of hundred for it. And what did I get $1000 and Im certain the image did it all.

So here’s some tips:

1/ Packaging

Always keep the original packaging. Its nice to get your item in original condition and it shows your fastidious, plus use the packaging in the hero shot like in my Iphone Example. I sold this phone 24 months later on Ebay for $350. Not bad eh!

2/ Catalogues

Get some catalogues and check out the angles that the commercial photographers use to position the item. You do not need a fancy studio

3/ Plain background

Notice the simplicity of what space around the phone above. Keep the background simple and non cluttered. Makes the item look new.

4/ How many pics

Put yourself in the customers shoes.  Show the product in different angles. show all the items that come with it. If it has a manual include it.

5/ Honesty

Be honest about its condition and make questions you answer public

6/ Cropping

If you can crop the image so its nice and tight with unwanted space. My pic above had horrible distractions

7/ Saturation

If you are going to pump a bit more colour in the shot go subtle, you don’t want to be misleading

8/ Flash

Make sure you don’t get flash flare in the shot. Even try  shooting without flash in normal daylight. Often I set the product just on nice floorboards and get right down on your tummy to take the shot.

Now getting back to my old pool fence. I did spray paint it and putting a black fence against golden Autum leaves really set it off. Put a fence flat on the grass looks dead boring. Which leads me to my last point. Photograph the item in use if you can. This can evoke the emotion of ownership and that’s your end goal: ownership at a good price. So get out there photograph and sell. In fact my wife has a pair of black boots worn 3 times valued at over $200 new. Click here if you want to know more or join one of our workshops