eBay Photography the Smart Way: Creating Great Product Pictures that Will Attract Higher Bids and Sell Your Items Faster [Paperback]

Joseph T. Sinclair (Author), Stanley Livingston (Author)

Book Description

Series: Ebay Photography the Smart Way | Publication Date: August 8, 2005

If a picture is worth a thousand words, just imagine how much a picture could be worth on eBay! In "eBay Photography the Smart Way", professional eBay expert Joseph Sinclair teams up with professional product photographer Stanley Livingston to show sellers how to instantly increase their sales and ramp up their profits! The book gives readers easy-to-follow instructions for taking better pictures, helping them show off their products to the greatest possible effect.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

"Foreword by Rick Smolan

Perhaps the most important key to success for sellers on eBay is providing good photographs of their products. In eBay Photography the Smart Way, eBay expert Joseph Sinclair teams up with professional product photographer Stanley Livingston to give readers easy-to-follow instructions for taking better pictures, helping them show off their products to the greatest possible effect. Paving the way for higher profits, the book shows how to:

* shop for and buy a digital camera * shoot any kind of product * photgraph and display entire product inventories * create great thumbnails * process photos with image editors * use angles, lighting, studio props, and backgrounds * organize process and work flow

On eBay, better pictures mean higher sales. eBay Photography the Smart Way reveals how to take great photos that give customers the confidence to buy online what they can't see in person."

About the Author

"Joseph T. Sinclair (Vallejo, CA) is the author of eBay Business the Smart Way; eBay Motors the Smart Way, Building Your eBay Traffic the Smart Way and eBay Global the Smart Way. One of the world's foremost eBay experts, he has been interviewed by Entrepreneur magazine as well as on more than 100 radio programs.

Stanley Livingston (Ann Arbor, MI) has had a 40-year career as a professional product photographer, serving scientific instrument, automotive, and other manufacturers."

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 17 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (August 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814472931
• ISBN-13: 978-0814472934
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Culture > eBay

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Source For All The Answers, October 13, 2005

By 

W. C. Witting (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: eBay Photography the Smart Way: Creating Great Product Pictures that Will Attract Higher Bids and Sell Your Items Faster (Paperback)

As a regular e-bayer, I'm always looking for a competitive marketing edge. This book clearly points a way to gain that edge by differentiating my offerings from a large majority of my competitors. I've often thought that most photographs used in e-bay marketing are mediocre, at best, my own included. When I see a good e-bay photographic presentation, I recognize the selling power that it represents, but I have rarely accomplished it myself. Sinclair and Livingston have produced a terrific book. If you read it and apply the material, almost anyone (including me) can produce "above average" photographs for their e-bay marketing. The book is a quick-read, but provides an excellent reference souce for later application of the material it contains. I've read a couple other e-bay books by Joe Sinclair and one thing I like about all these books is that they have a nice clean easy-to-read layout. Each chapter in this book has substantial stand-alone value. A chapter that may be a trinket to you might be a treasure to me, and vice versa. In total, however, the book will have great value to any serious e-bay marketer. If "a picture is worth a thousand words", then several very good pictures make a powerful e-bay sales presentaion, indeed. My conclusion ... a great book, complete, perfect for practical application.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very superficial, May 26, 2006

By 

M. Ebert - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: eBay Photography the Smart Way: Creating Great Product Pictures that Will Attract Higher Bids and Sell Your Items Faster (Paperback)

I have a good grounding in photography and was hoping for more detailed instruction on product photography. I learned practically nothing. There is a lot of very elementary filler material on general photography, digital cameras and editing software and Internet. The photos are not that great either. May be somewhat useful for someone who has no knowledge at all of these topics

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A nice reference book, October 17, 2009

By 

Eric Forsell (harbor city, ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: eBay Photography the Smart Way: Creating Great Product Pictures that Will Attract Higher Bids and Sell Your Items Faster (Paperback)

I checked this book out at the library along with many other books. Since I'm taking photos for my e-commerce site I needed to have more advanced methods. This book is one that I keep coming back to as a reference as I worked and learned. As always when I find an especially useful book I buy it used from Amazon. Maybe someone who knows photography really well would not find this book useful, but I only needed tips on shooting items for the web. Not portraits or scenery or any other type of photography that I find taking up most of the "real" photography books.

With no formal training in photography I have quickly learned to make decent pictures that inspire people to buy my items. I needed to photograph hundreds of items quickly and with high quality. This book is the best I've found so far among the large numbers of books on photography. I have learned to take good photos from the very start with proper lighting. But along with that I've discovered that doing basic photo touch-ups are essential, even if done in a batch process. I have to process up to 500 or more photos after doing a shoot on a new batch of items, about 5 shots per item. Almost any other type of photography would pay much more attention on a per image basis than this, but I don't have time for that. It's hard enough getting all of these shots onto the web and cataloged. If I only make a few dollars I am not going to spend more than a few minutes on that item.

This book has some specific techniques that I found invaluable. I have made my own light tent and lighting system and I used the tip on having all the main lights overhead, using reflected light from the sides to give a more natural look.