Using a background remover for photos

[goldrushfinds]

Do you use a background remover for your photos? Is it worth  the added time? Looked at PhotoRoom but always based on an app and using your phone. I DON'T WANT TO DO ALL MY WORK ON A TINY STUPID PHONE (so there!). I guess I am a throwback, but I just hate the ergonomics of doing many listings on a tiny phone vs my desktop with a true keyboard and large screen (OK, I vented). 

[divwido]

It's so much easier to buy a yard of white fabric and throw it over a box, than it  is to cleanly remove backgrounds.  But no, I think picture cropping is too much work.  Make it lighter, make it darker, that's about as far as I go.

I can make any background white, so why bother?

[monroe67]

Most of the things sold by my Selling ID are small enough to fit on a small tabletop with a white polyester linen-weave tablecloth covering it, and I am careful to keep extraneous things out of the pictures.  

I take my photos now on my cell phone, since my Nikon Coolpix fell off a fence about 4 months ago and was destroyed.   I also, like the OP, do all my eBay listing, selling, buying, and posting at my desktop computer with a separate keyboard.   I can't imagine trying to do all of that on my cell phone.   I don't even like to look at my active listings on my cell phone, but I do from time to time.  

[chapeau-noir]

Backgrounds for selling smaller items is a lot easier than using a full mannequin or trying to get photos of a bicycle (I sell both) - a light box or some cloth really is just the easiest, quickest option for smalls.  Clothing is a whole different animal because one gets into colour, etc.  The bikes I bring outside where I have trees as a background, which I like.

IMHO, it really comes down to one's own lighting resources, background, what one is selling, preferences, etc.  There's no way anyone is going to think my photos are stock and I don't think I sell anything that eBay is going to want for its catalog (I mostly just have leftovers running now, anyway).

[gwenscupboard]

That's why I said, "I START the listing on my phone (taking pictures on my phone is the only way I have to upload them) and save as a draft, then go to computer to finish the listing."

[valueaddedresource]

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

eBay has a background removal tool. It's definitely on the app. I thought eBay added it to desktop, too- but I'm not seeing it on the advanced/business listing form.

Does anybody know if it's available on the quick listing tool or on that abomination they call the unified listing tool? @valueaddedresource maybe?

I do all my editing with photo software so I haven't kept up with eBay tools like the background eraser.

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Thanks for the tag @coffeebean832  - it is available on desktop but unfortunately yes you do have to use the unified listing tool.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Unified-Listing-Experience-Image-Clean-Up-Tool/m-p/31744309 

[valueaddedresource]

That thread I linked to was when the unified listing tool first came out, but just in case it's not still exactly the same, when you select a picture to upload, under edit photo the background removal tool is this icon on the right.

[dhbookds]

I'm old........I've always hated the "picture/icon" basis for windows as I can't figure out what the pictures mean.......  I would NEVER have guessed that little picture at the bottom right was to edit remove/background...

[jayjaspersgarage]

I ran my store for the first eight years without a smarty-pants phone.  Over the past three years I have never once looked up or logged into ebay using my semi-smart phone.  I like the Samsung 24" curved screen I picked up five years ago.   

[goldrushfinds]

I took a quick look at your listings and saw the one for the Blue Dolphin Restaurant in SL and knew right away you were local. I see you are located in Castro Valley. Grew up there and lived there for about 35 years. Went to CV High. I still love and miss Castro Valley dearly. Lived on Seven Hills Rd, Almond Rd and Somerset. God I miss that place. 

[m60driver]

I only use my desktop to post listings.  I use Gimp, a free photo editor.  It has a function under "colors" called "levels" that does a decent job of creating a white background.  It is not as remarkable as the PhotoRoom app but it is good enough for me and the price is right.

[coolections]

Why venting about a phone if you like using the desktop use it.

[chapeau-noir]

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@coolections wrote:

Why venting about a phone if you like using the desktop use it.

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Because the background remover is only in the mobile app. (unless you want to use the unified listing tool)

[evry1nositswindy]

I can't tell you how many times I see people at auction taking pictures and listing the item with their phone while at the auction.  I would think that is risky.  I want to take it home, look at it closely, describe it properly, weigh it, and make sure I have a box for it.  I'm old school too!

[albertabrightalberta]

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@coffeebean832 wrote:

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@albertabrightalberta wrote:

I also don't allow my images to be used in ebay's catalog so they aren't free for the taking.

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I'm sorry to be the one to burst your bubble- but eBay took away that option several years ago. The current policy can be found here-

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-policies/images-text-policy?id=4240 

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Nah, my bubble was burst some time ago. (I still dispute that ebay has the right to sign off my IP rights but I handle it another way.)

If images are stolen from ebay, ebay turns a blind eye. But if there's a VeRO/DMCA report that pictures came from another site, they handle it. 

I sell on another site too so when I find stolen pictures, I show that the source of the picture came from my listing on the other site. 

And within a day or 2, the infringing listing is gone.

[jayjaspersgarage]

"I took a quick look at your listings and saw the one for the Blue Dolphin Restaurant in SL "

Well, that's what my ebay profile says.  I don't live in C.V. but in a much nicer town a little bit closer to Mount Diablo.  Castro Valley has been struggling with its proximity to Oakland for a long time, which is unfortunate.

You might not be happy with the local bus stop residents up and down the boulevard these days.  It's a 24/7 nightmare.