GIS for albums

September 13, 2005 8:15 AM

I've got a stack of CDs & LPs to sell on eBay. As I don't own a digital camera, could I just use Google Image Search and use jpgs of the album artwork as my gallery listing photo? Is it against eBay's rules? Is it against the law?

Is it common? I noticed many music retailers on eBay either don't use a gallery image at all, or they have original photos. I was surprised more people didn't go the GIS route.

posted by dhoyt to Law & Government (13 answers total)

I've seen it done many a time for other items. I don't think its against the law. I do think its against the law to claim the cds arer in perfect condition when they are, in reality, scratched. As long as there is a disclaimer in your ad about the condition of the cds then I see no problem in using album artwork. Good Luck!
posted by LunaticFringe at 8:18 AM on September 13, 2005

I'm not sure about this, but ebay may recognize the album and provide some of the information on the album automatically, perhaps even the image. Have you listed one yet?
posted by jikel_morten at 8:18 AM on September 13, 2005

Ebay does have album recognition services. You should be able to use their interface to put together your sell list of product information.
posted by lilboo at 8:24 AM on September 13, 2005

When listing your Cds for auction, if you enter the UPC code eBay's program will dig up cover art and reviews for your listing. Such as this random example here.

Similarly for books and ISBN numbers.
posted by jamesonandwater at 8:24 AM on September 13, 2005

Jikel__morten is right -- ebay can pull up a lot of info on common / recent releases based on the UPC code. Just make sure that you indicate in the text anything relevant to the condition of the item.
posted by omnidrew at 8:24 AM on September 13, 2005

If you're doing this, make sure to state that it's a stock photo, and clearly describe any flaws - that way no-one should be surprised if what they get doesn't match up with the image in the auction.

Having said that, it's probably worth trying to borrow a digicam, or buy a cheap one - as a rule, listings with genuine pictures will always close higher than those with a stock photo.
posted by anagrama at 8:29 AM on September 13, 2005

lilboo and jamesonandwater thank you for that info. I never knew this about eBay. Very cool.
posted by caddis at 8:47 AM on September 13, 2005

Response by poster: With books and CDs, you can definitely utilize the UPC code for auto-filling a description, which is great. It also fills in the appropriate photo and indicates it's a stock photo.

This doesn't apply to the LPs, though. Taking a picture of each one still seems crazily time-consuming, and I'm hoping that a solid desciption is sufficient for most people to gauge the condition. (Mint vs. Near Mint vs. Good, etc)
posted by dhoyt at 8:51 AM on September 13, 2005

I've bought a few LPs on ebay, and I'm not sure I'd buy one that wasn't listed with a photo (preferably one giving some idea of what the actual LP looks like). That said, yes, I imagine it would be very time-consuming to shoot them all if you have a large collection.
posted by Tuwa at 8:58 AM on September 13, 2005

Speaking as an experienced eBay seller: You'll get bids either way, but the price tends to go higher when you've taken your own picture. Buyers feel more comfortable trusting in the condition of an item they can see.
posted by cribcage at 9:00 AM on September 13, 2005

I buy LPs on ebay, and while it wouldn't stop me from ordering an LP I really wanted, I'd be more likely to bid on an album w/ a photo taken of the actual item. Same with books, but I wouldn't care about CDs - this is because the condition of books/LPs matters more to me than it does w/ a CD.
posted by drobot at 10:40 AM on September 13, 2005

This doesn't answer your question directly, but check out half.com for CD's. It's not an auction site. You set the price you want and wait for buyers to come along. It gives you a rundown on what other sellers are currently asking so you can undercut them. It's free and much faster to list than ebay. You type in the UPC code and your listing includes a stock image. Half.com is owned by ebay, BTW.

Gemm.com works similarly, but includes records. The site is cumbersome and it takes some time to get going, but it's also free. You can upload photos there but most sellers don't bother. Here's a helpful AskMe thread about Gemm (asked by me.)

Ebay's best when you're confident there will be more than one person who really wants your item, so you can start your price low (meaning lower listing fees for you) and they will drive it up. Remember you pay listing fees even if your item doesn't sell, so it's important to know your market. And you pay more after it sells and more if you accept payment with PayPal (also owned by ebay). Look up listings of completed sales for everything.

Ebay doesn't have stock images for LP's as far as I know. Probably because much of the market includes records issued before UPC codes were used. If you're selling records for which serious collectors will be paying big bucks, you'd do much better with photos. Maybe the way to go is to sell enough CD's on half.com to afford a cheapie digital camera.

Two more tips: grade accurately and include full info on shipping costs overseas. I'm in the US and I always list shipping for Canada, the EU and Japan.
posted by hydrophonic at 4:24 PM on September 13, 2005

One more thing (after rereading your question.) You asked about using gallery listing photos.

There's the photo in the item description, one of which you get from ebay free (or host them elsewhere and use as many as you want).

The gallery listing photo is a thumbnail in the listings. Useful if you're selling, say, a sweater and you want people to see what color it is before they decide with descriptions to read. For CD's and LP's the gallery photo is not worth the extra fee. The exception would be for rarities and records for which the cover graphics are a big selling point .
posted by hydrophonic at 4:41 PM on September 13, 2005