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Having a digital camera is one of those tools you must have if you expect to succeed on eBay. You need to be able to show clear pictures of your items, and you need to be able to zoom in. This is especially important to those that sell a lot of miscellaneous merchandise, or used merchandise.

When I first started out on eBay, I had a terrible digital camera. I had received it free from a credit card application I filled out, and it was definitely cheap. It was also at the time when digital cameras were relatively new, and didn’t have all of the fancy high megapixels and zooms.

So needless to say, I am shocked I even sold anything with the fuzzy and dark pictures (it didn’t have a flash either). But eventually I did upgrade to a much better digital camera. So if you are an eBay, you need to find a digital camera that can get the job done!

Digital Camera Features You Want to Have for Your eBay Auction Listings:

When shopping around for a digital camera, you will want a camera that has these main features below:

• Flash-You need a good flash to see items in a dark room or with bad lighting
• Optical Zoom-You may need to zoom in and out to get a good shot of the item. Optical zoom means the lens actually moves in and out and gets a clear picture.
• Digital Zoom-This allows the camera to zoom in digitally
• Macro Mode- This is extremely important. This will allow you to zoom in to see very fine details. My camera can zoom in to see the date on a coin clearly!
• Movie Mode-This is great if you ever want to record short clips of your item or make videos to insert into your listing. Most cameras these days have a built in video mode.
• LCD screen- This allows you to see the picture right after you take it. That way, you can know if you got a good shot.
• High Megapixels- The higher the megapixels, the better the picture. The camera i have is a 7.1 Megapixel camera. It is very good. I would recommend at least 4-5 megapixels if possible. Of course, they go as high as 10-12, and probably even higher as technology continues to increase in development.

If you can get those main features, then the camera will be great for eBay! I strongly recommend you look at the camera yourself to make sure you like how it works and to make sure it has a clear display, a good zoom, etc.

What Kind of Brands Are Good for Digital Cameras? What Digital Camera Do You Use for eBay?

There are some very good brand names on the market. Canon has some great names, and their PowerShot cameras are really good. Nikon has always made great cameras. Kodak is finally catching up as well, but not the best in cameras. Sony makes cameras, and there are several other brands as well. I would recommend sticking to a Nikon or Canon digital camera if possible.

My own digital camera is a black Nikon CoolPix L16. I only paid $99.99 for it! I got a great deal, and it was brand new on the market. It has some great features: 7.1 megapixel, 3x optical zoom, 2.8″ LCD, 21mb internal memory, ISO 1600, 15 modes, Red-Eye Fix, face detection, etc.

If you want a great camera, I can tell you that the Nikon CoolPix L16 has worked great for me. I am sure there are is a new model coming out any time, and there are other great brands as well. This is what my digital camera looks like below:

Nikon L16

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If you are looking for a short answer as to which printer is better, I will save you time: A laser printer is better in so many ways. I have owned both inkjet and laser printers, and I have used both for business and personal use. I have also used them during school and for designing graphics. In almost every way I can think of, the laser printer is superior.

Why A Laser Printer is Better Than an Inkjet Printer

A laser printer is far superior to almost any inkjet printer. I have had several inkjets (Epson, Lexmark, HP, etc.). They all had relatively good print quality, and all of them lasted for at least a few years. However, when I started to print in volume, I noticed that my little inkjet Lexmark 3 in 1 printer was starting to break down.

I started having to replace ink refills almost weekly. Luckily I found a great bargain on refill kits, however, it was time consuming to remove the cartridge weekly, refill it, clean it, run the sample prints, and then resume working. If I had to buy a new cartridge every couple of weeks, it would have cost $30 each time. That really adds up to big money after a few refills, and even the smallest of business can find themselves shelling out as much as thousands of dollars by the year’s end.

Also, as if the ridiculous price of retail ink cartridges isn’t enough, the scanner on the 3 in 1 Lexmark (model X1185) started to get jammed. So I knew it was time for a change. So I started researching if I should make the leap and buy my first laser printer. I really didn’t know much about them, and I didn’t need anything fancy. I was mostly using them to print shipping labels for my online business, paperwork, etc.

Finally I found a great bargain on a printer with equally great customer reviews. It was a Brother Mono-chrome Black Laser Printer (model HL-2140). I got the printer for around the same price as most inkjet printers (I paid a total of $79.99-and even got a $20 mail in rebate…and yes, they actually sent me the rebate check).

So I was thrilled at the price. It came with the printer, starter toner cartridge (lasted for about 3 months with heavy printing), and the CD and instructions. The printer was much more quiet than my Lexmark Inkjet printer. It also printed much faster, and the quality was perfect.

If you sell on eBay, then you need to get a good quality laser printer that will allow you to print your labels directly from paypal. These are perfect for that. A great thing about laser printing is that the label won’t run if it gets wet. Inkjet label ink usually runs and gets ruined if it gets wet. So this is a plus as well.

Summary of Benefits of a Laser Printer:

• More cost efficient-Usually only costs about $0.01-0.05 even when you factor in the toner and periodic drum replacement. This makes a huge difference, especially if you print often. And the best part is that now a brand new personal laser printer is about the same price as an inkjet…so it is a no-brainer.
• Faster operation-Lasers usually have a much higher PPM. My Brother Laser prints about 23 PPM-which is super fast for printing labels and documents (and completely smokes my older inkjet). More robust laser printers can get even faster than this.
• Quiet operation-This may not be true for every laser, but my small Brother Laser printer is actually less noisy than my inkjet, which I really appreciate.
• Don’t have to replace toner often-With  my inkjet printer, I was refilling or replacing the ink cartridge every week or two. But with a toner cartridge, you only have to do this process every few months. If you don’t print very often, you may only have to do this every year or two. This was a big plus for me since I didn’t have to get all inky every few weeks and take time out to clean and refill it.
• Toner stays on the Paper-The toner actually stays on the paper even when wet! So if it is a rainy day and your shipping label gets wet-it isn’t a big deal. However, try that with inkjet ink and you will probably have a ruined or lost pacakge!

In conclusion, I now know I made the right choice when I went with a small monochrome black laser printer. If you plan on printing color, you may want to fork over a few more bucks, but I would absolutely recommend a laser printer for ANYONE! Even if you only need a printer for personal things or school, get you a laser printer. It will save so much time and money in the long run.

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