Feb
11
What’s a Picture Worth? - Part II
Filed Under Sellers' Insights
How about $180?
To follow up on a previous post, here’s more empirical evidence of the value of including multiple pictures in your eBay auction listings.
Auction listings of cars on eBay Motors of that included 13 or more pictures sold for an average 6% more than those that included less than 12. In the paper* entitled “An Examination of Consumer Behavior on eBay Motors” by Professors Mark P. Sena and Gerald Braun of Xavier University, analyzed a sample of 126 vehicle transactions on eBay Motors. The average final sale price of the 126 auctions included in the study was $8,765. Therefore sellers who did not include 13 or more pictures lost out on an average of $526.
This research is confirmed by a paper by Professor Gregory Lewis of the University of Michigan entitled, “Asymmetric Information, Adverse Selection and Seller Revelation on eBay Motors.” Professor Lewis found “a positive and highly significant relationship between the number of photos [and the final sale price]“. His research disclosed that each picture was associated with an approximately 1.8% increase in the final price, which translated to about $180 per photofor the average car in his dataset. His research analyzed data from over 18,000 vehicle transactions on eBay Motors conducted over a 6-month period.
For many bidders, online auctions are a gamble. Among other things, bidders are “betting” that the item they are purchasing is a quality product. Pictures in an auction listing provide bidders information with regards to the quality of the product being auctioned. The more pictures included in the listing, the less uncertainty exists on the part of the bidder. When sellers reduce uncertainty, they reduce the bidder’s perceived risk and create a “safe bet.” consequently, they are more willing to “gamble” their money on your auction and bid more.
* Published in the book Contemporary Research in E-Marketing Vol II, edited by Sandeep Krishnamurthy, published by Idea Group Inc., 2006.
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2 Responses to “What’s a Picture Worth? - Part II”
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I agree. Pictures are one of the most important aspects of selling on eBay. You’re essentially asking the seller to trust you so you should have quality pictures of your product that lets them know exactly what they are purchasing.
Thanks for the enlightening post!
This article (and others like it) really seem to confuse correlation and cause. It is just as plausible that holding better quality (i.e. higher priced) goods prompt sellers to take and post more photos.