If a picture is worth 1,000 words, imagine the story you could tell with 24 photographs. eBay has recently announced that sellers can now include up to 24 product images in their listings for free. For those old enough to remember dropping your holiday photographs at the chemist for processing, that’s an entire roll of film in your pre-digital era camera.
eBay Optimisation Strategy
Images are, of course, an essential element of any eBay optimisation strategy. Therefore, if you are listing products with just one or two images (like you used to do back in the day), you shouldn’t be surprised if your eBay sales have fallen off a cliff in recent months.
Careful use of images will help your product listings be more favourably viewed by eBay’s (make or break) search engine. In addition, they will actively help sell your products. eBay buyers increasingly look to the quality of images to gauge a product’s value and the seller’s trustworthiness.
Why should someone buy from your eBay listings when your competitors have done a much better job at illustrating their product listings?
Too Much Information?
You might argue that 24 photographs in a listing is too much information. But that really depends on the category, and there are many reasons why you would want to add more photographs to your eBay listings.
For example, you could use multiple images to highlight a product’s item specifics, such as size or colour.
For example, if a fashion retailer sells a dress in multiple sizes, buyers might find their listing more valuable if they show how the garment looks on different-sized models. This doesn’t only highlight how the dress will look on different body shapes, reassuring people that the item is the right purchase for them. It will also help you reduce returns from buyers who weren’t 100% sure the product was right for them.
Multiple images can also be used to showcase individual components of a product. For example, think about how a musical instrument seller could really highlight the quality of their products by offering close-up images of specific parts of the instrument.
Not Enough Information?
Some sellers might even argue that 24 photographs is not enough information.
Suppose you sell anything that comes as a set or a kit or is a complex item, like a vehicle or a piece of machinery. In that case, 24 photos might not be enough information to highlight everything that makes their product stand out. When this happens, adding video to your eBay listings becomes an essential strategy.
Why Is eBay Doing This?
While, in reality, 24 images will be more than enough for most sellers, you have to wonder why eBay is increasing the number of available images in a listing. The answer is pretty simple. It is because sellers have recognised that the more information they share about a product, the better it performs in eBay searches and the more likely it is to sell.
Therefore, if you are wondering if you should include more photos in your listings, the answer is almost certainly yes. To confirm this, you should check out your competitors’ listings and ask yourself if they are outgunning you in terms of image use and general eBay listing optimisation.
A quick and easy way to gauge how well your listings perform against your competitors is to compare them using Frooition’s free eBay Listing Optimisation tool. How does your use of the available number of images correspond to other sellers in your category?
Making Marginal Gains
Successful eBay listing optimisation is more often than not about making marginal gains. For example, could you add one or two extra photographs to your listings? Would including a video in your listings help improve your conversions? Could you include free shipping and improve your delivery times?
To learn more about how Frooition can help you make those marginal gains that help you sell more, book a free 15-minute discovery call with one of our eBay optimisation experts today.
