Pictures are worth more than a thousand words on eBay! And in my opinion, pictures with words blabbled on them are absolutely brilliant for snagging eyeballs and inserting story elements into otherwise average sales.
Blabble is a Facebook application that makes it real easy to add speech bubbles to your photographs. Developed by Rethink Communication for Solo Mobile, this software is free for everyone to use anyway they want, and it's my secret weapon on eBay.
This software application lets anyone create text boxes on top of the photos they have stored inside Facebook. This box is a dialogue bubble, just like the ones in the funny pages except this speech cloud is orange and has a movable beak.
Facebook members can make their photo creations public, or not - they can save their Blabbles back inside their photo galleries, or on their computer desktops (for easy listing in auctions).
Images are very important in eBay auctions. No matter how well sellers describe their items most buyers want to see pictures before they purchase anything online. Good pictures are one of the best ways to really showcase your pieces, and make it stand out from the crowd, especially if you can inject some humor into the images, and compel shoppers to click the listing just to see more angles, and read more 'story'. Before I list items, I take digital pictures and (try to) follow my own set of nine simple rules. Here are my photo secrets:
- Use natural light whenever possible.
- Use a plain background that makes the item stand out - I try to avoid using a white background as this washes away colour and the contrast can soften details ... esp product logos and any text that's written on paper labels. But rules are made to be broken and sometimes white is the very best background.
- Photograph items in sections - take close-ups of small sections of detailed items, and multiple views (front, back, side, top) so potential buyers can see the actual condition of the item. Always remember to get a wideshot ... in the movie business this master scene shot is often called the 'establishing shot' and the details are considered 'coverage'.
- Crop your photos to remove any unnecessary background elements that might otherwise distract from the item - this rule I have also broken with some success.
- Face directional objects into the text to create dynamic layouts. This idea comes from the golden age of newspaper publishing where human portraits were often positioned so that they appeared to be reading the text. Today this is called a 'dynamic layout' in desktop publishing.
- Resize all image files to approximately 330 pixels tall by 440 pixels wide which appears to be the perfect size for eBay Picture Services hosting.
- Balance the contrast and brightness for optimal detail transmission, not artistic merits.
- Make back-ups! Save the picture on your computer for future use because eBay Picture Service provides only temporary photo hosting.
- Use text bubbles sparingly, and with style to convey more relevant information to buyers and spark interest by highlighting otherwise invisible features.
Blabble is a great way to share bits of story and thereby hook shoppers into reading ALL the descriptive text in an otherwise ordinary eBay item listing.
