Pictures required

[SmurfBoxMasta]

Mods, please make pictures mandatory for the marketplace, so interested buyers dont have to constantly ask for them.

IMHO, posting pics of the actual item(s) goes a long way towards establishing credibility for the sellers, and eases the buyers mind that the sellers actually have the item(s) they are trying to sell in their posession.

Better for everyone, yes :p

[xfiftyfour]

that shouldn't be something that's required. quite frankly, some items don't require pictures. also, what about someone that doesn't have a digital camera, but has enough credibility/references to overcome that? are they not allowed to sell here?

[miniConvert]

Can I have a picture of your picture requirement please?

[barrettd]

I agree with xfiftyfour. I've had items for sale in the past where one person wanted pics but I couldn't get around to taking them until later, but another person said they didn't need pics and would pay immediately. Guess who got the purchase?

Plus, if you're selling, for instance, a stick of RAM, I know what that looks like. It either works or doesn't. I don't need a picture of it. Most of the time, getting pics is a waste of time.

If people want to request and wait for pics to be posted, that's fine, but they also may lose out to someone like me who doesn't need to see a picture of the item. Tough luck.

I certainly think the minimum post requirement was a good thing, whether it's helped as much as hoped or not.

[timswim78]

I don't think that requiring pictures would help nearly as much as using a legitimate feedback system, such as heatware.com.

I think that there are a lot of other things that need to be addressed in the FS/FT forum before requiring pictures.

[Doctor Q]

We've found that including photos help sellers. That's why posting photos is recommended in the Marketplace Rules. Here's an excerpt:Members often ask for photos... It may help you to anticipate these questions and provide the information up front...If we required them, people wouldn't have to ask for photos and wait for photos, so that could help sales where the O.P. knew about the rule and took the trouble to include photos from the start.

But wouldn't a significant number of sellers find that to be a burden?

And since some sellers do just fine without photos, do we want to risk inhibiting their sales "for their own good"?

The rules set a baseline for proper Marketplace behavior. We should be wary of demanding more than necessary unless the benefits clearly outweigh the disadvantages.