Welcome to this edition of Adam Ginsberg's "Insiders" Newsletter. Each issue is designed to provide you with insights, tips, secrets and overall strategies on how you can build your online auctions business. I'm sure you love this issue! This week the topic is: How to use get your photos on eBay for free!

Lately I have received a lot of photo related questions. One of the big questions is: "How many photos should I include in an eBay listing?" The answer to that question will be directly related to the item you're selling. A generic answer might be: "More is better."

If, in fact, more really is better then for most people the end result means more eBay fees. You see, after the first picture (which is free), eBay charges you for each additional picture included in your listings...unless you use a 3rd party picture hosting company to host your images.

Is it legal and in accordance with eBay policy to host your pictures somewhere else to avoid eBay fees? Yes, aboslutely. And this weeks newsletter will explain how. But first some basics:

The BasicS

There are two simple rules for ebay pictures and online photo files:

1. Save the image using a JPEG or GIF graphics format

And

1. Ensure that the image is less than 50KB in size

Both rules are important, so don't ignore either of them. Between JPEG and GIF, I use GIF more frequently, however there is no right answer. If you ask 10 people which format they prefer for auction listings you'll get a 50-50% response rate. When uploading photos to eBay, there is a limit on the size of the file you and upload - and, there is limit on the file types they accept.

Why should you limit your photo size? This is a great question and a common mistake made by many eBay sellers. The 50KB size limit is to your advantage. The majority of Internet users around the world still use a dial up modem connection. Think about the last website or eBay listing you visited where it seemed like the images took forever to load onto your computer screen. Most people are impatient. If a potential customer finds your listing, but can't see your eBay photos immediately - they’ll be onto the next listing as quickly as they can click their mouse.

The 50KB is only a guideline, though. If you want a bigger image, one strategy would be to include that larger image in your listing. However, if you want to have the best of both worlds, have your pictures load as a thumbnail photo which “when clicked” can be enlarged to show the photo details.

As far as getting the image to eBay, the simplest option is to let eBay host your images and use their photo services. To avoid paying eBay fees for image hosting, you can use your own web hosting or a 3rd party application alternative. If you need webhosting, you can get it here: http://www.highfivedomains.com.

For 3rd party application software, you could use a service like Template Optimizer which will include both an ad listing template along with free hosting of your images. Template Optimizer also creates the thumbnail to enlarge option as I mentioned earlier.

PLEASE NOTE: The purpose of this article is not to sell you Template Optimizer. It's simply to make you aware of an addtional service that would help to eliminate your picture hosting fees that are paid to eBay.

eBay’s picture hosting fee structure works like this: the first photo is free, however additional photos and additional services will cost you money. For example, if you wanted to add 5 photos to your listing, eBay would give you the first one free and charge you .15cents per image after that for a total of .60cents in picture hosting fees for that specific listing.

Resizing Your Image

Saving an image at 50KB in size really means that you need to resize it, or reduce it so that the resolution settings – whatever they may be – equate to 50KB. This is easy enough to do in most graphics programs. I like using Photoshop elements software choice because the Image Size dialog box shows you the file size at the top. Here’s an example:

To change the image size, first ensure that all your work is done on the image at its original resolution and save the original file. Then, follow these steps in Photoshop Elements to complete the process.

1. Choose Image > Resize > Image Size to open the Image Size dialog box. The current width and height values in pixels are shown in the top section.


2. Select Width or Height, whichever is greater, and enter 300. There is nothing magic about 300; it’s just a good value to start with. After you type 300, the values of the other boxes change, as does the file size at the top of the dialog box. If the file size value is still too large, try a smaller value. Start with 250, and then 200 if necessary. Eventually you’ll get down low enough to display the file size close enough to 50KB.


3. Click OK to resize the image. Don’t be shocked if the resized image appears very tiny on your monitor. This is common, but it’s not bad.


4. Set the image’s zoom to 100 percent. In Photoshop Elements, choose View > Actual Pixels. Viewhe image. How does it look? Are you happy? If not, you can make it larger. Remember, the 50KB limit is to your benefit due to the speed at which it will load onto someone’s computer. If you want to fix things, choose Edit > Undo Image Size, and start over. Otherwise, your image is ready for savings. Another thing to keep in mind is that buyers love detail. If you took your image to show off your detail, it’s important that a larger picture also be an option.

With regards to the Template Optimizer, one of the benefits of this software is that it will resize your photos for you to the thumbnail image as well as give the end user (the person viewing the listing on eBay) with the option to “click” to the larger image. You can certainly do this on your own, however using the Template Optimizer just saves you some extra time if you’re putting up a lot of listings.

Another way to s tave your photo for optimal download speed is to use the “save for web” featured offered in Photoshop Elements. To do this, simply choose File > Save for Web. You’ll be taken to this screen.

Once you’ve saved the image to your computer (desktop, images folder, etc.) you’ll be all set to upload the file to eBay.

So let’s review your two options:

1. You can host your images somewhere else (not on eBay, which would save you eBay’s picture hosting fees).

OR

2. You can upload your images to eBay

To upload your pictures to eBay, simply click the browse button, find the image on your computer and select the image. eBay will then upload these pictures to their server, host them for you and display them on your eBay listings.

So, in summary...as a beginner it's probably worthwhile to use eBay's picture hosting. However, as you expand your eBay and online businesses you should consider either hosting your images or using a 3rd party appliction so that you can avoid and eliminate the picture hosting fees paid to eBay.

NOTE: As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, the next couple of newsletters will be primarily focused on the variety of subjects inter related to online photography with both begging and advanced insights.

Until next time…

Knowing No Boundaries,