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WTF VENDORS: NO MORE LOW RES PICS.

joe.pistell

Uncle Joe
Apr 7, 2009
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WTF VENDORS: NO MORE LOW RES PICS.

Does this bullshit problem start at the IMS? (i.e. Inventory management systems, homenet, vauto, etc)? If the IMS passes higher res images, does the MARKETPLACE compress the image? Does the dealers website vendor compress the images?

@vitas you have massive pic experiences, can you contribute? Post your thoughts here plz.

vAuto IMS exports: 640*480
https://static.cargurus.com/images/forsale/2022/09/21/04/55/2022_jeep_gladiator-pic-1126215334996598485-1024x768.jpeg

It publishes to DealerOn
https://www.reymore.com/inventoryphotos/10100/1c6jjteg8nl101096/ip/1.jpg?height=400&bg-color=FFFFFF

and to cargurus
https://static.cargurus.com/images/forsale/2022/09/21/04/55/2022_jeep_gladiator-pic-1126215334996598485-1024x768.jpeg

Any observations from the DR crew is welcome!
 
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Every layer of compression only makes it worse. It's crazy that dealers would settle for a 480p photo, but I see poor quality photos all the time on the marketplace.

In my experience it does tend to be the IMS companies that are trying to reduce their total overhead by reducing all images across the board. A poor practice that shouldn't be necessary given the low cost of image hosting, caching and serving.
 
Ok, vAuto has got to go, I started to go down the rabbit hole to upgrade it, I quickly looked at MaxDigital and UNITS inventory and I recalled how powerful the HomeNet system was (I helped build it back in the day ;-).

My IMS search is over, HomeNet it is, now on to looking into which WEBSITE VENDOR has the best image UX.
 
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@craigh great questions. I’m focused on a Chevy store, so I’ll be limited to GM approved vendors.

That being said, pics are the foundation of DISC tools. I helped this store build their Photo Booth (and it’ll get an upgrade in 2023 too). So, the image UX will score highly on which vendor this store chooses for 2023.

At a minimum, the pic UX needs to be on par with the rest of the internet (Amazon, Zillow, etc).
 
Long time lurker here, glad something I frequently have issues with popped up as I signed up.

Each website has their own parameters, cargurus sticks to 16:9 leading to funny cuts on the preview thumbnail, compressed but does a good job of preserving original photos when expanded (looking at you carfax), while the rest of the major market posters are 4:3. Sometimes your photos are being taken in different resolutions and this doesn't help the process.

The example listed above even at low resolution originally posted on their website, still shows clear enough detail with the lighting that I am sure the customer would prefer faster loading than waiting for the high q image on a niche site. EG: 1995 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 vs blown up & fast loading. Used 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S 2dr PDK £97,500 42,691 miles | Saxton4x4

I would wager that most CRM/IMS can handle a smartphone upload (4032x3024 pixels) and squished from your main CRM/IMS due to how many dealers photos they are processing, and spitting it onto the posting side of the software then communicating to however many sites you get lead gen from.


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Heres your irony for you, trying to upload an example photo I took of our inventory, I normally put into DealerCenter (Our management tool) I get this message. Screenshot 2022-11-28 195430.png
Photo in question, 6.71mb, 6000x4000 No processing just external hardware on my T8i with a 1.8 50mm.
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AutoRevo, Capterra, other big names seem to never feature anything other than unlimited inventory photo posts, niche ones have nice display sites but could allocate all the recourses to landing pages anyways, and I only have inputs of our CRM's limits of 2048x1036, and it displays at a .67 megapixel on our site from that max res. Left in the guesswork, but its many hands that process a photo of the side of the car that a likely buyer already clicked on the first 5/6 photos and either decided to submit an inquiry or skip to the next car anyways.
 
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How would you weight the value of SRP vs VDP photo implementation?
Is your priority a better treatment of SRP photos or a better experience once they've selected a vehicle and are looking at the photo collection for that vehicle?
Ohhh @craigh you've got a killer idea there! Going to implement an "SRP photo" VS a "VDP photo". Nothing says they've gotta be the same on the website! :)
 
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