Do the quality of photos really matter (or matter enough based on time vs return)
Iv'e been pondering this subject for a long time. I sell mostly clothing, and when I review other sellers numbers and sell through rates, the quality of photos seems to matter less and less. Most sellers are now doing flat lay photos on gray or off white carpet. The pictures are often quite poor, but good enough to give a general idea of what your'e buying. Many of these sellers still get top dollar for their items, with a good sell through rate. It appears to me, that Ebay values greatly people who list lots of items daily and does not give any bonus points for good photos. I may give this method a try, even though it goes against my nature. After all we are all here to make money. What are your thoughts.
21 comments
pls-consignments
·1 year agoAI is the chief rewarder of well constructed listings. However, believe it or not, it does have it's limits. Yes, it can identify objects (sometimes incorrectly), but it cannot judge or form an opinion on what qualifies as a "visibly appealing" item photograph to the human eye. Therefore, titles, item specifics and accuracy is what it rewards.
stuff4divas
·1 year ago@goldrushfinds @kickin.assets @simply-the-best-for-you @chapeau-noir
I have box loads of new clothing that I've been putting off for years to list bc of the photos and measurements issues. Just seems so time consuming, like listing handbags.
I'm pretty **bleep**, so it would be impossible for me to post blurry or terrible photos, but now thinking of what you posted, I may go ahead and just get started by laying the clothing items on a flat surface with tape measures next to them.
Thanx for the suggestions my ladies!
simply-the-best-for-you
·1 year ago@stuff4divas Haha, I know exactly what word you used there. I've used it to describe myself many times & was surprised when I got bleeped for using it.
chapeau-noir
·1 year agoIt's just a matter of practice - you'll be wizzing those listings out in no time! Showing the tape measure on the item on your second photo (with the gallery just being the item) would be best (just an observation from someone who is also a shopper). That puts everything front and center - item in the gallery, measurements in the second photo. Since I can't do flat lays, really (no room), I have a graphic I use - I plonk the measurements onto that and upload it into the photos.
Also, I envy all of your inventory - it's a real struggle to find it where I live.
goldrushfinds
OP1 year agoThank you all for your well thought out replies. It gives me a good overall perspective of the relative importance of photos to a listing. Best of luck to you all in your selling ventures.
johnrj1226
·1 year agoFood for thought a shopper cant touch or feel the prod. What would make a shopper want to stop and learn more details and views of your item(s) A not so good pic the buyer just might want to do the walk on buy. And it can send a signal of what type a seller they might be. Me thinks the picture will. Do firmly believe in these two idioms 1) "always put you best foot forward" 2) "a first impression is a lasting impression". Buyer have very different reasons why the buy and there are billions of different people on this planet. Your call.
To get a bit off base in my career in selling the boss man or lady would ask me "why did you lose that order" and the prospect would answer your price was too high. But when I was awarded an order would also ask why did receive the order - amazingly price was the 4 or 5 th reason give. Learned a lot more use full information to sharpen my skills
redlinear
·1 year agoI think photo's are the most important part. More important now days than ever before.
People do read listings, but most of the time, you would swear nobody reads anything.
They just look at the pictures.
THAT being said, AND due to eBay adding things like item specifics which Considerably slows down the time it takes to create listings? Many sellers cut as many corners as they can to decrease the time it takes to create listings.
It's simply Quantity over Quality
kickin.assets
·1 year ago@simply-the-best-for-you
Did you know Abercrombie is trending?
Definitely not saying to take horrible photos. I’m saying, especially for us “type A†personalities, don’t be so hard on ourselves if things aren’t “perfectâ€. OP has great listings as do you!
Nice photos should be a priority and as stated earlier, it’s a first impression, and so many buyers don’t read descriptions. Things should look nice, be clean, and be as accurate as possible with color, etc. If I’m looking to buy and the seller looks like they don’t care, I move on.
Believe OP is just tossing around the option to maybe list more, with less than perfect photos OR list less with immaculate pics?
chapeau-noir
·1 year agoBelieve OP is just tossing around the option to maybe list more, with less than perfect photos OR list less with immaculate pics?
Yes - all of this is a matter of degrees - there's no switch from "great" to "awful", and "good enough" can be subjective. One can get through quite a few 'good enough' photos and they *will* be good enough.
Decent photos has been an ongoing battle with me due to lack of places to photo in our dark climate living in the woods. Back deck, patio, kitchen, dining room, living room, hallway - I've been everywhere in my quest and finally, when we finished the skylights in the living room, I claimed a corner just about under them, crammed between a couch end and an easy chair. I think that was 90% of the battle lol. I sell a lot of kimono and that takes some finagling.
simply-the-best-for-you
·1 year ago@kickin.assets Thank you for the compliment & yes, type A's recognize type A's LOL. I know in my gut I shouldn't be such a perfectionist, but I'm old & that's not gonna change LOL. I know sellers who believe in 'good enough', but I just can't get with that thought process, esp not for pics. I'd go with 'good enough' sooner on descriptions, before pictures. Just my opinion.
Abercrombie has also sold well, as have the other brands I mentioned, I wasn't denigrating the brands, they just tend to get a much lower price point than I'm willing to spend time on, but everyone has different business models. My point was if you sell at a lower ASP, it may make sense to not be so focused on the highest quality pics. I love your ID BTW 🙂
kickin.assets
·1 year agoThank you! â˜ºï¸ Thought the name worked well with what I’m selling. 😉
aristocratsandgypsies
·1 year agoHi,
I would not go down the couldn't-care-less rubbishy photos route as a seller, regular experienced buyers will often walk away from items with poor photos, unless like myself buyers havce learned that poor photos can hide diamonds in the dust regards rare items whereby the seller has little knowledge ")
Regular buyers have learned that very often these sellers simply can not be trusted, I regularly walk away now from any listing with bad photos because I find that time after time, poor photos equates to poor selling integrity or downright false creative license regards describing an item.
I have had to go into battle with a few sellers recently (& this is a growing phenomena for me), for items not as described, or goods simply never arriving, not one of these sellers took good photos.
simply-the-best-for-you
·1 year agoEverything is a trade-off time wise. Personally, I would never sacrifice good photos for anything else. It's the #1 thing that grabs buyers attn when we're talking clothes & often they don't read the description & only look at the pics.
I have not seen too many high dollar sellers who throw up lousy pics. I see a LOT of lousy pics, but it's your typical Abercrombie, H&M, Aeropostale $8-12 sellers. Those aren't my competition. My competition is @chapeau-noir LOL, she takes great pics & I need to keep up. In all seriousness, my personality does not let me do average, so it's a non-issue for me, I will keep doing what I'm doing but my ASP is way higher than the $8 Abercrombie sellers. I am confident I wouldn't get the sales without excellent pics. If I had to find extra time somewhere & tbh, I do, it's not going to be the photos. Although I did not look at @goldrushfinds items, if they sell $10 items, they can probably get away with it.
pickapaper
·1 year agoIt irritates me when some sellers use stock photos of a pre-owned garment, taken from the manufacturer's website or a store's website. I know they want to show what a garment looks like in a professional manner, but I'd rather see it from the seller's own photos.
I am not good at photography and I don't have a good place to photograph things. It's something I fight constantly so I can sympathize with other "poor photographers".
kickin.assets
·1 year ago@goldrushfinds
As a clothing seller myself, it’s been an ongoing joke around here that not only does ugly sell, but terribly photographed items as well. 😂
My photographer recently retired and I’m now on my own. Really loving it, but photos were (and sometimes still are) a bit of a struggle. Even with a dedicated photo room, things don’t always look “rightâ€. That being said, don’t you know that some of my first and worst photographed items, sold quickly?!? I finally let go of “picture perfection†(it wasn’t easy) but I’ve never felt better and I’m certainly more productive.
So the best advice that I can give, is don’t overthink it. Sellers who list often, bad photos or not, are naturally going to sell more because they’re putting more out there. If you get too nit picky over photos, you’re leaving money on the table.
Happy Sales â¤ï¸ Kiks
lux.ra_14
·1 year agoI would say quality matters, but I see a surprising number of successful sellers who have terrible pictures.
It's a mystery to me, especially when the description that goes with the lousy pictures just says something like, "See pics. What you see is what you get."
chevymontecarlo88
·1 year agoAgreed. 👆
@goldrushfinds
You get to make a first impression once. Do it right.
chapeau-noir
·1 year agoI think a lot depends on your market and, as a clothing seller, the style of what you sell. If I have T-shirts, pants and say bike jerseys, I just hang them on a nail on the wall (I rarely do flat lays - nowhere to do them). If I'm selling draping items, kimono, lagenlook, silks, etc., I use a mannequin because they display better. Some men's items I'll use my male half-hollow.
It comes down to what presents the item best. I always take out backgrounds - I actually have nowhere to photo which has a decent background (have to move furniture to get into my little photo corner) - no one needs to see trailing wires and my ugly 70s carpet.
So my advice is look at what you sell - how can you show it most accurately? I tend not to care a lot about what others do unless they have a cool idea to try, I just do what I think is best presentation.
ETA: Time efficiency is mixed up in this, but I'm a fast photo taker and am used to dressing and undressing a mannequin, so practice helps.
goldrushfinds
OP1 year agoI can take really good photos, but ususally I have to do some post photo editing with regards to color and sometimes exposure. It all takes quite a lot of time. I see most clothing sellers now just inserting the photos in the listing with obviously no editing at all. If the photos are blurred, yellowed tilted or whatever, they just plow on through. The thing is, I don't see much of a difference in the end result (that being quantity of sales and price). I think I am going to have to loosen my standards and reserve being fussy for only high priced items.
chapeau-noir
·1 year agoI totally understand wanting to save time but think it's a bad idea to sacrifice colour correction for speed. It's important insofar as accuracy goes, and people cannot see this stuff in person. Maybe there are ways to be more efficient with doing that, but still achieve accuracy?
wastingtime101
·1 year agoIf you try it, come back and let us know if it impacts not just your sell through rate, but also your return rate.