Successful sellers on etsy know the importance of a good picture when it comes to selling your work. I'm still an etsy rookie, but the first thing I discovered since opening my shop, was if my photos weren't good, then I was wasting my time. When customers are browsing the infinite abyss of items to buy, it's the great photos that are going to make them stop and look, and maybe even buy. It's the only thing a buyer has to judge since they can't hold the item in their hands and see it up close. The quality of photos you'll find on etsy range from professional looking to "I think I'll let my 3 year old take my photos for me". I have found the best places to see examples of great photos are on etsy's front page and in the Treasury. Anyone with a camera can learn some simple techniques that make a difference between a photo that will get viewed by buyers and one that will just get passed by. A quick stop by the etsy forums or the etsy wiki can give you all the information you need. At the very least, sellers should edit the photos they take before adding them to their listings. You don't need to own photoshop to do this either. I've found a great online image editor that requires no download, that is simple to use. Try snipshot here.

Let me show you how just editing your photos make a huge difference. Yesterday I listed some magnets. Here is how the photo I took looked before I edited it at snipshot:

While the shot is clear and even in focus, the colors are off, and there is too much empty space around the magnets. Just a few adjustments at snipshot, a little cropping, and here is what I end up with:

Now, the colors are clear and vibrant, and the magnets take up the whole shot. It took me all of 30 seconds to edit the photo, and it will make a huge difference in the number of views this set of magnets gets. This set of "Gypsy" magnets were actually chosen for a treasury not too much longer after I listed them. If I had kept my original photo, I doubt they would have been chosen for a treasury. See my listing for this set or my others here.