Photos and a profile that get the first order request

What the numbers say about new profiles

panty.com follows every new seller's first two weeks and counts one thing: did a buyer send an order request? Each group has at least 200 sellers, and the figures are recalculated every night.

• A profile picture. 57% of new sellers with one got a first order request within two weeks.
• A listing in week one. 62% of new sellers who listed in their first week got a first order request within two weeks.
• All three (a picture, a listing in week one and an About me of at least 80 characters): 83% heard from a buyer.
• And fast: 60% of new sellers with a listing heard from a buyer within a week of signing up.

These are correlations, not promises: sellers who set up all three may simply log in more often. They count first order requests, not sales or income. Our own counts also suggest that extra listing photos or a longer description make only a small difference to a listing's views. The profile is where the difference is made, so start there.

The profile picture: no face needed

Your profile picture appears next to your nickname in your orders and on your profile. It can be anything that looks cared for and gives nothing away.

• A detail: the strap of a top, the lace edge of your panties, a ribbon or a button on a fabric you like.
• A flat lay: your favourite panties on a plain sheet, folded the way you'd present them.
• A styled corner: a chair, a scarf, a mug, as long as nothing in the frame belongs to a recognisable room.

The quickest route is built in: under Profile picture, "Choose from my photos" turns one of the photos on your profile into your picture with one tap. Don't use a photo you've posted anywhere else, because a reverse image search can find it; the guide to selling anonymously has the rest of the privacy checklist.

Listing photos: four that do the work

The listing editor takes up to eight photos (JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 10 MB each), and each empty space suggests a shot: Cover, Detail, Worn, Label, then Close-up, Size, Parcel and More. The first four answer most buyers' questions.

1. Cover: the panties in full, laid flat, with nothing else in the frame. This is the photo on every card.
2. Detail: the fabric up close: the lace pattern, the cotton weave, the trim.
3. Worn: a shot that shows the cut. A photo with nudity or a sex act is shown to nobody, so keep the shot to the panties and the cut.
4. Label: the tag with size and fabric, the two things buyers ask about most.

Your listing goes live as soon as you post it. Guests and search engines see only part of what members see: nothing explicit, and not every listing. A photo with nudity or a sex act is shown to nobody, members included. With Private profile switched on in Settings, guests and search engines don't see your profile or listings at all, while members still do and can order from you. If you want a photo to be seen by everyone, keep it to the panties themselves.

Light and phone settings

Good photos of fabric come from good light, not a better phone.

• Daylight from the side. Put the panties near a window, out of direct sun, so the light falls across the fabric and shows its texture.
• No flash. It flattens lace and leaves glare on satin and lycra.
• A plain background: a sheet, a towel or a wooden table, the same one for every listing, so your listings look like one shop.
• Wipe the lens, tap the screen to focus on the fabric, and move closer instead of zooming.
• Switch off location before you shoot. On an iPhone: Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera > Never. On Android the setting is in the camera app and varies by manufacturer; turn it off there, because Google Photos can't remove a location the camera has saved.

Words: About me and the listing

About me is the text buyers read before they order. At 80 characters or more it counts towards a complete profile, and three or four plain sentences are enough: what you list, how you pack, when you usually answer orders, and anything you don't do. For example: "I list my own panties, worn as each listing says. I pack them in a zip-seal bag inside a plain envelope and post within two days. I answer orders in the evenings."

The listing works best when it leaves nothing to guess. Most listings don't say how long the panties were worn, so filling in "Worn for" (or choosing "Ask me" and saying so in the description) answers one of the most common first questions before anyone asks it. Fill in the rest too:

• Fabric, Size and Cut, as on the label;
• "Worn while", if one of the options fits;
• whether postage is included, in one line;
• a title that says what it is, for example "Black lace thong, worn 2 days".

What to charge has its own numbers in the pricing guide.

After you list: answer orders quickly

A first order request only counts if it gets an answer. Order requests are free for buyers; you need Premium to read and answer them. Without it, you still see that a buyer sent an order request and can send a buyer one of your listings with Make offer (one offer a day on a free account), but reading and answering the request need Premium.

Across panty.com, half of all first order requests are answered within 43 min. 60% of first order requests get an answer within a day. Answering within the day keeps you in step with most sellers, and the buyer is still there when you do.

Keep the whole order on panty.com, where you have it in writing. Anyone who pushes you onto another app can be reported with the reason "Wants to move off panty.com" and blocked straight away.