Who doesn’t have a digital camera? At very least you probably have one on your phone. You can buy a very rudimentary one at Walmart for $8.
So why do a lot of people try to sell stuff on Craigslist, Ebay, Gunbroker, etc. without a picture of the item? Are there that many folks behind the times?
And I’m not talking about things you could easily imagine. I’m talking stuff like used cars someone wants 10 grand for. You can’t post a picture? WTF?
because having a digital camera doesn’t mean you know how to move the pictures from the camera to the website
Or, more than likely, they are mis-representing the item.
Not that a picture would always help. When helping a friend shop for a new (used) car I found one on CL - with a picture. I called to see about coming over to look at it. The seller said, ‘before you come over I will tell you there is a little body damage to the driver door’. I re-looked at the photo, I couldn’t see it so I assumed it wasn’t too bad. When I got over there I find the whole side of the car had been sideswiped. He explained he used a photo of a similar vehicle to show what it could be.
I would say not more than likely. People are advertising brand new items on Ebay & Gunbroker and they don’t even include a stock photo.
If I want to see ads for stuff without pix I’ll read the classifieds in the local paper. It’s just dumb of folks not to put images in their auction ads.
Then they have a hard time doing most other things too. Mostly because of all the drool.
There are still a lot of people in this world who don’t use computers, or use them only for email. They may not be stupid; they may simply be nervous about trying something new.
Possibly someone talked them into using eBay, and that was all the new learning they could handle (registering, getting the item listed, etc.)
If they knew how much difference the presence of a photo makes, they might put in the extra effort to figure out the image-posting instructions at the site (not to mention the steps needed to get a photo to someplace it could be accessed).
The craigslist photo uploading thing is definitely a little clunky, especially if you’re trying to upload a huge .jpg from a digital camera on a slow internet connection or trying to do it from your phone.
I do think it is sometimes a bit of a “foot in the door” tactic, by dealers especially. By posting no photo or a poor quality one, they’re hoping you’ll come down to the lot to look at it or at least get talking to them via e-mail or the phone, at which point they can lay on the hard-sell tactics. Making people call or e-mail for pictures or some vital detail can also be a way of gauging interest in an item so you can adjust the price accordingly. The same basic idea behind “call for price!” ads.
I don’t know how many people are like me but if there is no picture I won’t even notice the ad. I certainly will never call about it.
While all of the above surely happens, I think some of this is just that many people in the world are not very skilled at thinking from the point of view of someone else. In these cases, I don’t think they are being lazy or technophopic by not posting a picture. I think they just never bothered putting themselves in the buyer’s shoes. “I know what the car looks like and I’ve described it in the ad. I’ve also said the buyer can come take a look if they want! So, what’s the problem?”
It’s the same people who will give directions by saying “Go a mile past where the church used to be.”
Maybe they’re like me and they bought a Nikon Coolpix that has spent more time in the shop than out since I bought it. :mad:
I think lazy, technophobic, and clueless pretty much covers all the possible reasons. Maybe it’s sort of the same mentality as people who advertise rentals without putting the price in - there might be more important things for rentals than the cost, but that’s like, top three for everyone.
In my experience, the no price in the rental ads usually means it’s someone renting without a management company and they’re trying to feel out the market without committing to a price.
“I have a digital camera that’s so advanced, you don’t even need it.” - Steven Wright