Updated information on using Photobucket to add free photos to your listings, following some recent service enhancements. Original credit for the thread that inspired this (and its predecessor) goes to 'Eliza'. 'Grumpyknees' also made some useful suggestions which are included.
As Ebay make a charge to add more than one picture to the body of a listing, it makes sense to upload your own additional photos for free. A tool called Photobucket lets you do this and this little guide should help you get along with it.
This guide to Photobucket comes in two parts.
Part one; The simple solution
Part one of the guide is aimed at those users who already have a photo prettied and smartened up and all ready to insert into a listing. Use this part of guide if you are content with your picture and just need to add a free photo or three or twenty seven, to what you are selling.
Part Two; The extras
Part two of the guide is aimed at those users who want to use Photobucket to help them edit and manage their photos onto their listings. Use this part of the guide if you are using Photobucket for the first time, want lots more help with it, want PB to help you with html and listing formatting, or need to use its improving picture editing features.
For either guide, you will need a Photobucket account. Both parts also use the full selling form, though the same principles apply if you want to use another listing tool, such as Turbolister.
You will need to register an account to use the service, it’s easy to do and its free.
You may want to make your Photobucket account private, so users can only see the image you are linking and not the other ones in your album where you are naked and waving fireworks round your head.
If so click 'account options' next to the welcome message at the top of your Photobucket screen and once on that page scroll down until you see a box labelled 'album settings'. Click the drop down menu next to 'my album is' and select private.
Once you are happy with your account you can proceed to add some pictures. -----------------------------
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The first thing you will need to do is find an additional image you want to use in your listing. You can load images you have taken on your digital camera onto your computer, or use one you have already saved.
You can edit, resize and optimise your photos before you start in Photobucket; large images can take a long time to load for people on slow connections and buyers won't want to sit gazing at an empty space while your masterpiece loads up. There are a number of free image optimization programmes available on the net. If you do not want to use anything else however there are some options within Photobucket itself which can prove useful later, the second part of this guide goes through them in more details.
So identify the image you want to use in your listing, crop it, size it, edit it, correct it and ready it for use. Like this;
Login to Photobucket. You can choose the source of the image you want to upload, computer hard drive is selected by default.
Under the choose files button there is a drop down menu offering you the change to select a size for your image. Small sizes can work well on Ebay, try 640x480 or 800x600 to start with.
Then click the 'choose files' button and select the image you want to upload from your hard drive.
if you want to upload more than one just hold down the ctrl key while selecting them.
Once you click open a small progress bar will show and the images will upload into Photobucket.
You can edit the image using the link above it, should you wish to (another window will open).
Open the new selling form in Ebay and complete as you would a normal listing. When you get to the description box input the text you want to use for your listing then click the html tab.
Go to Photobucket and select the text next to 'html' under the image you want to use. Photobucket helpfully copies the text and a small yellow flag shows you this has been done.
Copy this into your listing.
If you want to position the image in a particular place either insert it into the text where you would like it to appear, or format it with some basic html. This helpful me page goes over the basics.
All you need to do then is preview the listing to ensure the picture shows up as you like, fill the rest of the details in and submit it. You can use as many free photos from Photobucket as you like. -----------------------------
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Adding free photos part 2: Extras, editing and making more use of Photobucket features
Identify and upload your image
For the purpose of this part of the guide, we will work on the basis you've chosen a one stop uploading, editing and manipulating your image solution in Photobucket itself.
The first step is to dentify an image you want to use on your listing, go to your Photobucket account and log in.
On the welcome screen you will see a yellow flag suggesting you upload an image.
You can choose to use the old uploader or the new one. The new one is useful if you are coming with an image you have not yet optimised for use in your listings.
The new uploader appears by default. There are some options showing on screen.A drop down menu offers you a choice of image sizes to upload. For Ebay purposes, the smaller sizes can be better, so experiment with the settings for 400x640 and 800 x 600 images.
If you use the more options button you will see the choices in a different format (note some are blanked out as they are only available if you pay) and can scramble your file names if you wish. Make sure you save any changes you make before returning to the previous screen if you choose this option.
The radio buttons on the right hand side, under the heading 'from' allow you to choose the source of your image. For the purposes of this guide we will assume you have loaded them to your computer hard drive, which is selected by default.
Click 'choose files' and browse to the location on your hard drive where the images are stored.
You can then either select a single image or more than one. If you just want one, click on it and then click 'Open'
If you want several images to be uploaded, hold down the 'ctrl' key when clicking, click the images you want and then click open.
Lets keep it simple and just select one for now.
Once you click open a little progress bar will show in the box as the image uploads. Then a page will show in your Photobucket where you can input a more information and edit the image if you wish. You can choose to skip this step every time or include it every time. Extra information can be useful if you have lots of images to upload.
You can also edit the image on this page. Click the edit image button and a new window will popup with lots of options inside.
There are a number of tabs, each with several sub options in each.
In the basic tab you can crop, resize, rotate and move the image around to the position you want it, as well as apply a basic fix to get rid of some of the issues with your photography (if you have any). You may choose to resize the image if you are intending to use it for your Ebay photo as well as for extra photos (in which case a square of 400 x 400 pixels is ideal as it is the maximum size Ebay allows)
For example you might choose a small area of the image to use
Or turn it around or over (for Australian buyers).
You can spend however long you like in the editor, using the tabs and getting the image exactly as you want it.
In the decorate tab you can apply a border and edit it (select the 'Border' button)
which can be useful for a consistent and professional approach to your listings. You can also draw on, colour in and add amusing faces to your image (if you are so inclined).
There are some other tabs which are worth playing around with as you get to grips with Photobucket, but are not all detailed here;
*The Beautify tab allows you to smooth and unwrinkle your image. *The Distort tab allows you to warp the image (not such an asset on Ebay, unless you particular enjoy disputes for items not as described). *The Layers tab allows you to add multiple images and bits of images on top of each other (handy for basic montages) *The Geek tab (every home should have one) allows you to make use of some automatic tools to make image selections.
Once you are happy with your changes (or if you chose not to make any) save them. You will then find yourself on the main Photobucket page and you can see the image you have uploaded there.
Here you can see the original image and one I saved after resizing next to it.
You can return to the editor at any time by clicking the edit link at the top of the image.
You can also use the 'old uploader link on the homepage. Its quite basic but useful if you have already optimised and saved your image as you want to use it.
If you click on 'options' you can change the size the image is uploaded at, as you could previously. Make sure you save your choice on the options screen, before returning to the upload screen.
Then, using the 'upload your photos' box, click on browse and navigate to the picture you want to upload. Click on the image you want to use, click open and it will be added to the upload box. When you have chosen up to three images hit upload to load them into your Photobucket album;
Once your image is in Photobucket you can then use the editor as before.
Add to a listing
Once your image has been added to Photobucket and you are content with the dimensions, colour corrections, the smiley faces you added, the special effects and lightning bolts, the coloured borders and flowers etc, its time to get it onto a listing.
If you have not done so already, start your selling form. For the purposes of this guide, the full selling form is used
Fill in the form as usual and, when you come to the description field, fill in the details under the standard tab and then click on the html tab to open that section.
Your listing text will show in html.
Now go into Photobucket and click the red box under the photo you want to add (or more than one)
and click the 'generate html' button at the bottom of the page. This is the easiest way to get the image into your listing in a neat format, without worrying about the html.
You can choose either a clickable thumbnail (a small picture which will open a large image in Photobucket), or a full size picture for your listing. If adding a few photos thumbnails can be easier for your buyers to see, but larger images can be more striking. Experiment with both and see which you prefer, if you are unsure which to use.
Select the one you want to use and cut and paste the text from the box into your html section (you can highlight, select ctrl C and then, in the listing, click ctrl V, or highlight, right click, choose copy and then, in the listing, select paste);
The code you have copied will centre your image automatically.You can check on the position of your text and image by clicking the preview button.
You can then close preview and add more text (either in the standard or html field) to finish off your description, or add more information to supplement your photos etc. You can add as many photos as you like using Photobucket and all for free.
You can then carry on, complete the other details and submit your listing to Ebay as normal. -----------------------------
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