Pretty Girls And eBay

A question I get asked time after time by people is can I use any picture in my gallery to sell an item. My answer is a big no. The picture in the gallery must always match up with what the item is you are selling. In recent months we have seen a large amount of sellers using pictures of pretty girls or handsome guys. Now while I have nothing against this, if you are selling something like make up, diet or fitness item. But when you see a picture of a pretty girl and the item they are selling is a light bulb, you have to ask yourself the question why.

The answer is very simple really………………a pretty girl or handsome guy helps to drive traffic. Your eye is drawn to the picture, and not the listing and you just click on the listing, because of the picture, and the sellers who use this method know if they get enough people click on the link they will make a sale.

For a bit let’s look at the bigger picture, of using pictures against the spoken word. You turn on the TV, and there is an advert for a charity raising money for famine. The charity and the person doing the voice-over can say loads of things, how these people and children are starving, and then put up a phone number………………many will phone in and pledge money.  But show some pictures of starving children, with a voice-over and phone number and the phones go red hot. The same goes for animal charities. The advertising agencies know, pictures are very powerful, and one picture can be as powerful as loads of words.

Bring this into your eBay business, and some big sellers know that a picture of a bag of drill bits will help them sell drill bits……………but what if they have a picture of a pretty girl and the title all about drill bits……………..and once the buyer clicks through there is the normal listing, and the proper pictures of drill bits. Was this being deceiving……………a bit yes, well a large bit.

You need to use pictures that match what you are selling and not use a picture just to drive traffic to your listings. You need to be open and honest and if you use wrong pictures, people will soon know, and will by-pass your listings and go to someone who has the proper picture.

But if you are selling cosmetics, or teeth whitening stuff, use a picture of a pretty girl with a lovely smile, your buyers will expect this.