Some resale platforms arrange for you to photograph and list your items, which is usually what you need to do. And since the photo is an opportunity to sell your outfit, it’s worth taking the time to get it right.
The photos you take yourself are usually better than stock photography taken online, because it shows that you actually own the apparel and are not selling new apparel directly from just one brand (a growing concern in secondhand space, called “drop shipping”).
Aim to take pictures of you in natural light in front of a neutral background, advises Coco Kupfer, a furmark vendor and ambassador. “Most shoppers shop on their phones, where the image is small, so the photo needs to be clear and pop out,” Kaffar explains.
“People like to see what it will look like,” adds Tyler Chanel, the ethical blogger behind Thrifts and Tangles, so he suggests taking pictures of a person or a mannequin / half-mannequin.
Megan Maxherio, a sustainable fashion advocate for activism, has also had the success of photographing her pieces on real people. “I have countless items I’ve photographed hanging or lying on the ground that aren’t being sold; there was no interest,” he told mbg. “Then when I took my photos of them wearing them again, they sold out.”
Once you have a clear cover photo that captures what the item looks like, Chloe Baffert, a merchandising and curation expert at Poshmark, talks about the details of the piece and suggests taking a few shots.
Pushmark allows sellers to post up to eight of these additional photos, and Buffart says the listing platform with at least four photos is 70% more likely to sell. Another poshmark ambassador, Suzanne Butler, said she always included shots of the front, back, labels and care tags on her clothing, for example.