In this article

Choosing your equipment

Creating a great picture

Editing your picture

Saving your edited picture

Choosing your equipment

Creating a great picture

Things to Do

When your picture is on your computer's hard drive, you can often improve it with photo-editing software (it usually comes with your digital camera or scanner). eBay's Standard Uploader also provides basic photo-editing features like crop, rotate, and resize.

• Use diffuse natural or artificial lighting to light the entire item thoroughly, without shadows or harsh reflections

• To use a background that contrasts with the item. Ideally, you should use a plain, white backdrop to make your item stand out. For items that are white, it’s OK to use a neutral-colored backdrop to provide some contrast

• If you can’t use a plain backdrop, you should at least avoid background clutter that can distract buyers or confuse them about what you're selling

• Photograph items at close range and at an angle that provides some noticeable depth

• Photos should be big enough to show details clearly and fill the whole frame when appropriate

• Take multiple pictures of your item so buyers can see as much detail as possible. For example, take pictures of labels, original packaging, and accessories

• Show scale. For example, you can place a coin or a ruler next to the item to show its size

• If the item has any flaws, stains, wear and tear, or any other damages, take pictures of those details so buyers know exactly what to expect

• Consider using a tripod to produce sharper pictures using indoor lighting without flash

• Set the camera to a medium or higher resolution (for example 1024x768 pixels or larger) to produce good quality photos. This allows you to show bigger pictures in your listing and provides better support for photo editing, if needed, before you upload the photos to eBay

Things not to do

• Don't copy pictures from another seller, website, retailer, manufacturer, or anyone else without their permission

• If your item is reflective (for example, glass on a framed artwork, or it has a mirror), don’t use the flash on your camera

• In general, avoid using your camera's flash, or at least use it only to supplement other significant light sources (Review your camera's user's manual to find out how to turn off the flash.)

Here are examples of a good picture (left) and a bad picture:

Editing your picture

It's sometimes possible to improve pictures with minor adjustments. For example, you can crop out background clutter to make your item occupy most of the picture area. The standard uploader provides commonly-used photo-editing features such as crop, rotate, and adjustment of contrast and brightness before you upload. You also can make such adjustments before you list on eBay by using photo-editing software that is usually included with digital cameras and scanners or that can be downloaded or purchased separately from many sources. There are also websites that offer free photo-editing of pictures you upload to them. eBay's Copy Web Files feature allows you to easily copy pictures you've stored on photo-hosting websites, with the same results as if you had uploaded them directly to eBay from your computer.

Saving your edited picture

If you edit your pictures with separate photo-editing software, it's best to save the results as a JPEG (.jpg) or PNG (.png) file, unless the original picture is a GIF (.gif) file. In that case, save it as a GIF file after editing.

Tip: When saving an edited picture for upload to eBay, use the software’s normal "Save" command, and not any "Save for Web" command that might also be available. This will enable better quality for the copies of your pictures that eBay creates and stores when you upload them.

When editing, minimize the number of intermediate saves in JPEG format because successive saves reduce the quality of the picture. Also, don't change the default JPEG quality to anything less than 90 on the commonly used 0-99 JPEG quality scale (supported in most photo-editing software).