I don't understand ebay sellers who use lousy images...

HonoluluDude

...which is like over half of them.

How can they expect to get a decent bid for their wares?

Myqqy

I think a lot of people just don't have any idea on how to improve their images, but want to cash in anyway...

HonoluluDude

Yeah, but some of them are just horrible. Like they were taking the picture in the sun or running with the camera.

HonoluluDude

Like this one, for example:

HonoluluDude

or this:

Boothill40

I have to admit that I've been guilty of that, some coins are just beyond my limited ability to get a good photo of and add to that the only camera in the house is a Kodak easy share

rec78

A lot of people just dont have the ability. But i do agree with your assessment in general- lousy pictures =low bids- especially for coins. Still a bad picture is better than no picture MOST of the time.
Some scammers purposely post bad pics in order to rip people off.Especially for very rare coins.

HonoluluDude

rec78

Slabs are hard to get good pix of. It takes a good camera -good technique-good lighting and some skill to learn to how to get good pix of slabs---raw coins can be scanned and a fairly good pix can be gotten- but slabs do not scan well.. Good photography is a skill lacking in many including myself. Eventually i hope to learn the skills necessary to take good photos of coins for internet use. Bob

TorinoCobra71

<< <i>Like this one, for example:
>>



You are not kidding! That is one CRAPPY picture! Howz about the auctions that have NO PICS??

TorinoCobra71

"No Pic = NO BID!"

Boom

Where there is a will, there is a way. Of all things, I started with a brutally honest, very unflattering scanner because I was glad to have it and didn't know any better (besides, it was a gift) and I eventually got pretty good with it yet I marveled at how GREAT pix were that were taken with digital cameras.

Not knowing one single thing about digital photography (BTW, I am still a novice in my book) I asked several members here who we all know are VERY good and each one in his own way has helped and guided me.

When I see pix that look the size of a button shot from 50 ft away or the ones that are conveniently out of focus, I find that the seller is usually trying to hide some defect. I say conveniently because if the seller has multiple listings, why then are some nice, closeup and in focus while others are as mentioned? (JMHO)

seateddime

sometimes they are done to hide problems or leave mystery.

Bad imagaes and no return - no bid from me

drwstr123

Like anywhere else, some are accidental, some are intentional. I don't go to Atlantic City so every nnow and then I gamble on images. I bought a poor image 1922D Lincoln, PCGS MS63 because of the sheen only. The image was too distant for detail. I won a round that time:

Boom

Some people really are that dumb but if you try hard enough, long enough, you HAVE to get better, don't you think?

RBinTex

How about the sellers of totally fungible commodity-like modern crap that don't even bother to use images AT ALL!

ElmerFusterpuck

My favorites are the pictures of copper coins that look like the new moon on a cloudy night...

p8nt

Some people take bad pictures of toned coins because it brings out a section of the "money" color and will result in a higher ending price than an evenly lit picture of the whole coin.

robertpr

I think a lot of people are just completely unaware of the sheer percentage of these images are purposely taken that way to hide defects or to prevent potential bidders from being able to accurately grade the coins. There is not a single camera in the free world, and I don't care what brand or model, that will take a picture like the ones that Honoluludude is showing. Not one. I could take any random camera, using the flash, and holding it in my hand, and still get a better picture. These images were certainly altered with software on purpose. The vast majority of coins out there, and I say about 98% of them, are total crap and that's what the vast majority of collectors collect. And there's a reason why all those third tier slabbers exist, that is because the vast majority of average collectors don't know any better so they buy average(crap) coins in crap holders. So when you take a good picture of a crappy coin, it becomes glaringly obvious that you're selling garbage.

eBay is flooded with average people trying to "cash in". They might not be professional scammers but they are average people, who have already taken their coins to Joe Schmoe's Coin Shop and gotten lowball offers because they have low end coins, they see some of the better sellers on eBay getting big money and they whip out their digicam that they used on their last vacation and take some pictures. They take quick, crappy images because they think nobody out there knows what a Morgan dollar looks like and people will be happy just seeing the basic design and say "ooh gosh that must be rare" and bid on it. Then they slap in some stupid thing like "L@@K!!! RARE NTC MS66 MORGAN DOLLAR BID NOW!!!" thinking the dough is about to roll in. After a few of their auctions end at $6.30 they call it quits and take the rest of their coins back to Joe Schmoe's and cash them in.

Shamika

<< <i> My favorites are the pictures of copper coins that look like the new moon on a cloudy night... >>




I think many people are just trying to scam potential buyers. When an image is blurry, I run!

HonoluluDude

Here's another example. MS-68? I don't think so.

Why does anybody place a bid on this?

segoja

What blows me away is people bid on the crappy photo coins.

A bad image is normally a bad coin.