We know you take pride in how you present your items on eBay. You take special care to provide detailed, high-quality images. Naturally, you don't want someone else using your listing photos without your permission.
Your original images are protected under copyright law, but if you don't make your copyright known, you could find yourself wasting a lot of time trying to prove ownership. A simple solution is to add a watermark to all your pictures. Auctiva makes this easy to do, and you can see exactly how the watermarked image will look before you make it permanent.
Watermarking is not only one of the most effective ways to protect your images, it's also a great way to brand your business. Just make sure you do so within eBay's policy on watermarks.
Watermarks explained
A watermark is a visual stamp of ownership that is added to an image using editing software. It might be a symbol (like a copyright ©), a date stamp, a logo or a snippet of text that attributes the image to its owner. Auctiva's watermark tool supports text watermarks. A lot of sellers type in their eBay ID, which serves as both a copyright and a branding tool, putting their name right in front of buyers.
A lot of sellers use their eBay ID as a watermark, which both serves as a copyright and puts their name right in front of buyers
eBay's new picture quality standards will put some limits on how sellers use watermarks when eBay starts enforcing the policy later this year. But, even within these limits, watermarks can still be very successful in discouraging unauthorized use of your photos.
According to eBay's new policy, watermarks should:
- Be no bigger than 5 percent of the total image area
- Have opacity of no more than 50 percent
Watermarks can not:
- Include specific details about an item or customer service
- Obscure the item
- Specify a website
- Include links
Easy watermark solution
Auctiva lets you add watermarks to your uploaded images one at a time or in bulk. Before you start, make sure you have copies of your images. Once you save a watermark to an image in Auctiva, it is permanent.
On your image management page, you simply check the images you want to watermark, and click the Watermark button. You'll go to a new screen where you can customize your watermark, and preview how it will look on your image. You just type in your text, choose the text color and size, use the slider to adjust the opacity, and click Preview.
You can change the placement of the watermark by moving your cursor over the image. See the red box? Click on it, and your watermark will move to that spot.
We should point out that, when watermarking multiple images at once, it is best if the images are similar in size. If your images are extremely different in size, we recommend watermarking them individually to ensure the watermark looks exactly the way you want it.
When you're happy with your watermark, click Watermark to make the change permanent.
Now your images have your brand or mark right on them, which means buyers will be able to easily recognize your items, and thieves will have a harder time stealing your great pics!
Auctiva staff writers constantly monitor trends and best practices of those selling on eBay and elsewhere online. They attend relevant training seminars and trade shows and regularly discuss the market with PowerSellers and other market experts.
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