When shooting e-bay photos, you need a good background. It is easy to do if you think about it.

First stock up on a few different fabric remanants. Go to a local Wal-Mart, Sew Fro or any fabric store and buy remants. Remnants are different sized pieces of leftover fabric from the bolt. Get dark, white, demin, red, and green. You know the size of what you're selling and shooting most of the time, so keep this in mind when choosing the right size. They will say right on the wrapper what size and how much it is. Don't spend more than a couple of dollars on each--unless it is an oppulant fabric you have to have.

Lie out your fabric on a comfortable spot with a good height so you don't cause back strain when bending over it. We use our dining room table. It is the largest surphace we have available and it is very clean

Spead out the material wrinkle free or using a box or platform under the material. If you use a prop and want a back drop, tape each edge of the material to a cereal box. You might need a weight at the base of the other side of the ceral box to stabilize it. In another good platform system, you can use a  stack books as tall as you need to enhance your items appearance.

Use a solid color background. Prints detract from showing off your item for sale. Color of the backdrop is important too.

If you have a light, sparkling item or something you want to appear as rich use black velvet. Velvet absorbs light and does not reflect it back to the camera lens--especially with a flash. Black makes your item seem like there's nothing else in the world.

Red is associated with fire. Red speeds up the pulse and makes your heart race. If you have something exciting to sell--this is your color.

Green simulates the Earth. It speaks of the essential so use it to show off neccesities, items that people need to have. 

Blue is for the classics. It is one of the colors we all have become accustomed to on the computer. It works well for electronics and computers--deveoping and changing while remaining a stable of society. Silver celphones look great on blue.

White is a great color form dark items that need a lift. Antiques look sharp on white. remember, white reflects light and it will bounce back at the lens.

Other colors are good too but these colors may not look the same on someone else computer moniter. Try to approximate your color in someone else's computer by squinting your eyes and opening them wide while looking at the color. Hot pinks may be blaring red, for example.

Good luck, be creative and have fun!