eBay listings - whitening borders?
 

One thing I've noticed in buying cards from eBay is that for a fair number of '50s and '60s cards, when I get them in hand, the borders are less white than they appeared in the photos/scans. Is that just something that happens in taking the images, or is it a known thing that sellers can manipulate the images to make the (off) whites brighter?

Smartphones brighten the images. Take a picture of the same card and compare it to the real thing. The photo will have more enhanced, brighter colors. I notice that with my iPhone at least.

+1 I listed and sold a item in the BST section yesterday. I had to take a second picture because the first one made the item look much whiter and nicer than it really is.

"Auto Contrast" which is available in almost all scanning/image processing software is used to enhance the "overall" presentation on many cards.

If you look at nearly all PWCC images - the cards almost always look "over the top" spectacular.

Im positive that not only do they use a very high end scanner but they also do some type of enhancement in their image processing software.

I've been scanning a lot of old family photos recently and you know how some photos from the 1960's and 70's get that yellowish tint to them after all those years? Well, I've found a free software package that has a one-touch filter that restores the photos to their original color and brightness. It really is amazing.

So I have no doubt that the photos/scans do not accurately reflect the condition of the card. Now, whether that is intentional or not is a different matter.