This isn't so much a major complaint, but I am a bit befuddled by the logic. If you're wanting to sell a widget, why not just post it on the thread along with the title and desired price/trade?

Seems like sellers work thrice as hard having to email the photos to potential buyers, vs just using postimage and putting it into the thread to begin with?

Plus, I might not be THAT interested if I don't actually see the item, so if you're making me email to request the image, you may be missing the pool of potential (spontaneous) buyers, which is counter to the goal.

Lastly, if I have to email you to get pics, I then have to deal with you potentially emailing me back after I've already decided I don't want your item. I've made requests to get pics on items for sale in the past (from this forum), and I said to the seller (in my request for pics and info) that I probably couldn't get it at the time; when I didn't come back after the fact to inform them that I got the info, but still wasn't able to buy the item, they emailed to scolded me for not letting them know that I wasn't interested. WTHk? I owe you a follow up after telling you on the front end that I probably won't be getting it?

Is there an advantage to posting something for sale without showing pictures? Maybe I'm just not getting it.

I prefer to see pictures in WTS ads and always put them in my own ads. I believe it helps significantly in making a sale.

But to your point about asking for pictures to be sent when you "probably can't get it at this time"- why bother? That's a waste of your time and the seller's. I would only ask for pictures if I have strong interest and definite possibility of making a purchase.

quote:

Originally posted by slabsides45:
This isn't so much a major complaint, but I am a bit befuddled by the logic. If you're wanting to sell a widget, why not just post it on the thread along with the title and desired price/trade?

Some people don't know how to, or simply don't care to go to the trouble of setting up photo hosting.

quote:

Originally posted by AH.74:
I prefer to see pictures in WTS ads and always put them in my own ads. I believe it helps significantly in making a sale.

But to your point about asking for pictures to be sent when you "probably can't get it at this time"- why bother? That's a waste of your time and the seller's. I would only ask for pictures if I have strong interest and definite possibility of making a purchase.

I'm not sure about most cases, but in my case I wasn't sure how interested I was in the item, so I wanted to see pics, then I'd decide if it was worth making the efforts to mobilize funds for a purchase. In the one case I cited, I just didn't have the motivation after seeing the item to go make it happen. But in some cases, I was interested in multiple items and requested pics on several at once, then bought the one I wanted. So I guess what I was really doing was saying something different than "send me pictures, but if I get a cheaper price or your item looks sucky, I won't get back to you." But to your point, I don't ask for pics on something I have no interest at all in.

It seems to mainly come down to laziness. (I don't know how to post photos and can't be bothered to learn. / I know how to post photos but can't be bothered to do it.)

Unless you're selling something so generic and ubiquitous that it doesn't need photos, like Glock 17 magazines, you're doing yourself and your potential buyers a disservice by not putting photos in your ad.

Some people are still stuck in the late 90s in terms of computer skills.

quote:

This isn't so much a major complaint

It is a major to me. No pic ads will be passed right over by most folks. Plain unacceptable when selling stuff, and I don't care what your excuses are.

I have lost track of how many times I wanted to see an item that I might be interested in buying, and the seller has posted either "I don't know how to post pictures," or "I don't have permission to post pictures."

Many times, I have put a reply in the ad with a diagram showing how to post photos -- I think that it was originated by GaryBF, and I shamelessly copied it:

My hope is that I can better serve you with a collection of photos. I have them all in Google Photos, and can send a link to a preselected album for that item. The experience I have with flickr uploading, posting individual links, editing the links to strip them of all the extraneous nonsense flickr sets up...not worth it to me. I'd much prefer to share a Google Photos album.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
My hope is that I can better serve you with a collection of photos. I have them all in Google Photos, and can send a link to a preselected album for that item. The experience I have with flickr uploading, posting individual links, editing the links to strip them of all the extraneous nonsense flickr sets up...not worth it to me. I'd much prefer to share a Google Photos album.

That's not the point of this thread. Direct links (to your pics) that are posted in the WTS ads are, for all practical purposes, pics posted in the ads. "Email for pics" is just ridiculous.

It is just plain laziness, lack of marketing skills or even deception can be a motive.
At any rate it doesn't help their sales process.

I have tried the photo hosting thing. Never worked for me.

So if it is too much trouble to post a single picture of what they are selling, how do I know if it isn't too much to ask that someone has to haul themselves to town so they can mail the thing off?

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

This isn't so much a major complaint

It is a major to me. No pic ads will be passed right over by most folks. Plain unacceptable when selling stuff, and I don't care what your excuses are.

Bingo, same here. No pics and I just scroll on by, no way I am sending an email just to get pictures and no way I am buying something without seeing it.

I kinda appreciate knowing the seller's location as well. Several times folks were selling things and we were able to get together and eliminate the shipping costs.

Yup. One of my ever growing list of pet peeves.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
It seems to mainly come down to laziness. (I don't know how to post photos and can't be bothered to learn. / I know how to post photos but can't be bothered to do it.)

Unless you're selling something so generic and ubiquitous that it doesn't need photos, like Glock 17 magazines, you're doing yourself and your potential buyers a disservice by not putting photos in your ad.

Exactly right. Posting pictures isn't rocket science. It does take some level of work...actually taking the pics (you don't need to be Ansel Adams but at least try to get the focus, lighting, and composition in the ball park, signing up for either a subscription or free photo hosting account, taking the time to upload the photos to the site, and then copy/pasting the pic links into your actual ad).

Yes, it does require some work, and it can be somewhat time consuming, but putting forth the effort early on in the process will pay dividends on the back end of the process. The time you put into the ad will save you time on the back end...first, you will be saving both yourself and the potential buyer time if the picture(s) reveal that the item isn't of interest to the buyer. Secondly it saves from repeatedly having to attach the same set of pics to different emails. You actually cut down on the number of email requests. Also, in some cases, pictures help the potential buyer to narrow down their line of questioning...they see something in the pic that prompts a specific question...and it saves a buyer from the frustration of not having the pics readily available...and as evidenced by some comments in this thread, it may actually improve the seller's chances of making a sale and making it sooner rather than later.

I'm not at all opposed to sharing my email address with forum members and especially those who may be potential buyers of an item I'm selling...but as someone concerned about data privacy and having my email address spammed or even malicious hacking attempts, posting pics in an ad cuts down on the number of email requests and therefore cuts down on the number of times my email address appears in another member's email contact list which might later be vulnerable to an attack on their account in which my personal info is compromised.

Yes, it is work to post pics...and even more so to construct an informative and interesting ad...but I've always believed that anything worth doing is worth doing right, and coming from a customer service background, and really, almost every job in the world requires some level of customer service whether it be internal or external customer service, the work put into an ad is an indication of whether the seller is willing to put the effort into the transaction to at least attempt to make the buyer happy...

...and, let's face it, whatever amount of work goes into posting pics and crafting a readable well thought out ad, it's not like digging ditches, swinging a pick in frozen hard clay soil, cleaning human feces off a sidewalk or parking garage stairwell, running a jack hammer, or going on patrol in a hostile neighborhood or foreign country in which the locals want to kill you.

Having said all that, there are a few specific instances where posting pics may not be possible. Specifically, I'm thinking of the times in which a buyer may live in either a remote rural area where data signals can be poor...or even in urban areas we sometimes find that signal strength is so low as to prevent the upload of pics.

I don't have wifi at home and when I want to access the internet I have to tether my smart phone to my laptop and burn what little allotted cell data I have to access the internet, and uploading pics really chews through that data. To complicate matters, I can get 4 and 5 bars of signal strength just a quarter mile from my home (I live within 1 mile of my carriers closest microwave tower) but while at home my signal strength not only is poor, but it cycles back and forth between 4G and 3G...and every time it cycles it not only kills texts, but will kill forum posts and pic uploads. I can't even begin to describe how many lengthy forum posts I tried to submit and how many pics I have tried to upload that disappeared into the ether when my poor signal strength was cycling.

I have access to various public wifi locations...and each and every one of them, to include the local library with supposed high speed wifi, seems to have prolonged periods of slow data transfer rates...it can take me hours in some cases to watch a short video or to upload pics to a hosting site...so, for those instances, I can see why a seller may not be able to post pics.

But these are the exceptions...at least make the effort of trying to upload a pic or two of the item(s) being sold.

When selling something I always try to put myself in the shoes of a potential buyer and ask myself what information and what pics would I like to know and see if I was going to buy the item I'm selling.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I have tried the photo hosting thing. Never worked for me.

Same here or my pictures come out way to small no matter what I do.
I haven't had any problems selling a pistol on this forum, plus I'll even ask what do you want pictures of and how many.
You want a picture of the pistol silhouetted against the moon? No problem. Want 3 different pictures of that? No problem.

Really depends on what you are selling.

If you are selling a NIB flashlight - does a potential buyer really need photo's?

Used items where the buyer would want to see potential wear - absolutely.

quote:

Originally posted by joatmonv:

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I have tried the photo hosting thing. Never worked for me.

Same here or my pictures come out way to small no matter what I do.

Have you tried PostImage?

Free, very easy to use, free, you can specify the photo size when you upload it, and it’s free.

Try it. Did I mention that it’s FREE?

quote:

Originally posted by Graniteguy:

Really depends on what you are selling.

If you are selling a NIB flashlight - does a potential buyer really need photo's?

Used items where the buyer would want to see potential wear - absolutely.

Maybe not needed, but if I don’t know for sure which particular model it is, or what options it might have, don’t make me search for it and then guess.

If you’re not going to post a photo, at least post a link to the specific flashlight. Of course if you’re going to post a link to a a photo, it usually just takes an extra click to embed the photo.