Shop by photo: find an item on eBay from a picture

How shop by photo works

1. Add a photo. On Spotter Otter, choose Add photo. On a phone, Take a photo opens your camera. You can also upload a photo or a screenshot you already have.
2. It reads the picture. Spotter Otter looks for visible brand names, labels, model numbers and style codes, and uses eBay’s image search for extra clues.
3. It writes a description. You’ll see what it thinks the item is, written out as a search request. If it isn’t sure, it tells you so. It also shows the closest listings on eBay right now, for reference.
4. You check it and set your price. Fix anything it got wrong, add what the photo can’t show (your size, a must-have detail) and set a maximum price. The price is required and is before shipping.
5. Confirm and start. Luna, Spotter Otter’s AI, turns the description into an eBay search and a list of must-haves. Confirm them and start the Spotter. From then on, new listings that fit are sent to you.

The current listings shown after a photo are only there to help you confirm the identification. Alerts are for listings posted after you start the Spotter.

How to take a photo that gets identified

The single biggest factor is whether the photo has words and numbers in it. Shape and color narrow things down; a label settles it.

• Photograph the most informative side. Shoes: the tag inside the tongue, which usually carries the size and a style code. Clothing: the neck label or the care tag in the side seam. Electronics and tools: the label or plate on the back or bottom with the model number. Pottery, glass and kitchenware: the bottom, where maker’s marks and pattern names are stamped.
• Straight on and close. Hold the phone square to the label, close enough that you could read it yourself in the photo, and tap the screen to focus. A tilted label is harder to read than a slightly further one.
• Good light, no glare. Daylight near a window beats a ceiling light. On glossy labels, glass and chrome, tilt the item a little or turn off the flash so the reflection isn’t sitting on the text.
• One item per photo. On a crowded shelf or table, crop the photo to the one you mean before you upload it. If you can’t, add a short note in the description box, like the blue pitcher on the left.
• Try again closer. If the first photo is identified only vaguely (“a brown leather boot”), take a second one of the label or tag. That usually turns a category into a model.

Screenshots work too. A post you saved, a store page, a photo a friend sent: crop it to the item in your phone’s photo editor, then upload it. If the screenshot shows a price, that isn’t taken as your budget; you set the maximum price yourself.

Keep people, documents, payment cards and screens with personal information out of the frame. Shop by photo identifies things to buy, not people.

Check the description before you start

The description is what the Spotter will look for, so a minute here saves a lot of wrong alerts.

• Is it the right item? Compare the name and any model number or style code with what’s on the label. If you can read a number on the item that isn’t in the description, add it.
• Add what a photo can’t show. The size you need, the year or version you want, and the condition you’ll accept. Details like these are yours to add.
• Say which details are must-haves. If only the green one will do, say “must be green.” If any color is fine, say that instead, and you’ll see more listings.
• Set a maximum price you’d actually pay. To pick one, search the item on eBay and turn on the Sold items filter to see what it has recently sold for.

When you confirm, the must-haves are checked against every new listing. Sizes and other facts are matched with the wordings sellers use, so Large also means L, LG or Lrg. A listing that states a different value is left out; one that doesn’t say is sent as a Maybe match so you can judge it.

Spotter Otter or eBay’s own image search?

eBay has its own image search, and it’s worth using. In the eBay app, tap the camera icon in the search bar, take or choose a photo, and eBay shows listings that look similar right now. If you want to know whether one is for sale today, start there.

They work well together: check eBay’s image search first, and if nothing right is listed, start a Spotter so you don’t have to keep checking.

Have a link instead of a photo?

If you found the item on a store’s website or on an eBay listing, you can paste the product link instead. Spotter Otter identifies the item from the page and starts the same kind of Spotter for it, with your own must-haves and price added.

Your photo and your privacy

Spotter Otter doesn’t store your photo. To identify the item, the photo is sent to OpenAI and to eBay. What the Spotter keeps is the written description you confirmed. Even so, it’s good practice to crop out anything personal before you upload, like an address label on a box or a face in the background.