This is one annoying thing IMO that has become more of a trend on ebay. When the description just states, like you say, that pics are considered part of the description. People used to actually describe what they were selling. But apparently laziness has taken over and they just say look at pics. Of course on big ticket items, there's usually more of an actual description.
Believe it or not, this trend is actually the fault of eBay. For quite a time, eBay's call centers had an anti-seller attitude that was so entrenched it was actually part of the culture. I could explain in detail, but suffice it to say I worked in enough phone rooms to smell what's happening. I had CS reps make up rules and policies on the fly and outright blatant lies--anything to make the seller guilty. You'd have to shop for a reasonable rep by calling repeatedly. The higher up the ladder you went, the better the quality of rep, but most sellers wouldn't understand how that works, they just accept what's being said on the front lines.
Anyway, the way it always worked was that anything that you write in the description could be used against you. Anything. If it could be twisted, spun or perverted to make the seller wrong and the buyer right, that's what would be done (I can share some tales that would floor you in disbelief). "You wrote this, and that's misleading...you wrote that, and that's confusing...etc." You needed to approach it in almost lawyer-like precision. But...they couldn't twist the photos. So if you make the photos the only description, as long as you send what's in the photos (yes, yes, I know there's complaints in here about being sent something different, but that's not my point), you're much safer offering no textual description at all.
eBay itself caused this to come into being!
Something that helped me over time was an hour+ session with an experienced and generous rep located in the US that educated me on how all the rules work. It's said that successful people don't follow the law....they
use the law. That's how it works. The one most important rule is the eBay policy that requires buyers to
read the entire auction description including any terms and conditions. It's been my experience that the more lengthy and detailed this is written out, the more you blow out the loser/crooked buyers by scaring them away.
Another thing I do is to stay away from certain categories like electronics and clothing. Yep, good money to be made, but if you sell these kinds of items enough you will take hits. That's just the way it is.
But I've noticed over the last handful of months that the pendulum is starting to swing the other way. I've gotten excellent help recently that was very seller-supportive. Word on the street is they were losing too many sellers.
Again, this is only addressing what the sellers have been confronted with for a long time and in what way these experiences have changed the way they approach eBay selling. It's not about buyers and sellers that are intentionally looking to rip someone off--different issue.
