bizzycrocheting
|
posted on July 20, 2004 07:52:44 PM new
is it that scanning and cropping pictures THE most boring aspect of an ebay business? I'm struggling to keep my eyes open while I complete this monotonous duty. I enjoy every other aspect of my e-bay business(especially watching my auctions in the final minutes!), but scanning and cropping is really the pits!
Diane
|
iareateacher
|
posted on July 20, 2004 08:29:22 PM new
Can you scan the item in such a way that it doesn't need to be cropped?
--
|
rosycat
|
posted on July 20, 2004 08:34:48 PM new
My husband's scanner "quit" working this week and he went and bought a new one. It cost under $200 with the rebate (that's all he'd tell me)  but, he can put as many photos on it as he wants and they come up individual, and don't need cropped.
It's an Epson Perfection 3170. I haven't touched it yet, but he's been playing with it for a couple days with family photos.
He doesn't even DO eBay! My scanner may just "quit" this week, too!!!
^..^ meow ^..^ meow ^..^
Time Spent With Cats Is Never Wasted
|
dadofstickboy
|
posted on July 20, 2004 09:29:31 PM new
That's why I never scan,I take pic's you have to keep your eyes open!
|
Roadsmith
|
posted on July 20, 2004 09:43:07 PM new
I agree the photo work is tedious, and I'm a perfectionist with them (not that they're ever perfect!) and want the pictures cropped in an attractive way if possible. I envy people who can just throw the pictures into the auction without messing further with them, but I can't do that somehow.
___________________________________
"Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same, but better."
- Sidney J Harris
|
parklane64
|
posted on July 20, 2004 09:46:31 PM new
It's you.
__________
Hebrews 13:8
|
iareateacher
|
posted on July 20, 2004 09:56:41 PM new
When I had 3,000 sterling souvenir spoons to sell on eBay, I had to develop a plan. At minimum there needed to be a picture of the front, the handle or bowl detail and the mark.
That's 9,000 photos.
I set the scanner preview to be about 7 by 2 inches and masked the scanner glass so I could just slap the spoon down, scan, scan, flip, scan, NEXT!
No cropping required.
If you have similarly sized items, maybe you could use this technique.
--
|
Libra63
|
posted on July 20, 2004 10:02:02 PM new
I scan. Tell the scanner what size I want and hit the button. I do have to rezice them but I don't crop anything. I keep a note pad handy so when I crop something I write the size and resolution numbers handy so I don't have to think when doing it again.
|
toasted36
|
posted on July 20, 2004 10:32:02 PM new
Taking pics and crop is the best part to me ...it's the looking for what the item is,a ruff age ,formal name and writing a description that drives me wacky. Jewelry has almost become easy thanks to all the wonderful links and oral help here (thank you thank you) but odd items like that crazy music box, glass patterns and hallmarks on silver eekkk !!
|
neroter12
|
posted on July 21, 2004 04:47:58 AM new
I dislike wrapping and packing, but maybe if I used new boxes and had them in all sizes it wouldnt be so much of a drudge. I like the picture part - almost a challenge for me.
|
CBlev65252
|
posted on July 21, 2004 05:05:00 AM new
I use a camera. It's easier. In fact, I removed my scanner from my office so that I wouldn't be tempted to use it at all. I also like messing around with the photos (cutting out the backgrounds, adding shadows and highlights, etc.), but then I'm the extremely creative type. It's what I like to do and what I once did for a living (not photography, but typesetting). On the flip side, from what I understand the new scanners out there do a better job than the older ones. The scanner I have cost me $500 five years ago and the only reason I bought that one was because it allows you to feed multiple pages into it for scanning and had an OCR feature.
Packaging - now that's something I could easily live without.
Cheryl
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklin
|
amber
|
posted on July 21, 2004 05:57:31 AM new
I scan for about 5-6 hours every day. I put up to 14 pictures of craft books on my auctions, but I know it's worth it. It can take up to an hour to scan 1 book. O.k. I know, you wonder why I spend so much time on low cost items, well, I am disabled, and there is not much else I can do to earn money, so I do this. I see people with just the cover pictured on the same books as me, getting far less bids.
|
Roadsmith
|
posted on July 21, 2004 06:53:54 AM new
LOL! Sounds like we'd make a great Ebay selling team. There's somebody here who likes just about every aspect (except perhaps for the packing).
I don't mind packing books; they're pretty easy. It's the fragile porcelain that causes anxiety for me.
___________________________________
"Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same, but better."
- Sidney J Harris
|
ladyjewels2000
|
posted on July 21, 2004 07:00:07 AM new
$200 for a scanner? I see them at every other garage sale for $10 to $20.
I started ebay with a scanner then got a camera. I don't think I could go back.
My scanner is now a copier which I use about every other month. Maybe I should sell it? It's a really nice one too.
Cheryl
I'm with you - I would pay someone a reasonable price just to wrap my stuff (except jewelry - that's too quick and easy)
Amber - maybe that's a money making idea for you?
|
bizzycrocheting
|
posted on July 21, 2004 10:40:08 AM new
Roadsmith, I'm like you and Amber. I scan several pictures for each item I'm selling. I do touch-up work with Adobe Photodeluxe. I wish I wasn't such a perfectionist too, but I do think that it pays off for those of us willing to put the time and effort into each listing. I just wish that scanning and cropping weren't sooooo monotonous!
Diane
|
estatesalestuff
|
posted on July 21, 2004 11:00:10 AM new
Oh bizzy, et al! ... I can't tell you enough how you OUGHT to chuck the scanner and get a digital camera that takes perfectly fine close-ups and zoom-ins or whatever you want to call it. ... ever since I got my Sony Mavica a few years ago, I have never needed to use my scanner ... the camera is SO much faster, and captures details and close-ups just as well as a scanner did. ... and it is so FAST ... "click" ... done. You would save yourself many hours per week.
edited to add, I still do some cropping on some of the pictures, but scanning is what takes so much of your time, right?
[ edited by estatesalestuff on Jul 21, 2004 11:03 AM ]
|
neroter12
|
posted on July 21, 2004 11:10:31 AM new
Somebody here said they like packing at one time. Was it MSLucy? Said it was relaxing in front of the TV....
|
iareateacher
|
posted on July 21, 2004 11:12:50 AM new
Um...click and NOT done. I think you're forgetting the tiny detail of having to download the pictures from your camera. I don't care how fast the connection is to your computer; that takes time. Then you have to give the files unique names.
I just did a scan; a close-up of part of a necklace. 1 minute 25 seconds from scanning to cropping to naming and saving it. A couple more seconds to ftp it to my image server and it's ready for eBay.
--
|
iareateacher
|
posted on July 21, 2004 11:15:07 AM new
Oh, one other thing.
Today's scanners are lightyears ahead of those from just a couple years ago. I bought a new scanner last week for $70 (I paid $150 for its predecessor). It is quick, sharp and easy to use.
If you haven't tried a scanner lately, you might not know what you're missing.
--
|
estatesalestuff
|
posted on July 21, 2004 11:15:26 AM new
Yes, um ... click and upload ... it's fast. ... lots faster than my scanner.
My HP scanner/printer/copier, which is only a couple months old, is a lot slower than my Mavica camera/upload process.
[ edited by estatesalestuff on Jul 21, 2004 11:18 AM ]
|
OhMsLucy
|
posted on July 21, 2004 11:21:10 AM new
Hi everybody,
OMG Tessa! Me like packing? No, no, no, never, never, never... It's my least favorite part of eBay.
I enjoy taking the pictures. Like most of the others, I use a digital camera. I have a scanner but I used it maybe twice. Way, way too slow for me.
Right now I'm taking pictures of things that are all just about the same. My camera is set up so all I do is put down one leaflet, take the pic, put down another one, take the pic, etc. This morning I took a couple dozen pics in a little over an hour, including cropping and uploading to Vendio.
Lucy
|
ladyjewels2000
|
posted on July 21, 2004 11:29:08 AM new
I try to take photos so I don't have to crop - may take 6 or 7 to get 2 - delete the unwanted ones and use SMPro to upload. Drop & drag and I'm done. I don't even have to name them if I don't want too either.
|
OhMsLucy
|
posted on July 21, 2004 11:29:59 AM new
Uploading directly from the camera is ancient history...
My pictures are on a flash card. It goes in a card reader. Who would want to move the camera from the tripod to the computer anyway? Not me.
Cropping and minor color correction, etc., are very fast in Microsoft Picture It! Changing the image name is a matter of typing in what you want when you save the pic.
Just my way of doing things. One observation, it would have been completely and totally impossible to take pictures of an antique chandelier or hanging resin grape swag lamp using a scanner. Yes, I've sold both on eBay.
Lucy
|
iareateacher
|
posted on July 21, 2004 11:41:38 AM new
No one is suggesting that you can photograph everything you might ever want to with a scanner.
I, too, have a digital camera. Geeze, everybody has one, including my next door neighbor's kids. That doesn't make you special.
If you're putting the flash card in a card reader, that still takes time and it is still a connection to your computer. My pictures are created directly ON my computer and uploaded in a second or two to the Internet.
--
|
neroter12
|
posted on July 21, 2004 11:51:20 AM new
Hi MsLucy ::Waving:: (dont know why I thought that was you. Somebody said it though!)
I still transfer from media card, too. Does take up some time.....
|
meadowlark
|
posted on July 21, 2004 12:01:36 PM new
There's no downloading to computer with my Sony Mavica. It uses standard 3.5" floppies. Very fast and painless. I too try now to take pics so there is little cropping and take more than one so I don't have to go back and redo if one is wrong.
I found scanning a real slow pain to using my digital.
|
OhMsLucy
|
posted on July 21, 2004 01:09:46 PM new
Hi Tessa!
Must have been some wandering eBay troll who accused me of enjoying packing!
You said it takes some time to load from media card... I wonder why?
I just checked mine. I opened Picture It! and put the card in the reader. There are 35 images on the card. They loaded into Picture It! in less than a second from the time I clicked on the SanDisk folder.
Lucy
|
meadowlark
|
posted on July 21, 2004 01:15:26 PM new
Lucy, I misread an earlier post in addition to whoever thought you said it. I thought someone said they LIKED packing. Roadsmith doesn't MIND packing books, but after review, I find no one said they liked it. I guess we are all losing it during the doldrums!
I will say packing can be a no-brainer relief after listing upteem dissimilar items!
|
neglus
|
posted on July 21, 2004 01:21:43 PM new
A large part of my time is spent scanning. yes, it may take a little more time than a camera, but I think photos of postcards are distorted.
I use a $150+ scanner (microtek) and found it to be so much better than its predecessor (lower end Microtek), that it is well worth the extra $. I scan 3 postcards at a time and use the whole bed - I don't waste time previewing that way (my scanner has a preview and a scan function). I then open a photo editor one of us got with a digital camera and crop and name each image and then bulk upload to Vendio. Works swell and I can watch tv while scanning. I only have to pay attention when I name the images.
I think SHIPPING is the most BORING part of the job!
**********************************
Sig files are too much trouble!
http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards
|
OhMsLucy
|
posted on July 21, 2004 01:27:26 PM new
Meadowlark,
It's that eBay troll! Now if I could just catch it and train it to pack I'd be in business.
I agree. Listing dissimilar items IS kinda fiddly, changing categories and all. Packing them, too. One thing that's made my life easier is I ordered three sizes of smallish boxes from Uline. Good for sending little stuff first class.
Me
|
