What is the weird "fisheye" pic on so many items?

IMO it makes the item look insignificant or inferior to the full pic item. So is it just random that some get "fisheye" and others get a full pic?

I do not believe it is a coincidence that Audiogon sales have fallen right off right about the time this cockamamey " view" was introduced.
Many ,like the OP here, have no clue what is going on and usually end up saying " fug it" and shopping elsewhere.
I truly wish Agon would stop being so hard headed over it and just drop it.
Either they paid some web designer a fortune for it and are determined to see it through.
Or it is internal and now a case of stubborn false pride over it.

Whatever it is not helping hard to come by sales one little bit.

IMHO 

Change to the "classic View" on the upper right hand corner, just below the yellow line and you won't see the fish eye view. It will become your default.

@dill650,
That is correct. Unfortunately for people who do not store the cookies in the cache, they have to change the settings every time they log into the site.

Perhaps the dumbest thing ever seen on a site where people pay to sell stuff.  I would be fired if I ever came up with something that intentionally degraded the look of my web site like that.