Starting a mail order, what are do’s and don’ts?

[NocturnalLibrary]

I can find myself in both opinions on displaying images of releases. On the one hand I like the NHFA approach of mostly no images as it's a great way to discover new artists and releases without knowing too much ahead about what they're gonna sound like but for consistency and neatness I would still rather display the releases images so people know what they're going to get.

[Minus1]

But don't (hilariously) hide the "naughty" ones, like discogs / rym.

[NocturnalLibrary]

But don't (hilariously) hide the "naughty" ones, like discogs / rym.

Definitely not, I don't like that censorship though to be honest there's much less NSFW type of artwork of new Noise releases than in the past. I also doubt I'll have many of those in stock since it's not always stuff I'm into.

[Balor/SS1535]

When I place orders online, I know what I am looking for/getting, so the presence of images (or the lack thereof) is really unimportant.  This is especially true when the seller is trusted (as Mikko is).  I don't see the missing images on his site as reflecting a lack of effort or anything so much as presenting an image of "if you know, you know."  With noise, how can you really go wrong with that?

Looking over recent purchases, has there really been that much you have bought as a result of seeing a picture?  For me, recognizable names/connections (through labels, projects, etc.) are a much bigger determining factor.

[Minus1]

When I go "shopping" at S+W, I might be familiar with about 50% of what I see. Visuals "get me in the door" (or not) on the unknowns. It's kind of sad to admit that. But a list with no visuals would be a rough presentation for me.

I suppose if we are searching for a particular item, that's fine. But for "browsing" and researching, visuals really help me.

[Minus1]

(I personally think Soundohm is the gold medal standard on presentation.)

[Cranial Blast]

When I place orders online, I know what I am looking for/getting, so the presence of images (or the lack thereof) is really unimportant.  This is especially true when the seller is trusted (as Mikko is).  I don't see the missing images on his site as reflecting a lack of effort or anything so much as presenting an image of "if you know, you know."  With noise, how can you really go wrong with that?

Looking over recent purchases, has there really been that much you have bought as a result of seeing a picture?  For me, recognizable names/connections (through labels, projects, etc.) are a much bigger determining factor.

I agree, same here I know what I'm after too and I also find images to be unimportant as well. I use images in my distro, but only because the distro is small and it's a manageable task for me. If I had a large distro with a lot more items and with a constant cycle of new incoming items, I wouldn't bother with images either, as it's not necessary.