No more low cost EBAY SCAPE or minis! what are they thinking

[Auggest]

Don't sell on ebay? This will still have PROFOUND effect on Heroscape pricing....read on.

There will be a few changes as always most of which doesn't concern the average buyer but below is a HUGE change. I even called Ebay to clarify that I was reading it correctly and understood it and the tech said I had it correct.

"When listing a used item, stock photos may no longer be used as the primary item photo for the listing. A catalog image can still be used. However, it can’t be used as the primary photo representing a non-new item for sale. Books, Movies, Music, and Video Game categories will be excluded from this requirement (with the exception of Video Game Consoles which will be required to adhere to this new requirement)."

What this means is all heroscape/minis will now have to have exact pictures of EACH item for sale with no stock / catalog photos allowed. This will make it unprofitable to list items less than $10 (and even that's pushing it).

Here is an example of what Ebay is going to require of me and similar sellers....
Ebay item #350518681494. I currently have 7 Ice trolls for sale. I'll need to have a picture FOR EACH figure. This will require me to keep straight which figure goes with which picture AND I will have to keep them separate from my off Ebay inventory.

Now breaking that down, lets assume it takes 5 minutes to take a photo and format and upload it to ebay ect...On this particular auction I make about .25 profit. That would mean in an hour I would make 12 quarters or $3 an hour....
If Ebay really goes through with this all that will be left for scape / minis/ trading card games (ect...) will be large collection and big dollar items. I know that I would have to drop ebay to all but a minimum and they would loose my $1k a month that I pay them (yes, that's my average ebay bill each month). I can only begin to image what they would loose from places like Troll and Toad and Coolstuff!

This is CRAZYl

[Auggest]

hhhhhhhh

[Auggest]

hhhhhhhhhhh

[Auggest]

Uggg, how do you delete a duplicate (or triplicate) post?

[SuperSamyon]

No need to delete the duplicate or triplicate post. It adds to the dramatic nature of the post

I would say that it is unlikely for ebay to police the millions of postings each day. I can imagine one photo for 4 identical items would be sufficient. Someone would have to be very well versed in scape to know the difference which ebay won't be.

I'm sure you will be able to take one photo of all 4 items in it as well. Otherwise if someone was selling legos they would have to take a photo of every single piece in the set.

It makes sense to get rid of stock photos for items that are used since you can't judge the quality of the item you are purchasing.

[Auggest]

Originally Posted by SuperSamyon

No need to delete the duplicate or triplicate post. It adds to the dramatic nature of the post

I would say that it is unlikely for ebay to police the millions of postings each day. I can imagine one photo for 4 identical items would be sufficient. Someone would have to be very well versed in scape to know the difference which ebay won't be.

I'm sure you will be able to take one photo of all 4 items in it as well. Otherwise if someone was selling legos they would have to take a photo of every single piece in the set.

It makes sense to get rid of stock photos for items that are used since you can't judge the quality of the item you are purchasing.

It will be very easy for them to police. Just write a program that looks for duplicate listings that have the "used" merchandise tag. They already take down multiple listings which I'm sure is automated.

I understand their rational, I'm just not sure THEY understand the impact of enforcement.
.....Andrew

[Rocktroll]

Why not take pictures of your items in LOTS and just clearly add in the description, You will get ONE of these trolls?

And just upload a picture of all 7 trolls at once?

[DeathDoom]

That may work for the trolls, but for 141 Glyphs of Sturla?

[Rocktroll]

Put a primary picture of the Logo of your store and the secondary picture of the stock item?

Most of us know what we are looking for when we search ebay

[Auggest]

Originally Posted by Rocktroll

Why not take pictures of your items in LOTS and just clearly add in the description, You will get ONE of these trolls?

And just upload a picture of all 7 trolls at once?

That would count as a "stock" photo I would think. Also, I'm sure they will be policing this with automation and it would ping all 7 using 1 picture as identical. Also, in my experience people often don't read descriptors and I'm sure someone would think they were getting all for that price. Still, if it gets past the auto screen then it might be doable and better than nothing.
......Andrew

[Rocktroll]

How about your first picture being a logo of your store/company?

Your right though, when I look at ebay I skim through the pictures looking for what I want.

Second one being the lots or default?

If you take a picture of a used figure and just keep using that, is that considered a stock photo too?

[Hogg]

This seems to only affect larger selelrs that have more than on of an item in their inventory.

Smaller sellers that break a case of 'Clix to sell already have to take a picture of each individual item anyway.

It sucks for retailers like Auggie but it may shift Ebay more towards the little guy.