Which photos should a seller send before shipping?

Why

• The set is defined by what it has to answer, not by a count. Shape needs a side view at eye level. Alignment needs both units standing together on a flat surface. Material needs two lighting conditions on the same panel. Identity needs the label, the tag and the item inside one frame. A set of twenty frames that answers none of these settles nothing.
• Angle matters more than resolution. A toebox photographed from above hides a collapse, a midsole photographed with the camera tilted reads as sloped, and a strap photographed flat hides the load point at the attachment. Ask for the lens at the same height as the part being judged, and for the whole part inside the frame rather than a flattering crop.
• Anything that moves needs a few seconds of video. Zip action, bezel rotation, crown threads, atomiser spray and a heel counter under thumb pressure are all invisible in still frames, and each of them is a common failure that photographs cannot reach. Thirty seconds of video answers a question that a hundred photographs cannot.
• Say what each frame is for. A seller who knows that the second photograph exists to compare mesh density between the two shoes will take it at the same distance as the first, while a seller who is simply told to send photographs will send the wide shots that flatter the shape and answer nothing. The reason travels with the request and costs one extra sentence. Number the frames in the request, so that a missing one is visible at a glance when the reply arrives rather than after a second reading. A seller who answers a numbered list is also showing how they will answer a claim later, and that is information worth having before any money moves.

When this answer flips

• The seller cannot open the parcel because it is already sealed for dispatch, and offers the sealed carton with the label in frame instead. The set then reduces to identity and arrival checks, and the condition question moves to the unboxing, where the same angles have to be repeated by you on the day it lands.
• The order repeats a batch already on file and your earlier set is still saved. The useful set is then a short one aimed at the markers that could have moved between runs, not a full re-shoot, which keeps the request small enough that a seller is likely to answer it rather than ignore it.
• The item ships in a category where a functional test cannot be photographed at all, as fragrance and electronics often cannot. The set then leans on the box code, the serial and the accessory list rather than on surface angles, and the arrival check carries more of the weight than the pre-dispatch one.

Three things to do next

1. Send the angle list for your category
2. Score the returned set before dispatch
3. Check the box label against what ships