Ebay Sellers Photos

This is more of an observation than a question I guess.

Why don't sellers post photos of the BACK of the pins they are selling. I would think that if the pin is genuine, they would be more than happy to do so. I can tell you that in other collectibles they always post both sides of the item. If they didn't nobody would purchase it.

Thanks!
Mark

A lot of ebay sellers just use the official photo from Disney or the picture from pinpics. I imagine that if more people asked for it they may take pics of their own.

Years ago I sold some pins on Ebay. I didn't post pictures of the backs because it was really hard to get a good scan of the back because of the post. I put in all the listings that I would be happy to provide a scan of the back on request, but hardly anyone ever asked for one. Of course that was before scrappers became such a problem.

I usually sell DSF pins and they are in sealed bags. I don't open them so I can sell them as new untouched. I suppose the DLR pins not in plastic could be shown but then you have to pay for a second photo.

The backs are harder to get a clear picture of. It takes more than double the work than just getting a picture of the front. In a lot of cases, its not worth the time for the seller as it doesn't affect the value of the of the sale. As previously mentioned, a lot of sellers don't even use original pictures at all, just stock photos from Disney or PinPics. Personally, I am happy when I see an original picture vs a stock photo. Pictures of the back is just to much to ask for most of the time.

markheardjr said:

I usually sell DSF pins and they are in sealed bags. I don't open them so I can sell them as new untouched. I suppose the DLR pins not in plastic could be shown but then you have to pay for a second photo.

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I can understand not wanting to open the plastic. that makes perfect sence to me. I'm sure that most buyers would go for the unopened pin in many cases. I know I would.

Thanks for the reply!
Mark

latemetal said:

The backs are harder to get a clear picture of. It takes more than double the work than just getting a picture of the front. In a lot of cases, its not worth the time for the seller as it doesn't affect the value of the of the sale. As previously mentioned, a lot of sellers don't even use original pictures at all, just stock photos from Disney or PinPics. Personally, I am happy when I see an original picture vs a stock photo. Pictures of the back is just to much to ask for most of the time.

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I agree TOTALLY with the actual pin photo. Nearly all the photos I have seen have been stock photos. I'm also a coin collector. I would never buy a coin from Ebay or anyone else if they don't have the photos of the actual coin, both sides.

Thanks Latemetal!

Roxane said:

Years ago I sold some pins on Ebay. I didn't post pictures of the backs because it was really hard to get a good scan of the back because of the post. I put in all the listings that I would be happy to provide a scan of the back on request, but hardly anyone ever asked for one. Of course that was before scrappers became such a problem.

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I'm suprised that everyone doesn't ask, especially because of scrappers.


Thanks!!!!

Melonballer said:

A lot of ebay sellers just use the official photo from Disney or the picture from pinpics. I imagine that if more people asked for it they may take pics of their own.

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As a collector I would much rather see the actual pin, both sides of it.

DoomScarf said:

I've seen the occasional seller who'll put both a photo of the front and back of their pins. If I'm interested in a pin and no back photo is shown (or a stock photo is used) then I ask the seller for a photo of the actual item.

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Do the sellers usually send you the photos? I'm sure that some sellers don't have any photos and only use stock images.

Thanks DoomScarf

I've had experience both selling just a few pins, and trying to sell 100+ pins on ebay (and not talking about hidden mickey lots or such).

When I'm selling just a few pins, like 5 or 10, I'll usually take a pic of the fronts and backs if I can.

But when I have more than 100 pins to sell, it gets very tedious and makes selling really exhausting. In fact, my family and I have gone through the entire process of looking up pins on pinpics, taking front and back pictures, and then putting them all on for decent prices... only to sell 1 or two in a week. When you do that much time consuming work, it can honestly be very discouraging to try and sell pins on eBay.

So now I'm pretty much considering using stock photos for pins unless they are rarer or I'm listing them for a bit of a higher price than the run of the mill sort of pins. I know I don't much care for stock photos, but I also know I personally won't pass up a pin just because there is a stock photo if I really want it. If someone asked for actual pics of the pin, I would have no problem sending them some asap.

Hope this helps a bit to maybe understand why some just use stock photos. I know that may not be the case for everyone, but after trying to sell volumes of pins and not always getting the hoped for results, I definitely have a bit more understanding as to why some sellers use them

If a pin for sale on ebay has a scrapper alert, I will usually just avoid the pin altogether, or trade for it in person, or buy it on a forum such as this one (making sure to have clear communication from the seller about identifying marks). So I don't usually need to see a picture of the back on ebay anyway.

There was one time that I wanted to buy a rare pin on ebay, and it had a scrapper alert on the PinPics listing. Many potential buyers probably dismissed it, assuming it was a scrapper because it was a good price ($14), compared to what it was worth (IMO about $50). But this one time, since it was so rare, I did ask for a picture of the back of the pin. The seller emailed the photo that day, and it didn't have the easily identifiable mark described in the scrapper warning. Of course, I grabbed it. I think the reason it was at a low price, was because the seller just didn't realize how rarely it comes up for sale.

I'm actually kind of glad that he didn't have a photo of the back on the listing, because more buyers may have been interested.