'AU Seller' banners or blank background?

[digitronaust]

Wondering what everyone's thoughts are on eBay thumbnails?

Years ago I had sucess with using 'Australian Seller' banners and backgrounds (other than plain white).

Many sellers still use this tactic, but eBay suggests using a minimalist image of the product itself.

What do you feel works best these days? Will creating a unique-looking thumbnail have a negative impact on my ad?

I get the sense eBay's end goal is for their listings is to look identical to those on Amazon.

[purplemon18]

It's a complicated issue, but my own opinion is that many of the Chinese sellers caught onto the tactic, they are especially fond of Australian flags or maps of Australia. So now I try to find sellers that don't put text or badges in their photos.

[enigmabear]

I see so many sellers registered in China (with  countless red dots for sending from China) who display some kind of Au Seller/ Australian flag banner etc etc etc, I rarely even bother looking at the listings now because 8 out of 10 times the 'Australia' display means China 

[countessalmirena]

@digitronaust,

eBay's Picture policy states:

❝The following are not allowed:

• Photos that don't accurately represent the item
• Placeholder images used to convey messages
• Stock photos for used, damaged, or defective items
• Photos with added borders
• Photos with added text, artwork or marketing material
• Watermarks of any type, including those used for ownership attributions❞

(Bolding and rubrication mine.)

You're right, of course, that some sellers continue to use images that contain additional artwork such as an Australian flag, or the words AU stock, and so on. I won't say that only Chinese sellers do this, but... a lot of Chinese sellers are the culprits. That would explain why they don't receive any sanctions and continue rampantly to flout the policy, as eBay.com.au has very little ability to do anything about it. (By "very little ability", I probably mean "no power at all".)

Read this post (in the spoiler section in particiular) for information about why eBay allows Chinese eBay sellers so much leeway.

If you, as an Australian seller, break the rules, all it will take is for one person (a competitor, a disgruntled buyer, a lurker on these boards, a complete stranger who comes across your listings and happens to be in a bad mood - any of these) to report your listings to eBay... and you'll find yourself being given a bottom spanking by eBay:

❝Listings that don't follow these rules may be removed from the site or from search results. Other actions we may take include lowering a seller's rating, charging additional fees, limiting buying and selling privileges, or suspending an account.❞

Not only that, but quite a few Australian buyers on eBay have begun to realise that the more aggressively "Look how aussie I am" that a seller's listings are, the more it seems like overkill designed to make a Chinese seller look like an Australian seller. (Remember that I mentioned how many Chinese sellers use images with all sorts of other artwork or text on them.)

If your store information or your My World page includes something like this:

Conveniently located in Nunawading, our business has been trading in Melbourne since 19xx.

 ...that is much more legitimate-looking than AU SELLER blazoned over your images.

EDIT: purplemon and enigmabear beat me to it...

[brerrabbit585]

On the other hand, a LOT of buyers obviously never check a seller's feedback or check to see where a seller is located, so on that basis adding something to the picture isn't going to make any difference. The ones who never check feedback or place of origin will assume it's Australia anyway and the ones who've been caught out by dodgy sellers won't trust you because of what you've got in your pictures.

Personally, I hate pictures that are cluttered with flags and words. All I want to see is the picture. If buyers are scrolling through a heap of listings your picture is less likely to catch their eye if the prominent part of it is a flag or writing. The idea is to make the picture (of the item) catch their eye, not bury it with writing and symbols.

@ countess, ebay have backtracked on that policy more times than I care to remember and I don't think it's being enforced (or most of it) at the moment.

[kopenhagen5]

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@purplemon18 wrote:

It's a complicated issue, but my own opinion is that many of the Chinese sellers caught onto the tactic, they are especially fond of Australian flags or maps of Australia. So now I try to find sellers that don't put text or badges in their photos.

---

Ditto.

[springyzone]

I'm a buyer. I don't look for flags, symbols or anything else.

I look for products.

A clear photo, maybe with a plain background, is probably going to attract my attention more than anything.

Also the price and the perception of reasonable quality from the description.

I always read descriptions & I like to buy from Australian sellers where possible, so if you had a line in your ad, the way countess suggested

If your store information or your My World page includes something like this:

Conveniently located in Nunawading, our business has been trading in Melbourne since 19xx.

...that is much more legitimate-looking than AU SELLER blazoned over your images.

that would be more impressive to me. Or even a statement that you were an Australian seller trading on ebay for xx years.

[digitronaust]

Thanks everyone for the feedback, very helpful advice!

You're right about the overuse of the Australian flag in listings.

It used to be very effective, until China-based sellers copycatted the idea.

The most bizarre thing I've seen is ads that blantantly go against eBay's Picture policy, with an upside down photo of the product which still manages to attract hundreds of buyers.

Here's an example of how one of my listings used to look, before I transitioned them to a single product image with a plain background.

I feel that this was very effective in catching buyer's attention, but it seems the days of these types of eBay ads are gone

(At least for users on eBay.com.au)

I'll follow your recommendations to include store info in the ad and user bio.

I've also revised my photos to fill the thumbnail and use all 1600x1600 pixels allowed by eBay, may make it more noticeable to some degree.

@countessalmirena

That was an interesting read about the concessions given to Chinese eBay sellers, thanks for sharing your post.