eBay deploys computer vision to make sellers’ products pop

By Trevor Mogg Published April 25, 2023

When it comes to selling stuff online, a decent photo is key in grabbing the attention of shoppers.

Recommended Videos

With this in mind, eBay is about to launch a new tool for its mobile app that uses computer vision to strip out any distracting background clutter so that the item you’re selling is the center of attention.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Most experienced online sellers already know how to use Photoshop or similar software to create a plain white background for their product, but newbie merchants most likely don’t. But the new feature makes it happen in just a few taps.

How it works

When you go to sell something on eBay, you’ll need to add a photo of the item, or preferably several photos showing it from different angles. Once you’ve uploaded a photo, you’ll see various editing options along the bottom of the display. Tap on the “remove background” icon to the immediate left of the trash can and let eBay’s smarts take over to create a white background. After that you’ll see additional options where you can tweak the image, removing any parts of the background that are still showing (possibly around the edges of the product), or even painting back in bits of the background that you want to remain as part of the shot.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

“At eBay, we want to make sure your products stand out from the crowd, both within the marketplace and on external search engines,” the company said in a message announcing the new feature. “Our new background editing feature on the eBay mobile app uses computer technology to make it quick and easy for you to get rid of noisy backgrounds on your product images — no need to pre-edit photos before adding to your listings.”

eBay also makes the important point that having a white background on a product image can help to improve the listing’s visibility on its shopping site as well as on search engines.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

We think you’ll agree that a plain white background for your products is far more striking than a cluttered background, or even a plain one such as a coffee table — unless of course you feel it’s important to show your product in context.

The online shopping giant will gradually introduce the feature for mobile during this month and next. To use it, you’ll need to ensure you have the latest version of the eBay app installed on your device (5.39 or newer for iOS and 5.40 or newer for Android).

Topics

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Mobile

We need to talk about this fantastic, industry-leading Motorola collab

A person holding the Motorola Edge 50 Neo.

We are accustomed to tech brands partnering with adjacent brands, whether it’s OnePlus with Hasselblad or Honor and Huawei with Porsche Design, and often — such as with Xiaomi and Leica — singing the praises of the resulting collaborations. But not enough has been said about Motorola’s now established partnership with color experts Pantone.

It was when the recently released Motorola Edge 50 Neo arrived for me to try out that I finally understood how impactful the collaboration has become. Why? It manages to make even ordinary colors look fantastic.
Boring gray?

Mobile

Visual Intelligence has made the Camera Control on my iPhone 16 worth using

Using Visual Intelligence on an iPhone 16 Pro showing ChatGPT answer.

One of the big selling points of the iPhone 16 hardware is the Camera Control button. It’s a small physical button on the bottom right of the frame that also has some capacitive capabilities. With the initial launch of iOS 18, a single press launches your camera app of choice, and you can do half presses and sliding gestures to adjust camera settings. It’s a neat idea, but it has some flaws that prevent it from being a great shutter button.

But now we have iOS 18.2, and that brought a lot of new Apple Intelligence features to our phones, especially if you have an iPhone 16. With iOS 18.2, Apple finally added Visual Intelligence, a feature similar to Google Lens, but on iPhone.

Mobile

The Samsung Galaxy S25’s release date is all but confirmed

The back of the yellow Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

We've speculated a lot on when the Samsung Galaxy S25 will officially launch, and there have been no small number of rumors. Now, though, we have everything but an official announcement as a leaked event poster states that Galaxy Unpacked will be held on January 22, 2025.

Evan Blass, a tipster with a reliable and proven track record, first shared the information on X. Since the initial post, the image has been removed due to a copyright claim, but you can see what it looked like below. The date on the poster lines up with previous leaks that also place the event on January 22, giving us almost a guarantee on the date.

nproxy.org