I need a recommendation for a website to store photos that can be accessed by anyone that has permission.
I wish to list some items for sale on ebay. I find that 12 photos is not enough to describe some items I wish to list. I know that there are many sites that offer picture storage that can be accessed by anyone that has the address and probably a password. Ideal for me is to find a very simple to use website that I can simply give the address to a prospective buyer and they then can see an album of as many photos as I wish to provide. I do need the feature of a preview window so that a person an select the particular photo they wish to enlarge. A pay site is ok. Can an Expert recommend a site that will do these things for me?
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"Click HERE for additional photographs of this item". Then they would be presented with a clickable gallery page for as many photos as I wanted to provide
Right, and that is why you need a website.
You could point somebody to a Google Drive, Dropbox or OneDrive, but those would not be a good experience. If you have a subscription to Microsoft365, you could use sharepoint, but that would be confusing.
There are also landing pages sites like ubounce, but they are expensive and geared for marketing automation.
SO many ads exist that promise the world but just want a fee. I don't mind the fee if it is simple to use and speedy.
Google has sites https://sites.google.com/new but when things are so dumbed down, they are actually harder to use. Also blog sites like blogger may be a free option.
If you have a wordpress site already, there are of course plug ins for galleries. If you have a shared server already, you may be able to add a WP site with no extra cost.
ASKER
Can you explain why Dropbox would not be recommended for my need? Several friends have mentioned Dropbox. I DO have a domain but I do not use it. It presently is just for email accounts. In the past I have used it for the application that I describe, and it did work, but it was a pain creating a gallery page and passwords for each item I had listed. I very well might wind up utilizing one of your first suggestions, but I want to be sure of the path I will take. My time is extremely limited and it seems a bit daunting to delve into a website designing app. If I must do that then I certainly will. Just want to make sure my choice is the best one.
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For some reason, my screenshots could not be applied
https://support.wix.com/en/article/wix-editor-adding-a-gallery
https://support.wix.com/en/article/wix-editor-adding-a-gallery
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+1 for @Scott's detail discussion of Dropbox complexities... far better detail that my Dropbox comment...
@Scott's breakdown of Dropbox is great.
It's been a while since I have sold something on eBay. Something I wanted to add though is that it is typically NOT best practice supposedly by eBay's policies to link several images outside of eBay but I see listings do so anyway or try to use workarounds. It is odd though as you will see some others leverage Imgur, PhotoBucket, direct album/gallery links, etc. so I am truly not sure to what extent they flag or remove image links or moderate the external links in listings or what that entails fully.
Keep in mind external services, hosting providers can have outages, can potentially have downtime a few times a year occasionally, so ideally you want to provide as many focused key images within eBay's allotted amount, others have tried adding other links have been removed/taken down by eBay or flagged. That is also why you may want to use a website builder or another selling platform that has more flexibility over the number of images you can add. With a seller website, you have more control over your listing gallery/customization overall.
Please see the eBay Link and description usage policy, also below are some important sections
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-policies/links-policy?id=4248
It seems you really don't want all the bells and whistles that come with a WIX.com page, website nor newsletters, and marketing exposure functionality.
Absolutely, buyers probably do want to see as many close-up images as possible to ensure the condition level is accurate but by providing a link they are going outside of eBay, and its more clicks which some may not want to do - aside from a video showcasing the products you could simply state in another prominent font color or large font the first time they read the listing space "PLEASE feel free to reach out to me by clicking Contact Seller with a message to obtain additional images of the product if needed or so that I can answer any further questions you may have." that way you can provide additional images via an imgur private gallery link or PhotoBucket, etc. as needed.
https://imgur.com/a/ck3WY
Here's an example of someone stating a link had been removed from eBay unsure what it was exactly
https://www.ebay.com/itm/331806494941?hash=item4d413550dd:g:1-AAAOxynRRSO3RC
It's been a while since I have sold something on eBay. Something I wanted to add though is that it is typically NOT best practice supposedly by eBay's policies to link several images outside of eBay but I see listings do so anyway or try to use workarounds. It is odd though as you will see some others leverage Imgur, PhotoBucket, direct album/gallery links, etc. so I am truly not sure to what extent they flag or remove image links or moderate the external links in listings or what that entails fully.
Keep in mind external services, hosting providers can have outages, can potentially have downtime a few times a year occasionally, so ideally you want to provide as many focused key images within eBay's allotted amount, others have tried adding other links have been removed/taken down by eBay or flagged. That is also why you may want to use a website builder or another selling platform that has more flexibility over the number of images you can add. With a seller website, you have more control over your listing gallery/customization overall.
Please see the eBay Link and description usage policy, also below are some important sections
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-policies/links-policy?id=4248
It seems you really don't want all the bells and whistles that come with a WIX.com page, website nor newsletters, and marketing exposure functionality.
Absolutely, buyers probably do want to see as many close-up images as possible to ensure the condition level is accurate but by providing a link they are going outside of eBay, and its more clicks which some may not want to do - aside from a video showcasing the products you could simply state in another prominent font color or large font the first time they read the listing space "PLEASE feel free to reach out to me by clicking Contact Seller with a message to obtain additional images of the product if needed or so that I can answer any further questions you may have." that way you can provide additional images via an imgur private gallery link or PhotoBucket, etc. as needed.
https://imgur.com/a/ck3WY
Here's an example of someone stating a link had been removed from eBay unsure what it was exactly
https://www.ebay.com/itm/331806494941?hash=item4d413550dd:g:1-AAAOxynRRSO3RC
ASKER
Hello Experts,
What I thought would be a quick and easy solution has opened a new world of possibilities that I had no idea existed. ALL your suggestions, comments and advice have been noted. I will investigate and evaluate all possible roads to success, but it will not be a few hour decision. Therefore I will close this question pending me being able to come up with the time to devote to this need. I will add that dealing with ebay is incredibly frustrating, maddening and unrewarding. They have proven to me that I cannot rely on any advice I am given by them. Enough said. Thanks again Experts!!
What I thought would be a quick and easy solution has opened a new world of possibilities that I had no idea existed. ALL your suggestions, comments and advice have been noted. I will investigate and evaluate all possible roads to success, but it will not be a few hour decision. Therefore I will close this question pending me being able to come up with the time to devote to this need. I will add that dealing with ebay is incredibly frustrating, maddening and unrewarding. They have proven to me that I cannot rely on any advice I am given by them. Enough said. Thanks again Experts!!
Sounds good! Definitely takes time to decide for something like this and weigh the pros/cons of each way or platform. I would say I have had better experiences with Etsy both as a past shop owner/seller for my artwork and buyer compared to eBay. Keep in mind Etsy and platforms do have preview image slot limits like eBay up to 10, but if I recall you can do link listings or 2 listing variations, unsure if that's changed. Some shops/sellers have made grids or product collages of images in one preview image, PicMonkey (not free) is beneficial but Canva is another good resource for image collage group editing for free, though they do have premium/paid options and templates. eBay and Etsy policies do not clearly state collage acceptable use, but it may be forbidden if the collage images are not part of the series, an exception would be showing the product and variations on Etsy, then having them select e.g. a pattern. You should ideally verify with eBay or the site/platform you are using on link and preview policies. But a product college may save you time in general rather than linking to multiple images, you can link to one collage image in e.g. PhotoBucket or Dropbox, etc.
This listing provides a good example of how to showcase a collage and product pattern variation https://www.etsy.com/listing/1064762964/birth-month-flower-ring-personalized?ref=shop_home_active_23&pro=1&frs=1
https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/how-to-take-listing-videos-with-your/821069114343
This listing provides a good example of how to showcase a collage and product pattern variation https://www.etsy.com/listing/1064762964/birth-month-flower-ring-personalized?ref=shop_home_active_23&pro=1&frs=1
- More Resources:
https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/how-to-take-listing-videos-with-your/821069114343
This is an example of my own art collage not on a shop but gallery linked, but just an example of how cool collages are, but I used a mobile photo editor app instead which are fairly low-cost some are free or have trials which are less expensive than PicMonkey, consider using one mobile collage/editor app and uploading this file to your computer or drive, then sharing it also
ASKER
but I don't need a website. I only need a storage place for additional photos. Ebay only allows 12 photos per listing. Although your recommendations are probably super for establishing a new website it is probably overkill for my requirements. I simply need to say in my ebay product description "Click HERE for additional photographs of this item". Then they would be presented with a clickable gallery page for as many photos as I wanted to provide. Can you possibly recommend a solution that is not quite as involved as would be required to get going on the sites you mention? SO many ads exist that promise the world but just want a fee. I don't mind the fee if it is simple to use and speedy. Thanks so much for helping me with this.