eBay Express Has Launched Are Your Photos Ready

eBay Express has launched. Is your store ready? One of the requirements to participate is a photo of your item. Make sure your's is high quality and professional looking! This new feature will bring more traffic to our listings and should be a great benefit to all that participate. So what is eBay Express and how can you make sure you are listed in the store? I’m glad you asked! Below are the guidelines.

With eBay express buyers will:
Get it now – all inventory will be fixed price
Fill a shopping cart from different merchants and pay for everything in a single payment
Buy with confidence – transactions will be covered by eBay express purchase protection


So what do eBay sellers need to know and do to participate?


Sell on eBay
Have feedback of 100 and 98% positive
Feedback must be public not private
Be a PayPal premier or business merchant
Meet selling requirements
Be a USA or Canada merchant



Listing Criteria
List in Fixed Price or Store Inventory format
Fill in the item condition field (i.e. New, Used, Refurbished) in Item Specifics. (Some categories exempted)
Use Pre-Filled Item Information for listings within Books, DVDs & Movies, Music, & Video Games.
Include shipping costs (flat, calculated or free) in the shipping fields
Provide a picture or gallery
No 3rd party check - Use eBay checkout or the new checkout integration API (for 3rd party order processing)
Items must be located in the US
The majority of categories will be in eBay Express – A few categories will not be included.
To see a list go to http://pages.ebay.com/sell/itemcondition/list/

There are two main reasons for excluding categories. The first reason is because the PayPal Buyer Protection Program does not cover the category i.e.: motor vehicles. The other reason is because Category Managers are still working with the community on representing the category in eBay Express – like certain collectibles categories where industry standards on item condition do not exist.



Buyers used to the typical e-commerce experience often ship their purchases to multiple addresses. For example, a buyer may ship his/her purchases to a work or gift recipient address. Shipping addresses that are not the buyer’s billing address are typically unconfirmed addresses. As eBay Express is designed to attract buyers looking for a more conventional e-commerce experience, we allow buyers to have their purchases shipped to unconfirmed addresses. PayPal Seller Protection continues to cover all eBay Express transactions that meet the program requirements. Shipping to unconfirmed addresses will disqualify a transaction from PayPal’s Seller Protection. We recommend sellers evaluate the potential increase in sales from selling to more buyers against the risk of losing PayPal Seller Protection for some of those sales.




If your items qualify they will automatically be submitted to eBay express.
You can opt out by updating your seller preferences in My eBay

You can see eBay Express in action: www.ebayexpress.com.

Mary Lou Harris Designs

I just came across a talented jewelry designer who sells on eBay. Her name is Mary Lou Harris. Not only are her jewelry designs fantastic, the photos she's taken of them are beautiful. When asked how she got such great photos, she revealed her technique. She uses an eTent softbox to soften the light. Sometimes she photographs the items using the natural light of an overcast day. Either way, she's able to diffuse or soften the light enough to get great detail on the stones and showcase her talent.
You can see her work on her website: http://www.marylouharrisdesigns.com
If you are looking for eTent softboxes, check here
CloverCitySells carries many sizes & styles of softboxes.

Choosing A Digital Camera For eBay Use

As with all things on the Internet there is always more than one way to accomplish a task. You have a choice, too, on how to get a picture of your product into your eBay listings.

Things you'll need to consider are:
a. How many items are you planning on listing?
b. What type of items are they?
c. Will you have the items in your possession or are they too large to be kept on your site?


If you already have a film camera and are only listing a few items it will work. Simply take the finished roll of film down to the photo processor and ask for the images to put into digital format (onto a CD). Once you have them on a CD disk you will be able to upload them to the eBay site and use the eBay picture services to edit them.
If you plan on selling more than just a few items using a film camera will soon become expensive. You have the cost of film, processing, possibly re-photographing the item, your time running back & forth to the film lab and gas, etc. Soon you'll want to consider other alternatives.


The Best Choice For eBay Product Photography: A Digital Camera


Digital photography means capturing images in a digital format. You can do this by taking photographs with a film camera and then scanning the slides, negatives, or prints. However, it’s much faster and easier to capture images with a digital camera. Right now there are hundreds of makes and models to choose from and more are introduced every day.
Which one works best for eBay? If you plan on using it only for photographing eBay items a more modest, scaled down model will do just fine. The first step, then, is to consider what you will be using your digital camera for. Once you know that you can start shopping for your camera. Don't know where to buy one? Well…. You know, try eBay. A digital camera sells every minute!

What features do you need specifically to take quality photos for eBay listing? Here's a list of what features to look for:

· 3 megapixels or better
· Macro Focus (The ability to focus close-up)
· Flash that can be turned off and can be adjusted to be used as fill
· Be sure it has the White Balance Feature
· LCD Screen
· If you are buying used, one with all the original software, cables and users manual
· A body that feels comfortable in your hands

Text Taken From: EZ Auction Photography by Cindy Shebley Publication Date: June 2006.

My First Blog Entry

Hello & Welcome To EZ Auction Photography. I want to share tips and techniques to improve your eBay, Craigslist, Yahoo or Website photographs. Please check back soon - lots of tips to come.