eBay Gift Ideas for Father's Day, June 21st

Father's Day is coming soon. On Sunday, June 21st, 2009, we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Father's Day. Search on eBay for unique and vintage gifts for Dad:
Search for Father's Day gifts on eBay

eBay Tips: Photography

Vintage cameras and typewriters are two of my favorite items to photograph. I wonder if these classic designs will ever return? Although each came from a separate estate, I can imagine them belonging to a rookie American newspaper reporter, perhaps capturing the pictures and stories of the war overseas... Both of these were shot in 2005.



Vintage Underwood Typewriter (circa 1943)



Vintage Spartus Press Flash Camera (Made between 1939-1950)

eBay Tips: Photography

A colorful subject from another consignment shoot. Better than a Kodak ad...


Barbie Doll

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Search for Barbie on eBay

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eBay Tips: Photography

The Classroom Printer #1




The Classroom Printer #2




His Master's Voice

eBay Tips: Photography

My photo of the day is this Rancor Monster figure from the Star Wars film Return of the Jedi. This is another photo of an eBay consignment item I did back during my days at BidBrothers. A nice close-up of the scary, pointy teeth! He's got a face that only a mother could love... The figure had a high center of gravity and would easily fall down if nudged or if blown by the breeze of our oscillating cooling fan. Must have been the big head. Eventually I realized I could tip the head back to maintain a better balance.



Star Wars Rancor Monster Figure #1



Star Wars Rancor Monster Figure #2

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Search for Star Wars Rancor Monster on eBay

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eBay Tips: Photography

I recently powered up my old desktop PC (mostly use the laptop now) and located an archive of a few more photos I shot at BidBrothers, the eBay consignment shop, back in 2005. I will post them over the next few days. This antique gold mirror was a very beautiful piece and a joy to photograph! Any object with a reflective surface is an opportunity to use light, reflection, and refraction to enhance your photo.



Hand Mirror with Gold Cherub #1



Hand Mirror with Gold Cherub #2



Hand Mirror with Gold Cherub #3

Meg Whitman Running for Governor of California 2010

Meg Whitman, Republican candidate for governor, was the former President and Chief Executive Officer of eBay from March 1998 to March 2008. Get all of the latest campaign news at her website: http://www.megwhitman.com/ and on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/megwhitman

eBay Tips: Photography

Set the Wayback Machine to the summer of 2005. I was shooting eBay photographs for an independent eBay consignment shop. I had very little experience and we had a make-shift studio in the back of the warehouse with just a gray backdrop and a couple of halogen worklights. The digital camera was respectable (it was either a Canon or Nikon). Yet I somehow achieved incredible results! Pretty much all of those photos are gone now, sadly. However, this set was saved because an external website borrowed them from the eBay ad while it was still available. I have archived them here to showcase my past work. The item is a 1950s Puccini chalkware ballerina TV lamp. The top photo was taken with the lamp on so a low wattage bulb illuminates the figure from behind. No flash was used. This is one of my favorite photos. The bottom photo was taken with our normal flash and halogen lighting.

New Auction from PDXBuys:

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Starting bid is just 99 cents!

Two (2) Vintage TootsieToy Truck Cabs Red & Blue
(Item #330330162446)
Click on image below to see full ad. Photo ©2009 by PDXBUYS.

New Listing from PDXBuys:

Walt Disney's BAMBI (VHS)
Fully Restored 55th Anniversary Limited Edition
BUY IT NOW: $5.99 (SOLD!) (Used)

eBay Diversions: Javascript Hack

No eBay sales? Life getting you down? Take a break! Copy and paste the following script into the address bar of your web browser and then press ENTER on your keyboard. Wow! (Just refresh your web page to return to normal.) Works with MS Internet Explorer. Doesn't seem to work with Firefox.

javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.images; DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i-DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5; DIS.top=Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5}R++ }setInterval('A()',5); void(0);

This is a classic web browser hack. It is completely harmless.

eBay Tips: Marketing

FREE BUSINESS CARDS!

Promote your eBay page or eBay services by passing along your business card to new clients. My favorite supplier is www.vistaprint.com. You can get your first 250 business cards free from vistaprint. They also have a wide variety of other products such as brochures, window decals, promotional magnets, calendars, hats, keychains and more! They offer professional service and ordering is easy with their fully automated website. Be sure to have a look.

eBay Tips: Customer Communication

Customer service is job #1 - Communicate with your customers!

Good communication with your buyers will just about guarantee that you will receive positive feedback. Many of your customers will be new to eBay and somewhat intimidated. Good communication assures them that there is a caring human being on the other end and that they are not going to get ripped off. Promptly following up on questions or problems is greatly appreciated by most buyers. This might mean just answering a simple question about an item prior to the sale or e-mailing a UPS tracking number after shipment. Do your best to provide one-to-one personalized service. Always remain professional no matter how difficult the problem. Once you fall into the trap of arguing with or insulting your customer you have lost. Learn to ignore extremely rude customers. It's not worth the fight.

eBay Tips: Photographing your item

A successful ad will have great photos. All of your ads should have at least one photo and a gallery. The gallery picture will appear in the search results when a buyer types in a keyword in the search field.

The Camera:

There are some sellers who still use a film camera to photo items. After the photo is developed the print is scanned with a digital scanner and then the image is posted to the ad. For obvious reasons, this is not terribly practical. Buy a good digital camera! pdxbuys uses a Fujifilm FinePix A205 2.0 megapixel camera which was purchased for under $100.00. It has served me well, but there are far more advanced cameras now available. There are many varieties of cameras to choose from. Find one which fits your budget and is comfortable and easy for you to use. Rechargeable batteries or an AC adapter will save you from debt and stress. There is nothing worse than having your cheap batteries die right when you are trying to meet the deadline for an important ad.

Point and Shoot:

The three cardinal rules of photography: FOCUS, LIGHTING, and SIZE

Nothing looks as bad as a photo which is out of focus, too dark, or too small! If your photo does not look good, then take the time to reshoot. A bad photo can drive down your sale price.

If you have your own personal photography studio then you are very fortunate. For those on a budget, improvisation is the key. Shooting outdoors in direct or indirect sunlight will often get you the same (or better) results as you'd get shooting under expensive photography lights. A small piece of colored paper will work as a functional background if you have nothing else. Remember that the important thing is the final result. You buyers will not know that you improvised as long as the image looks great!

I enjoy photographing small items and giving them a larger-than-life feel. A mundane item, such as this vintage Lesney truck found at the bottom of a Goodwill bin, can be given new life when featured in a carefully executed close-up shot. The narrow depth of field adds depth and makes the vehicle look larger than it really is.


VINTAGE LESNEY SCAMMEL 6X6 TRACTOR (circa 1960)

Tips:

1. Crop your ad as close to a square shape as possible. This makes the best gallery photo.

2. Make sure your pictures contribute to the ad.

3. Consider photo hosting services such as photobucket.com to help keep costs down.

NEVER post a blurry photo in your ad! Use of a tripod or simply resting the camera on a solid object when you shoot can reduce your number of blurry photos. If your first photo is bad, always take the time to shoot again until you get that perfect image.
Remember that photography, like playing the piano, is a skill. It will take some practice to develop a method which works. Be patient and experiment frequently. That random thing you do might result in a super photo. Make notes and try to repeat the technique the next time! Study stock photos taken by professionals and try to duplicate the look.

There are hundreds of books available on photography. Read a few and try to apply what you have learned. If you are very dedicated, sign up for a class at your local community college. Photography can be the most creative and satisfying part of creating your ad!

Item ending soon!

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Vintage West Line Polar Star Ship Glass Ashtray c. 1967
(Item #330323384603)
Click on image below to see full ad. Photo ©2009 by PDXBUYS.


Purchased at a local Goodwill store.

Item ending soon!

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ROCK 'EM SOCK 'EM ROBOTS Mattel 2001
(Item #330322965132)
Click on image below to see full ad. Photo ©2009 by PDXBUYS.


I found this great pair of robots at a Goodwill store. They were made in 2001 by Mattel (China).

Unfortunately, not the original Marx robots. But just for fun here is the old Marx commercial: