If a picture is worth one thousand words then you should be creating at least a twelve thousand word description of each of your vehicles.

It is vital that you take twelve very attractive shots of each vehicle. There is a definite photo order you should follow that will reveal the features of your vehicle in an order that will be most effective.

Historically photo management has been a very difficult task for dealerships and this is because of all the renaming and copying involved. Some solutions are so difficult they require that you take cards out of your camera, plug them into your computer, copy files over and rename them before uploading.

The iMarketAuto™ photo management solution is quite easy and painless: Using any WIFI camera (inexpensive and readily available) simply snap each shot. Each photo will land on the computer, name itself after the stock number and be uploaded and distributed to your web site and all online lead generators.

It is important to note that iMarketAuto™ photo management never deletes photos, even after your vehicles have sold. It is a common occurrence that dealers sell vehicles and later take them back as trade-ins on a future purchase only to realize that the photos they originally took reappear once the vehicle enters iMarketAuto™ inventory management!

FAQ:

[ + ] Are you really saying that I no longer need to rename photos?

That is correct. Our software works flawlessly with any WIFI digital camera (we recommend Nikon CoolPix). In this localized WIFI environment each picture you take drops immediately into our system to be broadcast to all your online lead generators and your own web site. Most inventory management systems require that you: Take photos. Pull the memory card out of your digital camera. Walk into the dealership. Put the memory card into some sort of adapter so that your workstation can see the images. Rename each photo so that it matches a stock number. Upload each photo individually into the system. With iMarketAutoâ„¢ photo management these tasks are a thing of the past. We have developed solid technology to make it easier than ever to take your own photos.

[ + ] What about solutions that incorporate a camera right into a larger tablet device?

While these types of solutions may appear to be convenient and easy to use there are several downsides to an integrated, proprietary system: Portability. With an attached camera it is difficult to take photos of such things as the odometer, speedometer and/or dashboard. The cumbersome qualities of such devices become readily apparent when taking inside photos of vehicles. Breakability. Many of the integrated solutions suffer from camera malfunctions due to the proprietary nature of the camera itself or the less than reliable physical connection between the camera and the device itself. Overkill. The iMarketAutoâ„¢ philosophy is to make data collection as simple, affordable and beneficial as possible. To this end we believe that a dealership should have a choice of hardware and be able to obtain next day onsite warranties from the likes of Dell. With an integrated system dealerships are beholden to the technology provider and may suffer days of downtime which systems are shipped out and shipped back. Common Sense. Face it, data collection should be easy, fast and affordable. Locking into multi-year leases on integrated devices simply makes no sense when a very minimal investment in a device that runs on the DataOne iMarketAutoâ„¢ backbone is all that is necessary to achieve superb online marketing results.

[ + ] What is your opinion on mobile PDA solutions with cameras attached to their SD connection? Is the image quality good enough?

Buyer beware. PDA devices that utilize the SD connector will never give you the same results as a free hand digital camera. Some facts to consider: Quality. Most solutions cannot cross the 1.3 megapixel resolution Focus. Because the camera is very reliant upon the CPU of the device it is attached to it is almost impossible to hold the device steady enough to avoid blurry photos. Lighting. Washed out photos are typical with such devices because the SD camera is not powerful enough to compensate for sunlight. Shadows appear darker, lighter colors appear washed out. Storage. Typically, because the SD slot is already taken up with a small camera there is no extra slot to store a significant number of photos. This makes such a device undesirable for the task of taking multiple photos of multiple vehicles. Reliability. Internal tests have indicated that such implementations (pda + small SD camera) are notoriously unreliable with soft/hard reboots necessary to keep communication between the camera and the PDA intact.

[ + ] Is WIFI reliable enough?

Yes. It is important to understand that when we talk about a WIFI connection between the camera and the inventory management system we are not talking about WIFI that permeates every corner of your dealership. It is a localized WIFI connection between the camera and your MobileOps device. It is a closed WIFI connection accessible to just these two devices. It is a strong signal, reliable up to hundreds of feet.

[ + ] Where can I get a great deal on a WIFI camera?

We highly recommend Nikon CoolPix cameras which you can locate practically anywhere. Circuit City, etc.

[ + ] How large or small should my photos be and why?

Photos should be 640x480 resolution and no more than 150k in file size. Most online lead generators will size down your photos if they are larger than this, resulting in several quality issues with your photos. Photos may appear distorted, washed out, pixilated (mosaic effects) along with other unpredictable behaviors if the proper resolution is not set from the beginning.