Terrible, out of focus item pictures

[svrcek]

Is it just me, as a seller and buyer, appear that the sellers picture quality seem to be getting worse as the camera technolgy seems to be getting easier and better. Do the sellers actually look at their pictures before or after posting? Are they just lazy? And then they wonder why their items don't sell! Some pictures I have looked at are so out of focus that I have to look at the title again to be sure what the item is I'm looking at. That is so funny and makes me shake my head. And this is coming from long time sellers, not just newbies. My Dad use to say it usually takes the same amount of time and energy to do something the right way as it does to do it the wrong way. Just had to get this off my chest.

[winterwriter]

I've seen this a lot lately! I'm usually looking at books, examining the photos closely with the zoom tool. Sometimes the photos are so blurred you can't even read the title, let alone identify small flaws. Then there are the people who don't know how to rotate a photo, or crop out their naked veiny hairy feet...

[paulhua3]

Teapot!  Sometimes blur is a blessing!

[plumbingspecials]

That's because eBay invites ANYONE to sell here.

Does not matter if they have a clue how to do business and marketing, or not.

[a_c_green]

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@svrcek wrote:

Is it just me, as a seller and buyer, appear that the sellers picture quality seem to be getting worse as the camera technolgy seems to be getting easier and better. Do the sellers actually look at their pictures before or after posting? 

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On their teeny-tiny smartphone screen images, everything looks fine. It's only when the shaky hand-held smartphone image is enlarged on a decent monitor does the blurring become obvious, and you can forget all about zooming in to look at details.

I shoot all my listings with a tripod-mounted camera on a 2-second delay (in case I accidentally nudge the camera while pressing the button), and sharp focus is never an issue.

[sockmonkeydave]

@svrcek

I love sellers with bad pictures... it makes me look like a "Rockstar"  lol

Photography is by far the hardest part of selling online.

It is a true art, you can snap a selfie at the club, but knowing the ins and outs.

not so easy...

What gets me is the sellers who take pictures on their dirty floor... NO

[best_vintage_photos]

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@svrcek wrote:

Is it just me, as a seller and buyer, appear that the sellers picture quality seem to be getting worse as the camera technolgy seems to be getting easier and better. Do the sellers actually look at their pictures before or after posting? Are they just lazy? And then they wonder why their items don't sell! Some pictures I have looked at are so out of focus that I have to look at the title again to be sure what the item is I'm looking at. That is so funny and makes me shake my head. And this is coming from long time sellers, not just newbies. My Dad use to say it usually takes the same amount of time and energy to do something the right way as it does to do it the wrong way. Just had to get this off my chest.

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So when was the last time you had an eye exam?

Just kidding. lol

[campesinoplastic2014]

Photography is everything when you want to sell something, especially online. If you want to sell online you will need to put some work and a bit of money into your photography.  Most sellers have no clue and don't care. They are lazy. They dump out their merchandise onto an old newspaper without even cleaning it up, take one blurry photo with their phone and put two lines of text up, then wonder why they can't make any money.  Hopefully they are your competitors, they will drive buyers right to you!

[rolenboy01]

If you don't like it don't buy if you aren't buying their items why do you care what their photos look like?

[mistwomandancing · Accepted solution]

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winterwriter wrote:

Then there are the people who don't know how to rotate a photo, or crop out their naked veiny hairy feet...

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The ones that GAK me out are photos of somebody holding the item in their chapped hands, nasty cuticles, dirty unkempt nails.  That and using their own hands to be the *hand model* for rings.  People, close-ups of hands and knuckle wrinkles is NOT pretty. 

[tunicaslot]

As someone who occasionally has blurry pictures I admit - many times it is not noticable in the viewer screen. They look fine when uploading and editing - but if you go into a listing and zoom in - yes there are times the photos may be blurry. I try to keep up with retaking photos for such items - but sometimes it may not be noticed until you go to relist it.

[muttlymob]

I don't think it is any worse now than since the days when eBay first had pictures in listings.

Some of the worst pics I remember are from early days.

A picture of a thing on an unmade bed.  With someone still in the bed.

A picture of a thing on a toilet.  Something that has no business being in a bathroom.  Not sure why but toilets and washer/dryers seem to be popular photo studios for some eBaysellers.

The blurry, dark pics have been here since the start too, maybe just more noticeable now with the zoom features.

[johnfduda]

I learned recently, in the thread about yellow lines in photographs, that a lot of buyers skip over listings with good photos. They assume that the people who can take a good picture are drop shippers. I kid you not!!!

I think Adobe should make a filter for these folks. I call it the loser filter.

[muttlymob]

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@johnfduda wrote:

I learned recently, in the thread about yellow lines in photographs, that a lot of buyers skip over listings with good photos. They assume that the people who can take a good picture are drop shippers. I kid you not!!!

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I would change that to "some" buyers skip over listings with good photos.

And maybe not even as many as claim to here on discussion boards.

In the past there have been times on the seller board where some posters have seemed to intentionally give bad advice, to sabotage other sellers.  One poster says it, others naively assume if a longtime poster says so it must be true.  It gets repeated enough that it becomes unquestioned wisdom.  By some.

I don't think it happens as much now as when the boards were much more cliquey.  But in my opinion this idea of photos being too good fits the pattern of intentional bad advice. 

[sockmonkeydave]

@johnfduda

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@johnfduda wrote:

I learned recently, in the thread about yellow lines in photographs, that a lot of buyers skip over listings with good photos. They assume that the people who can take a good picture are drop shippers. I kid you not!!!

I think Adobe should make a filter for these folks. I call it the loser filter.

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But that thread was about lighting problems, not stock photos.

You can have the best camera in the world, but if the lighting is off....

Then you have color shift.

I could talk photography all day long...

I got a Nikon camera, I love to take photographs...