Selling Mirrors Online Reflects An Awful Lot About Ourselves

Twitter thread shows how hard it is to sell mirrors online

How do you take a picture of a mirror without taking a picture of who you truly are? This isn’t a philosophical question, it’s actually a real problem faced by everyone who has ever tried to sell a reflective object online.

Someone took to Twitter this week to point out how unbelievably funny and awkward it is when people attempt to sell mirrors online — and now no one can stop laughing.

As user @SilviuMajor mused on Twitter earlier this week, pictures of people attempting to sell mirrors online open up incredible worlds, and looking at pics of seller attempts is his new favorite thing — and now also all of Twitter’s new favorite thing.

At the heart of the greatness of pictures of people selling mirrors online is that they are selfies taken by people who don’t want to be in selfies. It’s the reluctant, forced, and sometimes even totally unaware selfie. At the very same time, it’s an ad for an object that also contains its seller–never have you been more aware that the household item you are buying is used, for there is it’s current owner, hopefully not in all of their glory. This is the mirror I am selling, the ad says, and the mirror sees all, the picture adds.

Here are a lot of the best accidental mirror selfies from this amazing thread–along with some of the best strategies for snapping mirror pics.

First comes have the arty shot. For this strategy, put on some dark clothes, get yourself and your mirror to a bright, clean and modern kitchen, and make a picture that you could also, if it comes down to it, hang on a wall. Also, is that a bottle of wine on the countertop? Also, that is a really great mirror. #WouldBuy

This may be the greatest strategy for avoiding the reluctant mirror-selling selfie: redirecting focus to someone else. Here our mirror seller has ingeniously placed either the mirror or their friend/relative in such a way that they are now the star of this Facebook Marketplace ad, and yep, he’s playing on his phone, in his socks, feet up on an empty crate. One just hopes that the description–”Moving and can’t take with”–is about the mirror and not the person reflected in it.

Next is the popular hand selfie technique–great for the shy people in the crowd and also maybe for mirrors that are hung unnaturally high. Taking this shot usually involves a little squatting and more than a little self-consciousness. Just pretend like you’re a concert trying to take a picture from the seats in the back.

The opposite of the hand selfie is the strategy of completely owning it. This is just the best. Why try to hide that you, a human person, are selling a mirror online? Or that you have an amazing green shag carpet that feels so, so good to drape yourself across? If you’re going to be in your picture of a mirror that you are selling on Craigslist, why not give 100 percent effort?

https://twitter.com/jetpack/status/976931723442360321

This man has also decided to totally own it. He’s selling a mirror online. And he looks good. And he wants you to know. Maybe this mirror make people look good? Who’s to say? You have to buy it to find out.

Here’s a great strategy along the lines of the hand selfie, perhaps for someone who has super recognizable hands? Did this person set their phone’s photo timer or manually (pedialy?) snapped the shot? There’s no way to know for sure.

Next we have the mirror seller overshare: the mirror seller who isn’t just selling a piece a glass, they are selling a lifestyle. Take this man, who wants you to know exactly how you can utilize your new mirror (perfect for displaying candles!) along with where he sleeps, what he sleeps in, and the arrangement of his bedroom. And finally, the perfect place to store your collectable stuffed Tigger!

Another classic mirror selling picture technique is the peek-a-boo–an offshoot of the hand selfie. The peek-a-boo isn’t just used by those selling mirrors online–it is also a perennial favorite of Realtors who are trying to photograph small bathrooms without revealing their true identity.

Next comes the markup strategy, in which you destroy all that the mirror reveals with a few post-take scribbles. But maybe something other than red, as this makes it seem like you might have some self-esteem issues, or that the mirror revealed more than you’d like anyone to see.

The Dog Distraction.

And The Vampire.