Listing pictures dull and lacklustre

[imnotwhoyouthinkiam]

I've noticed for the last several weeks that whenever I add pictures to my listings, the colour of the items in the pictures are dull and murky.

When I'm listing, I upload the pictures and initially they seem ok. but as soon as I've clicked the DONE button, they turn dull and washed out. 
I've spoken to an ebay CS rep about this, but he just told me to edit and enhance the pictures in my folder before adding them, which I often do anyway, but this makes zero difference, and adjusting the brightness after uploading doesn't alter the vibrancy of the colour. He then said "I've looked at some of your listing pictures and they look fine to me" but he's not seeing the difference between my original pictures on file and what he can see in my listings.
I've also noticed in many listings from other sellers, that their pictures also look dull and lifeless. 
I'm very disappointed with my listings now as i feel this is definitely hindering sales. If this is a issue with ebay, they need to sort it soon as it is affecting both the seller's and consequently eBay's profits, as buyers are attracted by a good, clear and vibrant picture.

Also, i've tried using my partners phone to upload pictures, and also using my laptop, but I still got the same result each time.

any thoughts on what might be the cause?

This bag is brand new and actually bright lipstick red, but this is how it looks on ebay. The main gallery picture is ok, as i had to go around the houses to get it to upload looking almost normal, but now I can't remember how I did it

 

[4_bathrooms]

Are you taking pictures with a very high resolution device then uploading them directly to eBay?

eBay applies "image magic" to very large pictures that compresses them to reduce the file size and limit the maximum physical size. This can affect image clarity, colour representation, contrast etc. Try resizing the image so it is no larger than 1600 pixels on the longest side before uploading it to eBay and see if that makes a difference. The smaller the image (in terms of file size and physical size) the less "magic" eBay will apply to it.

For reference a 1600x1200 pixel image equates to about 2 megapixels. If you're uploading 30 megapixel images a lot of "magic" will be applied to them.

[imnotwhoyouthinkiam]

Thanks for your advice. Sorry to sound like a dummy but tbh, I'm a bit novice when it comes to all that you mentioned. My my other half is a lot more tech savvy than me, so he should be able to figure that out.

In all the years I've been selling on ebay, I've never had this problem until the start of this year. always really good quality vibrant pictures.

I just wondered if it was a problem with ebay as I'm seeing loads of other seller's listings with really full looking pictures too

fingers crossed my other half will know exactly what you mean and I can get my listings looking attractive again

btw, I take all my pictures and upload with my old iPhone 6 handset, who's is only used for ebay,  as the camera lens in my iPhone 11 is smashed

[m25jet]

Do you have an actual camera that you could use to take the photos for your listings, rather than using a mobile phone?  Although I gave up selling on eBay when they dumped PayPal and tried to force all sellers to switch to eBay Managed Payments, whenever I used to list items for sale I would just take the shots using a Canon Powershot A2100 IS and I always used to get fantastic results with it.  I also had a Canon Ixus 180 that I would use as a back-up camera if the batteries were flat in the Powershot.

If you do have an old camera lying around somewhere then perhaps it would be worthwhile taking some shots that way for one of your listings just as a test run, then once you've uploaded the shots to the listing you could compare them to the images taken with your mobile and see whether there is any noticeable improvement in the quality of the images.

In the event that you do decide to try this option and it does bring about some improvements to the shots in the test listing then perhaps it would be worth using this method for taking photos to be uploaded to further listings.  If you don't have a camera to hand you can often purchase a decent second-hand one off of eBay for a reasonable price, and SD cards aren't hard to come by.

[4_bathrooms]

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@imnotwhoyouthinkiam wrote:

btw, I take all my pictures and upload with my old iPhone 6 handset, who's is only used for ebay,  as the camera lens in my iPhone 11 is smashed

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Hmmm...that shouldn't be a problem as it's only an 8MP camera.

Just to explain; if you check the file size of pictures taken with that device they should be about 2.5MB if they're in JPEG format. After you upload the file to eBay right-click on it from a desktop/laptop, click "Open image in new tab" (or the equivalent option) then save it and select "Properties". The file size will probably show as "250KB" or something similar. There are about 1,000 kilobytes (KB) in one megabyte (MB) so the file size has become much smaller; in fact - a hundred times smaller. So, something (data) must have been taken out of the image you originally uploaded to make it smaller.

Also, if you look at the filename of the full-size image you downloaded from eBay it's name will be s-l1600.jpg. The "1600" refers to the physical size of the image; i.e. 1600 pixels on the longest side. Your original image - before you uploaded it - is likely 3264 pixels x 2448 pixels. So, the image has been roughly halved in physical size as well (3264 ÷ 2 = 1632).

Image compression is a clever thing as you can shrink the filesize of a large image dramatically so it displays quickly on a web page without losing too much quality. However, some quality is inevitably lost - the more compression that is applied to the original image, the more of the original quality gets lost. So, the more you exceed eBay's maximum image size (1600 pixels) the more compression will be applied.

However...an 8MP original image shouldn't be much of a problem. Are you looking at the pictures on eBay from a single device or multiple devices? If the pictures on eBay look fine on one device but washed-out on another the problem is likely with the device or the web browser rather than eBay.

[markepsilon]

Had this before ..

You may have pressed on "customise my search " in the past or accidently or its set its own default

in that box that comes up it has the choice of small medium or large thumb nails 

if it set to small , and you dont know it ..you look at the results and you automatically go to the zoom on your browzer and zoom to say 180 percent .

Then what you see on ebay is dull low res thumb nails

So go to of results ..press on little symbol next to "sort by"   and press custimise ..change to large thumbnails.

This is on a pc ..dont know how it asppears on other devices

All the best.mark

[1956glyn]

Hi just to add to all the technical stuff which mostly goes over my head 😁

If i can i find i take way better pictures if i am able to take them outside.

Mine are ok in my opinion and taken on a very old digital camera......much to my sons amusement as he says he will take them on his/the latest iphone.

My opinion is they can be taken on an old device but the natural lighting etc has to be seriously considered.

[ile136yz]

I've had a look at your adverts and noticed many have a beige background which will not allow the item to stand out.

Try editing the picture on one of you adverts by giving it a white background & also pressing the brightening button (you can cancel if you do not like the result).

[messier44000]

Plenty of free editing software that will sharpen, improve colours and whiten the background 

at the click of a button.

If using flash . natural light or both, a white sheet (A4 paper) held at the correct angle out of 

shot will get rid of shadows. Don`t be affraid to over expose images.

If you dont mind I took your image from item number 186192760968

Couple of clicks with free software got rid of most shadows and brightened things up

[insidethe93]

The bag looks fine to me, and one I might buy if I bought that kind of thing. But just in case you haven't thought of it, do you include in your listing a warning/reminder to potential buyers that the exact colour shade might vary a bit on their monitor, due to monitor settings?

I've noticed (on another platform) that sellers are increasingly including such disclaimers, though I get the impression they're sellers from the Far East - maybe it's standard wording there?

A few times over the years I've bought something (on another platform) and discovered the colour shade is quite different from the advert photo. And that's with the seller being a large professional company whom you'd think could afford accurate photography.

Just thinking ahead to stave off a potential problem from a buyer who's unhappy with the colour when they receive the goods, when it could be solely due to their monitor settings. As I use monitors that vary in their default settings, I regularly notice differences in colour shades when I look at my own photos.

[keeptheroof]

To me, it looks out of focus. Not saying that's your photo, it could be the eBay processing of it. First thing I would try is uploading in a different format. Ebay accepts JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, WEBP, HEIC, or AVIF

I would try PNG as these are lossless so whatever process eBay puts them through it will have the full image details to work with. Also, you could just go to video.

Don't have a clue what the issue is but it will probably be resolved in time if enough people are complaining.

[peturning]

Colour looks fine to me but the image above is out of focus. Tap on the phone screen at a location you wish to focus to (usually the middle) and most phones (I think iPhone too, couldn't say for certain though) will focus to that point. If in auto modes they will also adjust exposure when you tap.

[keeptheroof]

Very good idea to take images outside, much better light. 

For those looking for a decent setup for ebay images I would recommend something like an old Canon 60D which should come with a suitable lens 50mm or zoom 18-55mm which you can buy on eBay for under £100. A tripod from a charity shop will set you back £2-5 and a wireless remote like the Viltrox JY-120-C1 will cost around £20. If want you can add lights and even an old white sheet for the background.