Store/ID Avatar ~ Real Picture??

[katzrul15]

See many Sellers, even long- timers,  changing up their Store/Selling IDs to be their "real" picture. 

Think this helps Sellers connect to a potential Buyer?  Personalizes your offerrings?  Helps if using social media to connect to e-Bay to sell your wares?

[mtgraves7984]

I see absolutely no benefit from that, even if you're a real 'looker'. Curious now to see what others think...

[coastaltechsolution]

If I put a real picture up I would scare away buyers 😁

[mtgraves7984]

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@coastaltechsolution wrote:

If I put a real picture up I would scare away buyers 😁

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🤣

[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Are you talking about the little square seller logo on store listings? Or the icons on the Community Pages?

If sellers are changing their store logos, I'd guess:

1. ebay recently announced changes to editing stores, and so some sellers may have decided to make a change now.

2. Maybe one of the ebay "gurus" suggested it recently. 

3. I'd guess it actually isn't a bad idea, as buyers do like to know who they are dealing with, especially when dealing with small sellers. It's one of the advantages small sellers have over large sellers....the ability to make the transaction more "personal" (Of course, not all small sellers WANT to make it more personal.) 

As I understand it, the ebay stores team is working on making other changes to allow sellers to "tell their story" (and brand themselves better).  Older sellers will remember when the "About Me" page was designed to do that, but unfortunately, under Donahoe and Wenig, the emphasis shifted to more uniform listings, and much less emphasis on individual stores. (it is only since the new CEO came on that stores as stores now appear on Mobile). It seems the pendulum is slowly swinging back to the old days, back before ebay tried to make the site into one enormous, undifferentiated retail site....hopefully we're headed back to the days when ebay was more like a downtown, with lots of individual shops, not just a giant big box store.

Time will tell.

[coastaltechsolution]

@mtgraves7984 

OK? how did you get a picture of me? 🤣

[maxine*j]

I always associate personal pictures like that with realtors who feel they must "sell themselves" before they can sell me a house.  They work hard to be a "brand," and they put their blinkin' pictures on their business cards, letterheard, promotional give-aways, billboards, the lawn "for sale" signs, et cetera.   They actually think that I am so dimwitted that I will be taken in by their fetching faces and think they are working for me, instead of for their actual client, who is the person whose house is for sale.

Others, like car salesmen and those who practice cosmetic dentistry, do it also, but not to the well-nigh obsessive extent that realtors do.

So, as for me?  I guess it's obvious that it annoys heck out of me.   😬

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[my-cottage-books-and-antiques]

Oh, and yes, I suspect you are right that at least some people are doing it because it ties in with social media. Buyers often like to know who they are dealing with...people like to put a face with a name, as they say...and this is especially true on social media. And with more and more people doing videos  (short and long) to promote their online businesses, well, if you are going to put your face out there on video, you might as well use it as your icon too. 

But, as several posters have already demonstrated, not every small seller wants to do that. But a lot of people are comfortable doing it these days. Fortunately, it isn't mandatory, so each seller can decide whether or not to do it....

[katzrul15]

I am like coastal....I do not think my "real" picture (might not even be someone's real pix, lol) is probably  what I wish to "project" to a potential "buyer".

For the one selling ID, years ago, we paid quite a bit to have all our "logos" and branding created.  I will admit, that was probably 10 years ago we updated all that - maybe a little bit more.  But it also "matches" what we have on other sites, etc.

I am not a "big" ginormous seller, but not teensy tiny either.  Is it wrong to not want a "buyer" to know I am a Mom & Pop deal?  On Amazon - buyers think they are buying from Amazon or backed 1000% by Amazon.  They do not "care" What-the-Hey your store front is called.  On e-Bay, I want each buyer to correlate they are buying from a "business", which they are.

Not wanting to offend anyone at all - but when I see a store (not a posting avatar) avatar that is a "real" picture, I associate it with social media, one and done, etc.  To me it comes off as a negative.  

Was afraid because I am in the 55-59 demographic and not well versed in social media, that I am missing out on "connecting"?? 

[downunder-61]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

See many Sellers, even long- timers,  changing up their Store/Selling IDs to be their "real" picture. 

Think this helps Sellers connect to a potential Buyer?  Personalizes your offerrings?  Helps if using social media to connect to e-Bay to sell your wares?

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On my selling id I use my company Logo (I only use my personal picture on this id 😋)

[downunder-61]

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@coastaltechsolution wrote:

@mtgraves7984 

OK? how did you get a picture of me? 🤣

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Social media ??

[inhawaii]

I don't see anything wrong with that ..... unless you look really creepy.    😉

[coastaltechsolution]

@inhawaii 

Creepy is in the eyes of the beholder 😂

[katzrul15]

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@downunder-61 wrote:

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@katzrul15 wrote:

See many Sellers, even long- timers,  changing up their Store/Selling IDs to be their "real" picture. 

Think this helps Sellers connect to a potential Buyer?  Personalizes your offerrings?  Helps if using social media to connect to e-Bay to sell your wares?

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On my selling id I use my company Logo (I only use my personal picture on this id 😋)

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😃😎  (Mitoo.  I am in the one in the necktie)

[maxine*j]

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@coastaltechsolution wrote:

@inhawaii 

Creepy is in the eyes of the beholder 😂

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It surely is.  And more than once I've seen a picture of someone who obviosuly thinks s/he looks mighty fine but who looks creepy to me.  Another reason, perhaps, to avoid using a personal photo for a business. 

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