Many eBay sellers have had problems with other members using their photographs without permission. One of the most effective ways to combat this is to mark all your images with your ID or your shop name: this really does discourage picture theft. But if you have hundreds, or even thousands of pictures to mark, it can seem a daunting task. This Guide looks at two easy ways to quickly add your eBay ID to as many pictures as you like.

Irfanview : the free solution

Irfanview (www.irfanview.com) is a free program which allows you to make various alterations to images, either individually or in bulk. Let's look at using it to add your eBay ID or other copyright information to your photographs.

Because this is rather a long process in Irfanview, I'd advise having this guide and the program open at the same time!

1. To begin the process, from the top menu, select File > Batch Conversion/Rename.
2. Using the file browser on the top right, select the files you want to use. Double-click individual files to add them to the list on the left, or just click the "Add All" button to add an entire directory to the list.
3. Now set the options for your watermark.
• From the bottom right, select Work as batch conversion, and check the Use advanced options box.
• Click the Set advanced options button.
• From the MISCELLANEOUS section (bottom right) check Add overlay text, and click the Settings button beside it.
• Now you can specify exactly how you would like your text to appear.
• X-coordinates and Y-coordinates let you specify where in the image you wish the text to appear. With both at 0, the text will be in the top left corner.
• Width and height specify the size of the area in which text can appear. If you have a long user name, you'll need to increase the width if you wish it to appear all on one line for your watermark. With 14pt text, there are approximately 7-8 characters to 100 pixels, so expand the box accordingly.
• Check the Text is transparent box for text without a background color; set the font style, the size and the colour by clicking Choose font: personally I like the silver text as being not too intrusive into your picture.
• You can use "Append copyright" to add the copyright symbol, and "Append date" to automatically add the date.
4. Click Okay to return to the previous screen.
5. You will need to either check Overwrite existing files (only do this if you are certain you do not want to keep the original version of the picture), or set file renaming rules as below. Click Okay.
6. Irfanview can automatically write your labelled pictures as new files, which is useful if you'll want to use the unlabelled version elsewhere (or you think you might change your eBay ID!). If you wish to use this option, change Work as to Batch conversion - rename result files. Click Set rename options to do this. You can reuse the same filename with a new suffix by entering e.g. $N-new, or number the files in sequence, or rename according to replacement rules you specify.
7. It's recommended that you save the converted files in a new directory. Again, this means that your originals are preserved in case you change your ind about what you want to do. Set the output directory on the right hand side.

Once you've set all the above, click Start. A pop-up window will tell you the new files are being written and saved. You're now free to upload them to your picture hosts or to eBay's picture hosting for use on your auctions.

I'd also advise running some tests before you convert hundreds or thousands of pictures, to ensure text size, colour and placement are just as you would like them.

We've seen what Irfanview can do. The great advantage of this program is that it's free. But the "watermark" created is little more than writing on the picture. For transparent text and other more subtle effects, you'll need to pay for software.

Photoshop : a professional solution

If you're lucky enough to own a copy of Photoshop, Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CE, you can achieve much more subtle effects than with Irfanview. This is what I use to put watermarks on my own pictures: the transparent text is still visible enough to discourage thieves, but doesn't interfere with the actual picture.

First, let's look at adding a transparent watermark to a single picture.

1. Open your image in Photoshop, and add your watermark text using the text tool.
2. Right-click on the text layer, and select Blending Options.
3. Check the Bevel and Emboss box on the left, and change Fill Opacity to 0%. Click Okay.

You can still alter text style once you've done the above, so do play around with text size and weight until you're happy. The simpler the font (Verdana, Arial), the more effective the watermark tends to be. Fussy, serif-heavy and script fonts don't tend to make good watermarks.

Now you need to save this set of actions so that it can be applied to any number of images.

1. Open the Actions palette as above.
2. Click the little folder shape at the bottom of the action menu and name your new set.
3. Then click the folded paper shape next to it to bring up the recording box and go through the actions above to make a watermark. Click the button with the square to stop when you have finished.
4. The program will now remember what you do and can apply that to any files you choose.
5. Now select File - Automate - Batch and tell the program which files you want to watermark.
6. You can choose to save to a new file and/or rename your pictures. In case of error or change of user name, I'd advise saving your watermarked pictures seperately from the originals.
7. It's best to test this process with a few files before you set Photoshop going with hundreds or thousands, to ensure you're happy with the result.

We've seen how to watermark files with Photoshop: though this will involve paying for software, the better result is almost certainly worth it if you're a professional seller.

Finally, a word of warning: please remember that writing a URL (your name .com or .co.uk) across your pictures is a violation of eBay's links policy and can lead to your listings being removed.

This guide has shown you two different ways of adding your eBay ID or other information to multiple pictures at one time. I hope you've found it useful.