ebay: Why do sellers use pictures of a card from an angle and not directly in front?

JWBlue

Am I thinking too much?

Is this obviously due to the seller is trying to hide a centering issue?

jordangretzkyfan

If the card is graded, it might be to remove the camera glare from a straight on shot.

wilkiebaby11

I sometimes have to use an angled shot to remove the glare irnreflection of my camera. I will normally have a straight birds view as well though too. I would always proceed with some sort of caution though, especially for a high $ card.

swish54

I would say it's because someone is either A: trying to hide a defect, or B: the seller doesn't understand how valuable having a good picture of the item is and just wants a quick picture.

BunchOBull

Poor centering can be greatly masked if the image is shot at the right angle.

charrigan

It's almost always done to avoid glare.

JBrules

I believe both glare and centering issues is why sellers post pictures on an angle. When I see a card I am interested in I will look at the other items the seller has posted and see if they are also taken with angle/tilt. If I find only some are tilted then I generally believe they are hiding something and take a pass with that card.

milbroco

I always use a scanner. No glare and a good picture.

KendallCat

Agreed scanner is the way to go. I know one seller on Ebay takes photos with a flash on a wooden table, and all of his cards look great in the Ebay photos, and I would imagine he has a lot of unhappy customers when they get their cards. All of his cards where a PSA 4 or PSA 9 glow in the photos.

49ersGuy

I do my best to avoid these. I bought a 1972 Staubach rookie that only showed a couple of angle shots. The card looked nice (nice corners etc) so I bit. Dealer had 100% with about 400 total so I was thinking this was legit.

I got the card and it was trimmed. I knew it the moment I saw it out of the package. Of course I compared and it was definitely trimmed. Luckily the seller refunded it. I gave the seller the benefit of the doubt that they did not know. Of course while it was in transit back to the seller they had the same card posted before it actually made it back. I did buy a 76 payton too from this seller(same transaction) and that card was as advertised.

gregmo32

I am definitely guilty of this. For a while, I didn't have a good camera or scanner, and had to use angles to avoid the glare or flash.
This thread has inspired me to go back and add better photos for my older listings.
I sort of thought that since most of my listings are PSA graded that the picture didn't make that much difference, but I see that it does to many people.

PaulMaul

It makes a huge difference. I hate tilt, and angled photos make it very difficult to detect.

Sdub

99% of the time because they are hiding something. Don't waste another breath looking at tilted or blurry cards, move on. If you see it twice from the same seller, block em. It's 2015, 5 year olds can put good photos on e-bay now.

pclpads

<< <i>99% of the time because they are hiding something. Don't waste another breath looking at tilted or blurry cards, move on. If you see it twice from the same seller, block em. It's 2015, 5 year olds can put good photos on e-bay now. >>



Couldn't disagree more. While that - hiding defects with angled camera shots - certainly occurs, I think using a camera is due more to sellers not having a scanner. Anymore, they are so cheap, it is like using chalk in lieu of a pen.