Adding Images

A photograph of the item you're listing for auction can go a long way toward boosting bidding.  Just follow these simple steps and you'll be adding pictures with ease.

Digitize your photo

You'll first need to save your photos to your computer as digital pictures.  You can do this using a variety of methods.

• The easiest and quickest way to get digital photographs is to use a digital camera.  It works in the same fashion as a regular camera except it uses digital memory instead of film which can be uploaded to your computer.
• If you are using a regular camera, you may scan your photos in order to create digital images.  If your items are small enough and flat enough, you can skip the photos and put the item itself directly into the scanner.  If you don't have a scanner or access to someone else's, you can always go to a local printing center like Kinko's.
• In addition, some film development services also offer to place your photos on a CD when you bring them in to be developed.
• Lastly, you can transfer images from your video camera or VCR tape with the use of a video capture device and software.

Once you have your digital photo in your computer, you're ready to edit it if necessary.  To edit your images you can use the editing software which was included with your digital camera or scanner.  If those are not available you can try some of the free programs available from downloads.com and shareware.com or commercially available applications from Microsoft or Adobe, etc.

Tips for editing photos

• For quick page downloads your picture file size should be under 50KB, with an actual size of no larger than a standard photograph.
• Remove any unnecessary background "noise".
• Save your images as either .jpg or .gif files.

Hosting your images

eCraftVillage Image Services - you can instantly upload images from your computer right into your listing from eCraftVillage's Add An Auction page for a nominal storage fee.

Current Internet Service Provider (ISP) - Some ISPs provide a small amount of free storage space for their customers.  Contact your current ISP for more information.  AOL member can type in the keyword MyPlace to set up their own web space, then follow the step-by-step instructions to upload images.

Photo Hosting Services - There are numerous image hosting services available online, including the following:

• BigVault.com - Access your Photos, MP3's, Files and more anytime, anywhere with BigVault.com. 

• XDrive.com - Get up to 100MB of free online file storage!

• AuctionWatch.com - Image hosting, counters, shipping, payment and insurance tools!  

FTP Software

Once your image is ready you will need software to upload, or copy, the files from your computer to the internet.  This software is known as FTP or File Transfer Protocol software.  Some popular programs you could try if you're not using eCraftVillage's or your ISP's web space, or your ISP's software is difficult to use, you may download and use the following popular programs for free:

• WS_FTP for Windows 3.x

• WS_FTP for Windows 95, 98, 2000 & NT

• CuteFTP version 4.0

Once you've uploaded your images, you'll need to note the web address, or URL (eg. http://www.host.com/yourname/picturename.gif), used to locate them so you can include them in your eCraftVillage listings.

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