The Question of the Day is a way to facilitate community discussion to help members ponder the unanswered questions of the world that are somehow relating to the hobby. Questions are many times open ended and up to interpretation. Feel free to post your thoughts in as much or as little detail as you’d like.
Helpful Considerations may or may not help some people focus their answer, these are blurred to not bother those who have their own ideas.
Today’s Question: QotD: How detailed or extravagant should seller pictures be?
Helpful Considerations: Just the card with black background? Displayed on a desk or table with junk in the back? Front and back on a dirty carpet? Centered between a pair of bountiful breasts (youve seen the cringe account)? Displayed as though it was being presented in an art gallery centered only on that specific card?
For graded cards, a scan or picture of the front and back is usually good enough for me. Even better if I have access to PSA’s scans as well.
For ungraded cards, a straight picture of the front and back, and possibly two more of the front surface and back surface at an angle to show any indents or creases. Preferably on a black background so whitening is easier to see.
make sure its on your messy bed. don’t smooth out the blanket or clean off the pile of laundry that you tossed on it. make sure you have your room as dark as possible. Be sure that the focus point is on the top of your mountain of clothes so that the card is blurry. Take the photos from super far away. make sure the card is inside a nasty old scratched up top loader inside a ETB sleeve. Don’t show the actual back, just show the back of the card sleeve. The photo should always be taken at a very oblique angle, not straight on. Make sure you don’t hold steady so that you add motion blur to the photo. Any extra photos should be taken 1 millimeter to the left or right. Maybe get your foot to cameo in the photos too. Everyone likes seeing what kind of shoes you wear.
It’s all about lighting and transparency man. Plain and simple. If you have a proper light (daylight or 5600k artificial light) you can show the scratches on surface and the card integrity in 5 or less photos. Usually just 4 in the way dyl said but i just emphasize light and transparency. Just highlight the flaws. And yes, obviously dark or black background here people.
It’s that simple and yet 95% of ebay is a minefield where my eyes bleed looking at the listings.
Lastly take extra care when it’s a piece of cardboard you’re asking hundreds or thousands for. A few extra pics is really not a lot to ask for to show even more detail. Just some cardboard you’re not selling a car here.
What people have said above but also if you’re using a smartphone camera (which I imagine 99% of people do) then please either turn off any beauty filters and take photos that specifically highlight flaws that are otherwise not obvious.
I’ve had a handful of situations where a LP/NM card looks great in the photos but when I receive it in person I find a crease or mark that was made inconspicuous by the camera’s post-processing.
This really only applies to raw cards but it goes a long way in establishing confidence with the buyer
This holo wrecks me so much. I had to develop my BS detector for it. If they only show it from that rainbowy angle. I’m pretty sure they were part of the last level of people in Dante’s Inferno. Dunno, been a while since I read it, probably true though.
Bottom line, @brendantheclayboy hit the nail on the head, just make the condition of the card transparent within your photos. It’s not a secret that it matters, considering eBay requires you to include the condition.
