Just a suggestion. What are your thoughts
I update my photos and put a date. even without updating a date should show it might have changed.
A bright colorful hatchling picture 6 months old may disappoint a buyer when they recieve an animal that looks different.
When others have done that to me I have been disappointed.
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e.g. i could post this baby picture-
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Or be honest and say the above picture is at hatchling or update it to the more recent picture below.
Or put both with dates would be good to show what it looks like now but also what hatchlings would look like.
I know many buyers request recent photos of the animal regardless of photo age. It’s just also a handy way to protect against scammers. I’ve also had a big seller with mass listings warn me, “BTW that is her hatchling photo, but” and then update me on changes. Sometimes following up with photos can be difficult with many animals.
Personally I will post my most recent photo, since it does avoid all the hassles on looking different.
As long as there’s a hatch date listed, I don’t personally see the issue with photos.
The other problem would still be, how do you verify the date on the photo is the animal in question? Unless MM requires photos to be taken from your phone at the time of posting there’s no guarantee
I know its not easy, but it does not have to be exact with a printed date on the photo to be obvious.
e.g If the advertised picture would look very different to what you recieve, like the above or -
If this is advertised and you think your getting this:-
Just like the current rules about an exact picture of the exact animal,
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in both my first and this example you can easily see the advertised snake was not a true representation of the current snake or what you would receive.
The rules simply state that the photo should be the animal in question, which either of your photos are. In a perfect world we’d all have the time to update photos regularly. (I actually need to update one that has been sitting on sale for over a month)
This mostly would hit the larger breeders harder as they would have to update multiple ads constantly as the animals grow.
I purchased my first gal as a yearling when only her hatchling photo was attached to the listing, but her hatch date was there so all I need to do was ask for an updated photo as an interested buyer.
Also, shipping stress can also dull the colors of an animal, less so in BPs but especially so with lizards like leopard geckos. Would that be non-representative since it didn’t match the photo?
In the case of cresties or gargoyles, would they also require stating if the photo is at rest or fired up?
I would love the idea of photos being up to date representations… it’s just hard to mediate and follow through or would be more work if they added a system to ping users a warning to update photos.
I’m not saying they should be updated which is best, just that the month should be recorded. that way if it changes ok, buyer beware.
You can see the date of the advert, birth and photo can make up your own mind
Regarding your comment about hard to mediate, that currently already has to happen with the rule about non enhanced pictures (photo shoped etc), its a judgement call. if its obvious then its obvious,
It technically is though. There’s a posting listed date, a birth date and animal maturity.
If they’re posting an adult and the photo looks like a young python, then yeah, it’s questionable.
If it’s been on the market for 7 months, the posting date is 2 months after the birth date but the age still says hatchling. Well now it’s not properly listed as a ‘juvenile’ either along with the photo being out of date. If you’re not reading all the info on the ad, is that the seller’s fault or yours?
But again… what stops me from posting that baby photo and having it listed as the current date. I can go into any editing software and make a baby image crop and have the date as ‘today’.
You would have to update so that you NEED your phone to make an ad and take the photo at that moment. I do all my MM updates from my computer because using my phone is hellacious.
Edit: Also there’s the description where you can easily say, “Hatchling photo above”.
I might just be easily nettled today so I’ll bow out before I start running in circles about it.
I like this idea, something where you can optionally have the date added to a picture would be nice, but I don’t know if it would get used enough to be worth designing. But, a simple rule change and/or something added to the page where you make an ad to encourage this would be nice.
Best thing to do is just ask for an updated photo. I know first hand how is extremely difficult to keep pics on 200 plus listed animals updated every few months, i try but …
Not suggesting you update every time, but if the picture has a date, and i (the buyer) can see that date is for example say six months old, its my responsibility then and up to me to use my judgment.
If im that concerned it will look different then its up to me to ask for updated pictures. if I don’t, thats my (the buyers) mistake.
Its about transparency. if the seller has more transparency with just a date, and that’s optional it could also make the seller more credible and trustworthy if they do date it, (and possibly get berett ratings)
That then also puts the responsibility back on the buyer to do the math and ask for more pictures if they feel it may have changed since then or dont feel they receive the animal looking like the picture.
I fully get what your are saying, it was merely a statement based on my experience that even though i try to keep weights pics ect up to date it isn’t always easy or feasible to do so when you have a large amount of ads. Also i have noticed that no matter how much info you include you still get asked everything that is listed in the ad anyway
Also, as a counterpoint to the folks suggesting asking for updated photos- it’s not uncommon for gecko breeders to expressly state that they will not provide updated photos and not to ask for any. Many breeders wouldn’t take new photos if asked and might get irritated with you if you did. Maybe the attitude is different regarding higher priced animals, or different types of animals. I personally think the approximate photo date should be required for those sellers that won’t provide updated pics upon request.
It’s also not always the case that the photo posted with the ad was taken at the same time the ad was posted (for the first time). I purchased an animal several years ago and got a shock at how different she looked from the pic from her ad. Even though her ad was freshly posted, they’d used old pics. I’d share the pics on her ad, but I did not take them myself. The pics were about a year old.
I also don’t think it should be assumed that every buyer has had sufficient exposure to the species they’re interested in to be able to understand/predict how pattern and color can change as animals age. Thus it’s best for a seller to be crystal clear about the date a photo was taken, in case the buyer feels something was misrepresented. I’m really tired, I hope that made sense
Yes I noticed that with some people too