Personal Opinion: Photos or No Photos?

[needsmorerobots]

With selling my DVDs/Blu rays I provide photos and give extensive written details on products. This takes time for each item (sometimes too long of time).

As sellers do you find your customers need both photos and details or do you sell just fine using the stock photos provided by Ebay with details? Or in a third option, do you sell fine with stock photos and bare minimum description?

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

If you can teach yourself to take good photos (relative to other eBayers) it will give you a competitive advantage with the marketing of your listings. Everybody who has bought a used DVD online has had the experience of getting an item that doesn't meet their expectations, and the DVD category has enough repeat buyers that I think people are more likely to choose a listing where they can see the item. Obviously, I have no way to prove that, but that's my theory.

When someone searches for even an unpopular DVD, they are hit with dozens of listings, all with different prices, shipping prices, conditions. While a lot of buyers are purely bargain shoppers who will buy whatever is cheapest, eBay defaults to Best Match. If you can have the most attractive main photo and get the initial click, I think it increases your odds of having the buyer go with your listing.

You have to weigh that against the time/effort to take photos. If you are selling casually, it may not be worth it. If you are running a full fledged store where you can assembly line your way through 100+ DVDs in an hour, it will take less overall time per item and the overall reward will be higher.

I can't really comment from experience on whether stock photos would increase a chance on getting IND cases or unsatisfied buyers. But I would guess if you're doing a fair job within eBay's rating system (Acceptable, Good, Very Good, Like New, Brand New) and not just blanketing everything as Like New, while also noting any major flaws, that you will be fine with stock images.

I started off with basic cell phone photos, but one of the earliest things I did with my eBay store was try and figure out a way to create good photos. My photos aren't perfect by any means, but at the very least my main photos stand out among a lot of sellers in my category and give me a competitive advantage.

Granted, there's no way for me to test the theory short of replacing everything with stock photos and seeing if my sales drop, so this is all opinion. Other people might feel differently.

[pjcdn2005]

You have to be careful using stock photos as the version you are selling may not have the same cover photo.  Plus, unless your product is brand new, you should use your own pics and description to show the condition.

[ricarmic]

In my experience one can only assume the buyer looked at the picture.

If you are lucky they read the title.

If you are extremely lucky they read the item details.

Stock photos pose their own danger, I don't have any experience with them in my (stamp) world so I can't say much about that. (If I was buying a CD I would prefer to see the exact one I was buying if it was used, but then again I'm "medium old").

[reallynicestamps]

If the item is New, then a stock photo should be fine-- but only if it matches the actual product.
If the one you have does not match the product, it can be deleted and your own used instead.

I recently sent a different cover book to a customer who for some reason was passionate about getting the one pictured. We worked it out.  The fact that the actual books were word for word the same  was not relevant to the buyer.