booksellers: listings with no photo
When considering what to list do you disregard listings from [Removed by Moderator] with their lack of photos or treat them as just any form of competition? I wonder if I asked this already. I am still puzzling about it.
22 comments
simba6
·4 months agoIf the price is good , I will purchase. I do agree a photo will help sales. It does add a lot of work for high volume sellers however.
oldwestcoins
·4 months agoIf not against eBay policy, which this is not(I believe), why worry about it? You will always have competition and issues with how others sell. They are free to do what they prefer. eBay would have shut them down if they had a problem with how they list.
I get people trying to tell me how to list and sell periodically. I tell them to stay in their lane, then block them.
tobaccocardyahoo
·4 months agoIf Thriftbooks is offering a book, it is highly unlikely that I would ever find out, because I would probably not even considered listing it.
Most of what they offer is common and priced accordingly.
Once upon a time, I spent a week scanning UPCs and ISBNs on books. It was a total waste of time because none of the books I scanned met my criteria for listing. Thriftbooks offered many of the titles I rejected.
Some books I sell get just a cover scan, but also get a detailed condition description. Some books I sell are unlikely to be keepers and can get buy with a cursory condition description. Some books appeal to collectors and get "the works". Needless to say, the books that get "the works" are priced at a price that justifies the labor.
I have found that the mega-booksellers like Thrift, under-grade. There are books that have been remaindered that I want for my personal collection and Thrift is a reliable supplier and prices them attractively.
powell-collectibles
·4 months agoOut of the ~300 books I have to sell - stuff I've been delaying b/c there is so little money in it - I maybe have five that are worth selling on their own. The rest I will have to bundle. Actually, some I will just donate or junk. That gigantic New York Times cartoon book is CHEAP on eBay and take a lot of $ to ship.
keziak
OP4 months agoI got a "friendly PM" about not referring to a seller by name.
powell-collectibles
·4 months agoWow - surprised that was reported and/or censored. You weren't being vindictive - just using an example of a mega-seller that doesn't use product photos. Using that seller name furthered the conversation.
keziak
OP4 months agoI guess by "friendly" it meant be glad it wasn't "unfriendly suspension, have a nice day"
adamcartwright
·4 months ago@keziak
I have found Thriftbooks to be a strong seller, in terms of underpromising and over delivering, so for that one I wouldn't mind if there were no photo.
As to the others, I would want a photo. I've had some bad experiences with other major booksellers here.
soh.maryl
·4 months agoAm puzzled as to why you'd concern yourself with how other sellers list their items?
How could/would you treat them any differently?
chapeau-noir
·4 months agoOne should always, always keep an eye on competition and learn from what they do or don't do.
meme6253
·4 months agoI don't care for sellers not using photos or using stock photos, However anyone selling here should still be considered as competition regardless of their poor judgement.
kibble-net
·4 months agoOnce upon a time, no photos was fine for pretty much anything on here. I remember selling Magic The Gathering cards listing the title and condition only. This was the norm back in 1999. In 2026 though? Not so much.
In the early 2000s, the digital camera became affordable for most. A few years later, mobile phones evolved giving every ebay seller a camera right in their pocket.
In 2026, there is simply no excuse other than laziness when you have a camera right in your pocket.
keziak
OP4 months agoWe small sellers have no choice, it's either include a photo or hit the road Jack. In a number of ways the mega sellers play by different rules. I would never buy from them a book I want in really good condition. I do occasionally buy the cheapest book on either ebay or Amazon and don't care how thrashed short of falling into pieces. I like to think the books I list will find a buyer wanting a good condition but I may well be wrong most of the time such as lately.
oldwestcoins
·4 months agoIt's that way in several categories. Coins, for example. Large sellers can show a stock photo of a $10 Indian and get away with saying you will receive one similar. Then their FB shows people complaining that they didn't receive the one pictured. eBay doesn't care.
ncamericana
·4 months agoI always include actual photos of the book when I list one. I also am sure to include a statement that the photos are of the actual item for sale and not stock photos. I would not buy a book without actual photos unless it was a cheap paperback to read and discard.
books_n_more
·4 months agoAs chapeau-noir pointed out, it is all relative. If the book has genuine collector appeal (and that does include some vintage weird mass market paperbacks, a field growing in popularity) then good photos are a must especially if you hope to get a decent price. Also, if they are missing out on some excellent keywords or desirable illustrators, it may still be worth giving it a go even if there are several copies (but maybe not dozens) already listed.
chapeau-noir
·4 months agoDepends on the book, I guess. A lot of mass market paperbacks aren't worth the bother, but for anything you want actual money for, I'd do price comparisons with sellers who actually have photos, because that's liable to be what your buyers will do. The last time I purchased a non-mass market paperback (trade PB) from a big seller with only a stock photo - it was in really bad shape. I would have seen that in a photo.
squinkercat59
·4 months agoI don't like listings that show stock photos. No photo at all is even worse, especially from the big sellers that are either too lazy to put in a photo, or are hiding damage. Many of those big sellers have hundreds of negatives in the past 30 days (!) due to damage, ex-library book, pages missing, highlighting, etc. If I am looking for a certain book I will buy from someone with good feedback that shows the exact item, and pay a little more for something I know is in good condition.
keziak
OP4 months agoWonder why they aren't kicked off, ebay likes their fees?
nyr134
·4 months agoThe seller you mentioned has more than 3,000 negative feedback in the past year - an absurd number of unsatisfactory transactions - but it has more than 20,000,000 items (books) sold over the years.
So, yes, that's a lot of fees being paid.
dhbookds
·4 months ago3000 out of over 900,000 or 3 for every 900 sales...... Actually, it's less than that since ebay has only left auto feedback for part of the year..............
jonathanbrightlight
·4 months agoI recognize that buyers may prefer listings with photos, but will still be taking their prices into account when making decisions. There's not a single, simple answer to that question.