Who else has every sold something on eBay?

I won't try to convince you, but the secret is a neutral matte background, and good light.

if I can do it, any idjit can...

With small things like that though you do need a good camera. I'm a decent photographer (not great, but decent), and I recently got a hand-me-down good camera -- I could MAYBE take pictures approaching the quality of what Chai posted with my new camera, but no way could I have with any of my old cameras.

I buy things on eBay occasionally and shop there more often, they do have website photos sometimes, often with a note saying "I got this picture from the website, it's not an actual photo I took of this thing I'm selling but it is exactly like it." Sometimes they will have both, a website photo and an amateur photo showing that it's in one piece or the right color or whatever.

edit: but do you have a scanner, Chai? That's how I'd get images of small things like jewelry before I had a decent camera for it.

rocky and soz, not getting what the advantage is.

lessee....

right click on image, save as, put in folder.

vs.

setting up neutral background, getting proper lighting in proper places around the shooting area, placing item, screwing around with item to get it the way you want, failing, screwing around some more, adjusting the lighting to where it looks good on the item now that I've screwed around with it, take picture, download onto computer, save as, put in folder.

I'll bet I can make a decent beef wellington if I went to the store, bought all the ingredients, chose a receipe, cooked it all up, and cleaned up afterwards. Or, I could go to a restaurant and get it already done.

Seriously, is there some kind of advantage to taking a marginally ok picture vs using one that already shows the product to its best advantage?

These aren't going to be used items, but items I chose based on that same image.

If I liked taking pictures, I'd be a photographer, not a captain of industry.

Not sure what you mean. what do you scan?

The item.

Instead of taking a picture of a necklace with a camera, put the necklace in the scanner and scan it. Then use that image.

(By the way, my post above was agreeing with you.)

The advantage to taking your own photos is you will never be accused of bait and switch and you will never be sued over the copyright properties of an image.

I think Soz is suggesting you literally scan a piece of jewelry and make it into a jpeg. I don't think the quality would do anything justice.

Then no, I don't have a scanner like that.

Thanks for agreeing.

Ok, educate me. How does a scanner take an image of a 3 dimensional object?
oh wait, maybe I don't want to know.

The only think I've ever used a scanner for is to scan an actual document, a piece of paper.

Here's an example of one I did with a scanner:



Not great but better than what I could do with a camera.

You just pick up the lid, place the objects, put the lid down carefully, and scan.

Obviously smaller and flatter is better. Really only have it in mind for small jewelry, not the bracelet for example.

Well!
I learned something new.

just realized I gave my scanner to someone.

I stand corrected.

wow soz, you opened a new world for me here.

I just found this link, which shows 3d objects that have been scanned.

veddy interesting. something to think about.

I could maybe go to a kinkos and see how this works.

http://www.abstractconcreteworks.com/essays/scanning/3d-scans.html

I sold on ebay for a couple of years back around 2004- 2005. Found a niche and did well until others figured it out.

I started going to estate sales recently. Bought a set of china. Just sold one piece of it tonight for what I paid for the whole set. (109 pieces) Still have 101 pieces to sell.

Getting back into the shipping thing and the apparent number of buyers that keep items and file a claim to get their money back is scary. So is the way ebay now does the feedback. Not as fun as it was before when I could start something at $ .99 and get lots of bids. Now I have to start just below what I paid if I want it to sell for a profit.

I'm also listing on eBid and Bonanza. I get in the Google results within hours there, while never showing up on Google with my ebay listings. Evidently Etsy is another good site for handmade, artsy stuff and vintage items.

Oh, and on the shipping... I don't seem to be able to print shipping from Paypal. Paypal doesn't like Chrome. So, I set up a USPS account and after I print the label USPS asks if I would like to schedule a pick-up.

Heck Yeah!! Send the mailman to my door to get my packages. It's too cold out there for me!

Not sure everyone has that option, but I'm glad I do, especially at Christmas time.

bumping this thread.

Well, it's been a few years since this thread started, and I've learned quite a bit, and had a lot of fun.

I've completely gotten away from auctions, and just straight sell my items. Something I never thought I'd do. But, I created a spreadsheet that helped me figure what kind of profit margin I'd be showing selling at a particular price, and I use it to this day. I know what kind of percentage I want, so know what price to pay for something, and what I'd have to sell it for.
Plus, I watch what others are selling the same item for.

One thing I learned is not to stay stagnant. Like squinny said above, you'll do well selling something, then it either become out of fashion, or too many people get on the band wagon, and the markets saturated.

Always keep you eye out for the next trend.

bumpity bump.

Just found something else to sell, which involves me making something.

It's an item I can customize to whatever is hot among certain populations at the moment.

Let's see how this goes...

Potato Head?

Drat!

You guessed.

Actually it's a Chia Mr. Potato head.

If it takes off, I might try a Chia Meth Head. Maybe a Chia Heisenberg/Walter White Head.

I don't know though, that character might be trade marked.

Love it!

Arrrgghhh

Just a quick vent.

Those of you who sell on ebay will understand...


Buyer orders this from me (obviously an example)....





I send her this.......






She messages me, irate, saying "this is not what I ordered"


Not to mention that this was a custom owl in a straw hat, and not less than 10 messages went back and forth between the 2 of us, with her sending me pictures of this.....



Telling me that's what she wanted.

Once more than one or two messages gets sent by a buyer to me, I know I'm in a world of ****, but by then it's too late.

That's cute. What do you want for it?