Step #3 Buying a Digital Camera
My first digital camera cost over $500. I think it had like 1.5 megapixels or something. It was an Olympus and I loved it. Easy to use and nice software. When we moved in our new house a few years ago one of the moving men stole it. I knew it was stolen because I knew exactly where I had packed it. So, it was necessary that I purchase a new one. When we got around to buying our second digital camera I purchased another Olympus, with 3.2 megapixels, and the price had dropped in a few short years to under $100. This is still the camera I use today.
When purchasing a camera to use on ebay, just look for one that is easy to use. I don’t know that brand is even so important anymore. Most cameras today come with way more megapixel capacity than you will need on ebay. Please note that I am no computer guru, but I do know enough to say that ebay will only reproduce your photos at a certain resolution anyway. So, unless it is for personal photo use don’t spend the extra to get the maximum amount of megapixels. Go cheap. This is one area where I personally would not buy used. I have sold a camera before that was broken and the guy flat out told me he fixes them and resells them on ebay. Now, I don’t want any camera sellers getting mad at me, please. I just know that most cameras nowadays are very cheap, and you can get one brand new.
Another thing, most major electronics retailers will match their competitor’s pricing. What I did was google the exact style of camera I was intending to purchase. Once I found a cheaper price, I printed the page and took it into the store-I think it actually saved me about $20 total. Just keep in mind that it must be from an actual brick-and-mortar store, not a web store. We just did the same thing on our new mattress and saved over $300 (!). Pays to do a little research before you get in the car.
Last, utilize the software that comes with your camera. This will help you crop your photos and tweak them a bit. Take some pictures of your family, some close ups of objects and play with them a bit using your software. I like to think that the photo, once someone has found your auction, is more important than your text. We are an impatient society and chances are we look at the photos prior to even reading anything about the item.
Next lesson, taking photos. Hope to have some do’s and don’t examples.
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I agree with your suggestion not to get an expensive camera, Tracy. Images used for web presentation (as opposed to print design, for instance) are almost always rescaled to a relatively low resolution. This is done primarily to increase load time for the image.
Using a high resolution photo might look a bit nicer, but the time it takes to load a whole page of those images will cause many site visitors to simply click away and look elsewhere.
Thanks for the technical information, Dave. This was a big problem in the very early days of ebay. People would always email with “…your pictures aren’t loading. How come?” Ebay has sinced fixed that. Also, most people back then had dial up and they became impatient waiting for the page to load (guilty myself!).
Don’t forget that a pretty significant portion of internet users are still using dial up connections. That is a factor that web designers constantly need to remember when trying to design a site that looks nice *and* loads quickly.
Hey there fellow eBayer, I really like your blog. I recently upgraded my camera to a Canon PowerShot A400. I suggest looking on Craigslist for cheap digital cameras. Mine is a 3.2 MP, and I got it for about $50.
Then again, if you are a new seller and you need to get good feedback, you might want to buy one on eBay.
Keep up the good work, and if you have time, you might want to check out my blog:
eBay Selling Guide
Hey ESG! Thanks for the comment. You know, I think that Craigslist is a wonderful resource for those looking for a bargain. Most of the people I have dealt with from Craigslist have been great. Now, you do usually see them face to face which presents its own unique experience. Thanks for the comment-will check out your website!