eBay picture taking equipment

TAKE GREAT PICTURES FOR eBay ~ PHOTO TAKING EQUIPMENT


ended - Friday, April 4, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $85.00

Final selling price: $88.95 (Buy It Now)


Up for sale in this eBay auction is some equipment to help take better, more professional pictures for online auctions. This includes a camera stand, two external lights, and an "item box".

The title that the seller is using is interesting, but it would still benefit from adding another key word or two. "pictures" and "photo" are fine, but the seller could still mention "digital camera" or just "camera" even though a camera is not included in this auction. A camera is required to use the equipment, so it's valid mentioning it in the title to help with the search engine results.

The item's description is neat, orderly, and easy to read, as you would expect from an eBay PowerSeller. Each item is described by itself, and the different colors give this auction flair. It's the seller's personal comments where I have my problems.

"Increase your sales, and your dollar amounts by taking better pictures - gair-on-teed!"

So if I write crappy titles, have horrible descriptions, and set unreasonable starting bids and shipping costs, I'll still increase my sales and dollar amounts by taking pictures with this equipment? If so, can I have that "gair-on-tee" in writing?

"Lighting is one of the main keys to success - background is the other. This unit provides professional results with minimal effort!"

Not exactly.

One of the real keys to success is to be able to find and capture the best angle(s). By the usage of forced perspective you can make items look larger than life and more exciting than just by using standard angles. Being able to properly present the item in the picture is more important than the lighting or background.

Check out more photography tips here.

"This unit will become a useful tool for all your auctions or online endeavors."

It probably is useful, but not if you are trying to sell items larger than 16x16x16 inches. Anything roughly larger than a pair of shoes (excluding the box) will need to be photographed some other way.

If such a tool is so powerful and critical for selling anything on eBay, I wonder how the seller managed to get a picture of the display model for this auction. When opened and spread apart, the entire display and additional lights and tripod is certainly a lot larger than 16x16x16 inches.

On a side note, the seller should mention that the camera in the picture is not included in this auction. Buyers can and will legally complain and demand a full refund if they don't receive a camera with the rest of the items. The same is true for the car in the picture.

Any time you include extra items in the picture and they are not included in the auction, you need to make it clear in the description that it's not included. It's considered fraud if you don't.

"Place your bid now before you forget, then set it on auto pilot until auction end - then check back to be sure you win t.he item."

A) Why place a bid and go through that process when the Buy It Now is only $4 more?

B) I'm sure other sellers would also like you to immediately place a bid before doing any external research.

C) Nice grammar.

Along with the seller's over-hyping of the photo equipment and the fact that not even a basic (a.k.a. cheap) digital camera is not included, I'll be very surprised if anybody places a bid for this auction. $85 + $14.95 is a lot of money considering you still need a camera and know how to take good pictures and write auction titles and descriptions that market and sell the item.

I gave this auction a low score because of not providing a disclaimer about the camera and car (very important) and for over-hyping the ability of this equipment. Just by using it you will not instantly become the next PowerSeller and make a fortune selling items on eBay. This is also overpriced considering its size limitations and lack of camera.