EAPH.com iDrive2 "Self Hosting eBay Gallery Pictures"
Screen by Screen Tutorial 		Other Tutorials

This tutorial covers:
  • Creating a new folder in iDrive
  • Uploading using the iDrive2 Java Upload2 method
  • Cropping, Resizing, and Compressing using the iDrive Photo Optimizing tools
  • Preparing a perfectly square image to give to eBay for use in eBay's Gallery
  • Providing URLs to eBay during the item listing process on eBay
eBay provides for the hosting of one free picture that they will alter into the sizes used by eBay in the selling page and in the eBay galleries (when you choose to pay for the Gallery feature). It is easier to simply give eBay a picture to use for those purposes directly from your computer but you may get slightly better results if you host the pictures yourself and instead provide eBay with URLs. At the very least the pictures will then be displayed on eBay without the eBay logo embedded onto them.

Understand, there's no avoiding paying eBay for the Gallery feature and there's no avoiding eBay processing of Gallery Pictures no matter whether you decide to provide URLs or upload directly to eBay. Most photos will definitely benefit from some preparation, however, so you get more bang for your buck. Especially if you are able to provide eBay with a photo that is perfectly square it will appear up to 25% larger than most other sellers' who don't bother to prep. Allow me to explain...

eBay Gallery pictures, such as appear in search results, are reduced to fit within an 80x80 or 96x96 pixel area depending on whether the results are being viewed in List or Gallery view. A typical digital camera produces rectangular pictures in the proportions of one dimension being 25% larger than the other, such as 640x480 pixels, 1600x1200, etc. Those proportions will result in eBay reducing them to 80x60 and 96x72 respectively. Giving eBay perfectly square pictures instead will result in 80x80 and 96x96 results. Granted, not much larger, but every little bit can help when competing for the attention of shoppers.

Equally important to getting attention in eBay search results is to produce as enticing a Gallery Picture as possible. Many "full view" photos don't appear with any amount of detail when reduced to the small sizes eBay uses in search results. Often it may be best to crop down to only an interesting portion of the item and use that instead as the Gallery Picture.

The screen by screen tutorial below demonstrates how to accomplish those tasks using the tools built into EAPH hosting - the iDrive Photo Optimizing Tools. In the tutorial I created images that resulted in these eBay Gallery Pictures:

as would appear in eBay list format search results

as would appear in eBay gallery format search results

Compare to these less attractive, smaller results without any preparation performed:

as would appear in eBay list format search results

as would appear in eBay gallery format search results

For a more in-depth analysis of what preparation efforts will produce the very best eBay Gallery Picture results you may also read my study: Suggestions For Better eBay Gallery Picture Appearance and Effectiveness.

Be sure to scroll down far enough to also view the captions below the screen shots
See "Instructions for increasing screen size" below if needed


Slide 1
The web browser you are using either does not have javascript enabled or is not compatible with iDrive2 or Template Helper. I suggest using FireFox2 that you can download free at www.mozilla.com

Instructions for increasing your web browser screen size

If you are having trouble fitting the tutorial slides along with the captions into your viewing window first try maximizing the window. If that doesn't do the trick try using the "Full Screen" option in your web browser's tool bar under "View".

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