for sellers in the Collectibles, Art, Antiques and Pottery & Glass categories.
The first picture for all eBay listings is free, but as of February 18th, listings in these categories will get Picture Pack and Gallery Plus free, for all listing formats and durations. Picture Pack allows sellers to add up to twelve extra photos to the listing, and Gallery Plus displays a larger picture when buyers hover over a gallery picture on the search results page.
eBay says that
more free photos will allow sellers to provide buyers the visual details they need to make these decisions, lower buyer questions, and increase seller sales.
Though most collectibles’ sellers post extra pictures using their own hosting, this should make it easier for everyone to post plenty of images on listings that really need them (though I sincerely hope it doesn’t presage eBay limiting photos on listings to eBay-hosted ones). Gallery Plus is a superb feature, and it would be great to see that freebie expanded over the whole site.
There are more enhancements to the “visual shopping experience” promised for eBay.com too: more information as soon as we get it.
Please note that this announcement has been made for eBay.com only, and does not apply at the moment to any other site.
5 Responses
So, the ‘eBay SnowDome’ effect marches on !
I was wondering when this would happen, many third party services out there are eventually replicated by eBay in house. For many third party services, the draw to get new users was the abilty to include for free multiple images in your listings.
(The SnowDome effect is where eBay make and keep everything in house, from buyer/bidder contact to selling/buying functionality )
“more free photos will allow sellers to provide buyers the visual details they need to make these decisions, lower buyer questions, and increase seller sales.”
Or you could translate that to mean :-
Hardly anyone was using picture pack, so we are making it free.
@ # 1
The trick is to develop something that’s both useful and patentable. Then when eBay duplicates it you can be bought out by them after they violate your patent for 10 years (or however long it took for that “buy-it-now” thing to get settled).
Is it just a coincidence that these categories are exactly those which have been most savagely decimated by Dork Downahole’s new gold dream?
If so, free pictures aren’t making it guys. As a former 100%/4.9 DSR collectable seller the problem is that it’s way too expensive, way too complicated and way, way too dangerous to sell collectables on Ebay any more.
BIG DEAL! Read the small lettering!:This free picture service does not apply if you’re located outside the biggest and greatest nation on earth and if you are by chance a US citizen, this service does not apply if your pictures contain frontal nudity illustrations dating later than 3000 BC, if uncut male genitals are depicted, sexual acts between Greek males are shown either on pottery or glass, Asian yellow glass in particular (yechh!) and if your items are not listed with PayPal as the preferred method of payment. A special note for sellers NOT located in the US, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom (and other countries surely to be included by eBay at a later date): As announced earlier: Items offered by sellers located in other than the above mentioned countries will be blocked from view on the eBay sites in the above mentioned countries unless the PayPal option is added as the preferred way of payment. Performing an advanced search for a seller you happen to know and have dealt with to your satisfaction before 2008 will show as having zero, nil, nada items for sale (when he/she is not offering PayPal) and is thus a useless search. Even when finding out about an interesting item – the number of which was for instance mailed to you by a friend – will show up as an invalid eBay item and not available for purchase in the US (AU, CA, UK), despite the fact that the seller is selling “worldwide” (preference set in the listing). There’s more: when listing an item in the category “Music, Records” (it ends there……) eBay does not allow a seller to charge more than 4 dollars for shipping. Nobody of the overpaid programmers or managers has ever heard of old shellac or vinyl records. Stupidly, eBay after many many years still does not link the listing page where a seller can specify shipping costs to the sellers location (country!) or item location. Unheard of amateurism!! I could go on for hours..
Would love to hear comment from Sue or her US associate.
Paul