Want to increase the selling price of your item? The more information available to potential buyers about your item, the likelihood of achieving a higher closing price increases. One way of providing this additional information is to provide ultra high-quality pictures of your item in the listing. Because buyers cannot physically see your item, as is the case at a store or garage sale, buyers rely completely on your description and pictures. Therefore, taking high quality pictures will instill greater confidence in buyers to help you sell the item for more than the average closing price on eBay. 

Backdrop

Use a simple, consistent backdrop such as a laminated white surface (like a countertop) to provide a non-obstructive background that will not take away from the actual item itself (white sheets are probably not the best choice). White is usually a good color, although some items may work well with a black backdrop as well. In any case, make sure the backdrop is clean as dirty backgrounds might lead prospective buyers to think the item itself is dirty.

Lighting

One of the most important factors is lighting. Chances are you will be taking the pictures indoors, which means the natural lighting is minimal and will require additional lighting through a flash. However, sometimes using a flash creates harsh light or a reflection that takes away from the appearance of the item. If your camera has an external flash, try bouncing the flash off the ceiling or a nearby wall. Doing so will create a much more natural tone of light that will come across as balanced, while adequately lighting up your picture. If you don't have an external flash, you may try turning the flash off completely, while opening up the aperture or extending the shutter on the camera. Any camera basically needs a certain amount of light to make a picture look natural and balanced. So, without a flash you can simply open up the aperture (the "eye-hole" of a camera) or extend the amount of time the shutter stays open. Most modern digital cameras have an automatic mode that compensates for light by adjusting the aperture and shutter speed for you. If you find the automatic feature is not working properly, you can always try setting the unit to a semi-manual mode (sometimes referred to as "Av" for aperture and "Tv" for shutter). Or, you can always set the camera to the full manual ("M") mode and set everything on your own. For most indoor situations, try combinations similar to:

Av (Aperture): 3.5-4.5 and Tv (Shutter): 1/3-1/15

Keep in mind anytime you do not use the flash, you will need to hold the camera has still as possible to avoid blurring the shot (blurred shots are the result of shaking the camera slightly with a slow shutter). Because a flash "freezes" the frame with a burst of light, holding the camera still when you use a flash is not nearly as important (though it helps still). You may try using a tripod to help stabilize the camera if you do not use a flash. Most cameras also have some type of image stabilization that help to a certain degree.

Taking pictures of items with LCD's

What about taking pictures of items with an LCD screen such as cell phones, digital cameras, laptops, mp3 players, etc.? In order to capture the natural light around your item in addition to the content on and LCD, consider using an extended shutter exposure time with a brief flash initially. Doing so will freeze the frame while compensating for the difference in light between the actual item and the content on the LCD. I typically use a shutter setting of 1/10 a second with a flash bounced on an adjacent wall or ceiling. Remember to hold the camera as still as possible to avoid blurring the shot (or use a tripod).