eBay has been well-established for years and is one of the most popular eCommerce selling platforms on the internet.
For a company with its roots in simple consumer-to-consumer sales (via auction), it has grown exponentially. It is now an international marketplace which additionally hosts eCommerce stores and is a platform for business-to-consumer sales as well.
Whether you are an individual or a commercial business, eBay provides access to a global network of potential customers. As you would expect, this means that competition is huge, and it takes something special to stand out. High-quality product photography is crucial.
In common with other eCommerce platforms, eBay has guidelines for product photographs that are used.
With more and more consumers shopping online – especially in 2022 – now is the time to check your inventory product photographs and make sure that they ‘pop’. To make a sale, you first have to get a customer. To get a customer, you first need to get their attention.
Many eCommerce retailers understand that it is ultimately more profitable to pay a professional to take their product photographs and other visual media (such as video) for them.
However, whether you are doing it yourself, or hiring a professional (we’ll mention a few later on), the eBay product photography guidelines still apply.
General Guidance
eBay has several photograph requirements for uploaded images as follows:
- Maximum file size per image is 12MB.
- Minimum image size 500×500 pixels.
- Maximum image size 9000×9000 pixels.
- Image formats allowed: JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, GIF.
- The maximum number of images per product: 12 (or 24 for vehicles).
In addition to the above, the following also applies to the main image (which eBay refer to as the primary image):
- The photo must be a realistic image of the actual product, not a stock or representative picture.
- It must be taken against a white or light background (light grey is accepted).
- No watermarks or text, other than any text that is a part of the original product.
- No reflections or other photo effects.
- The primary image should be front (or near front) facing.
- The photo should be of the primary product only (nothing else in the picture).
- The product should cover at least 80% of the image.
- You may use crop or edge blurs as long as they do not obscure any important part.
- No human body part allowed except for body-wear products (such as clothing, jewellery).
Further considerations
In addition to the primary image, supplemental images should also be used, to show different views of your product.
Supplementary images may show packaging, text, etc. which are not allowed on the primary image.
There are several different styles of product photograph which you can use for your supplementary images, such as in-context or infographic shots, which can help your customers visualise using your goods, or provide additional information without the need for lengthy text explanations.
Finding a professional product photographer
Most eCommerce retailers turn to professional product photographers for their online store images; for many of them, producing their own photos or video is not economically viable.
They have no professional photographic experience themselves, or they find that the amount of time it would take them to produce all the media (including editing, resizing and formatting) is too long.
Professional photography services already know how to optimise the shoot and retouching for eCommerce stores and will do this for you if you tell them where the photos are to be used.
They will also complete the whole process faster than you can as an individual.
It’s worth taking time to look around at a few companies as they all differ in service and pricing structure.
For example, Pic-up.co.uk have varying charges for different sized items (and different categories); their prices generally start at around £12-£15 per item (one view), with a minimum order of £300.
Productphotography.co.uk have a lower-price package for £125, which includes 8 images (approx. £15 per photo).
Some services will also scale costs when a large number of items are being photographed; this is useful if you have multiple lines of products but can mean lower numbers are more expensive.
For instance, productphoto.com charge $25 per photo for a small number and scale down to $7 per photo for 700+ images.
A better alternative
For a refreshingly different approach, Splento’s pricing is based on a fixed charge per image.
Splento’s professional product photographers can be hired from just £29 per image – and this includes retouching and delivery of the finished photographs within 24 hours (guaranteed).
Rather than scale price according to the size of your order, Splento has chosen to scale their entire photographic process so that lower prices are available for everyone .
For more detail about this unique approach, contact Splento today and see the difference they are making to the product photography industry.
Booking is simple through a straightforward online form and they are available 24/7 in any location – wherever you are.
Follow this link to see the latest examples of Splento’s product photography portfolio.
You are also welcome to contact Splento for further help or advice with your eBay or other eCommerce product photography.
Contact Splento if you are in need of:
