An eBay Garage Sale Online - You Can Do It!

by Ron Knowlton


(This is the first of a series of articles on how to conduct an online garage sale on eBay. Today's article deals with taking the pictures and using them in your eBay listing.)

It's almost that time of year again - garage sale season - time to empty out the closets of extra, little-used items.

This time you've decided to try eBay. Afterall, a lot of people are selling on eBay with great results!

You only have one hang up though - the pictures.

It's too expensive to hire a professional photographer (might as well just hold the garage sale at your home than do that)!

But you're brave. You get the camera out. You place your first garage sale item in a good spot.

You carefully aim and shoot.

And the result, again, is not exactly what you had hoped for.

They Look at the Picture First - Then the Headline

Let's face it, not everyone is born to take great pictures and on eBay you need good pictures. Many people just browse the pictures looking for the items they need. No picture (or worse - a lousy picture) and it's on to the next item ...

In this article, I'll try to help you take better pictures and show you how to use them in your eBay listing.

You'll need a gallery image on eBay (it's only 35 cents - but well worth it).

The gallery image is the picture of your garage sale item that people will see when they do their search. No picture and all you get is a graphic of a green camera. That graphic and your short headline is often all the buyer will have to make a quick decision - whether to go on to your listing or not. Many will just skip the "picture-less" listings and go on to the next item - the one that has a picture.

How "Cloudy Day" Lighting Helps

One of the big problems in taking a picture is to get the right lighting.

The wrong lighting leaves dark shadows and real bright hot spots in the finished picture.

The best lighting for your picture is "cloudy day" lighting.

On a cloudy day - with light clouds in the sky - the shadows are soft. The bright spots are not very bright, the shadows not very dark.

Create a "Cloudy Day" Indoors - It's Easy

If you don't have a cloudy day outdoors, you can "create" one indoors.

How? By placing your items near a window.

Find a window that has a light-colored (or white) curtain - with no distracting patterns - that allows some of the light to shine through. The curtain acts like clouds in between the lighting source (the sun) and your garage sale item - lightening the shadows and lessening the bright spots.

Your eBay items will be lit evenly on all sides with very soft - or even no shadows at all.

If you don't have a white curtain, use a white bed sheet instead - with no patterns (patterns will create checkerboard patterns of light on your garage sale item - something you definitely don't want).

Remember to move in close so that your garage sale item nearly fills the frame of the picture (after all, you do want people to see it).

A "Lighting Tent" - the Easiest Solution

If you have a lighting tent (this is usually a white fabric box you can buy online), put your garage sale item in the tent. Move the tent to a spot where there is plenty of light (maybe even outside on a sunny day). The tent is like placing clouds between your strong light source (the sun) and your garage sale item.

Another benefit of the lighting tent, is that it's usually very easy to set up and take down. It gives you an instant photo studio for your eBay items! And also a plain background (no clutter).

There are some lighting boxes (or lighting tents) that even come with photographic lights (which makes it easy - you just plug the lights in and you have instant sunshine (or lighting) for your photos inside the tent).

A Digital Camera - a Source of Instant Pictures For Your Listing

I recommend using a digital camera for eBay photos. You can now purchase digital cameras for under $100. However, if you have the money, I recommend purchasing a camera that will allow you to take close up shots of your item. With small items, you'll need close ups! This may cost a little more in the short term when you purchase the camera, but will pay off in the long run.

A 3.0 megapixel camera should be sufficient.

With a digital camera, you can take the pictures, view them in the viewing screen on the camera, delete the pictures you don't need, and then upload the rest onto your computer.

After that, you select the picture file you need and then "upload" it into the listing. It's kind of like placing a
graphic into a Microsoft Word document.

If you know html, or have Microsoft Frontpage (or a similar program) you can create html pages. Then you just copy and paste the html code into the "description" box for your item on eBay - giving you a customized listing and a more professional look.

Practice Makes Perfect

Like anything, it's a little intimidating at first - to think about pictures, the wording for an eBay listing, and finally going through all of those steps to finally get the item listed.

But once you get the hang of it, you'll wonder why you ever hesitated to put up that first listing! After awhile, it'll seem easy and almost second-nature.

In the next article, we'll discuss how to word your listing and how to find the right price for your garage sale item.

Ron Knowlton is a former newspaper reporter and photojournalist. Go to http://www.photographyschoolbooks.com/ for more help with eBay pictures! Go to: http://www.helpyousucceed.com to read Ron's articles and to http://www.soaringprofits.com for help with internet marketing.