eBay made easy?

Selling is where things get more challenging

All about pictures!

Background

I've tried several background colors including chroma types and I find black works best for all around results but sometimes not right for reflective coins. Though many times those with plastic coverings it seems to cause the least amount of distracting reflection. Under the black is chroma green and white backgrounds. The chroma green is a foam type and its padding makes for picking up coins or flipping them super simple.

Other color back drops are simply draped over the rods and down to the desk surface. I also use colored card stock in large sheets that work great too!

A light-box is great for making things look like they are floating and also a wonderful soft light in that dark corner as can be seen in that photo. The other lamps are cheap clamp housings that were less than $5 at Home Depot with daylighter bulbs at 5500k on sale for about $4 each! They work great and don't get HOT. Finding the best lighting angles can be quite a challenge!

BTW... that camera mount shown here is very slick ... it completely opens up the desk surface and allows just about any angle needed.
 

Some cameras are more suited for close ups and such, than others. Having computer control of the camera is a great time saver! I picked up a Canon A620 with USB2 xfers and it will macro focus at an unbelievable 1/2 inch! A first on the market couple advancements. It also is fully controllable via the software included with the camera. My former Olympus worked with 3rd party freeware but didn't work quite as well. Many cameras don't, won't and can't be run via your computer!

Mega-pixels! ... pretty much doesn't matter when taking photo's for web display... even a cell phone camera has enough for most web pictures. Clear & Focused is the target for good pictures ... so of course that pretty much rules out the cell phone as a viable camera option... Always use a tripod and shy away from using the built in flash (most of the time).
 

I'd say that an accurate scale is a must as weights are needed for the shipping calculator.  A good supply of shipping boxes & envelopes purchased in bulk can turn $1 into 20c and that adds up after a few 100 auctions.

FYI... Free half sheet UPS labels work great with PayPal shipping!

All this makes dropping packages off for shipping a relatively quick ordeal with no lines to deal with at the post office.

Having a large display or two sure helps run the many programs called upon to edit photo's (usually just crop) and stage in html a page that then is past into the listing program when all the description info is populated ... then of course there's the who paid and what needs to be shipped ... anyway the more you can see at a glance the easier things are.

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