How to Prepare Photos for Amazon, Etsy and eBay: The Full Marketplace Image Checklist
How to Prepare Photos for Amazon, Etsy and eBay: The Full Marketplace Image Checklist
We sell on marketplaces too, so we built this guide from the rejection emails our clients forwarded to us. Sizes, formats, background rules and product fill, all in one place.
Why marketplace photos get rejected (and how to stop guessing)
Every marketplace has a hidden gate between your camera and your live listing, and that gate is the image validator. Upload a file that is too small, too heavy, framed too tightly or shot on a colored backdrop, and the platform either rejects it outright or, worse, accepts it and quietly suppresses your listing in search. We see this constantly at our studio: sellers spend hours styling a product, then lose a week to bounced uploads because a single number was off. This guide collects the real, current requirements for Amazon, Etsy, eBay and Shopify into one checklist, with the exact pixel dimensions, file formats, weight limits and product-fill rules each platform enforces. We also cover the rejection reasons that almost never make it into the official help docs, the ones our clients only learn about after their main image gets flagged. By the end you will know precisely what a compliant photo looks like, and you will be able to bring a whole batch up to standard in a single pass instead of fixing files one at a time. No theory, just the numbers that get your products listed.
The exact size, format and weight rules for each platform
Start with the hard numbers, because these are the requirements that trigger automatic rejection before a human ever sees your work. We keep this reference taped to our editing monitors, and it changes rarely enough to trust.
- Amazon: the longest side must be at least 1000 px to enable zoom, and Amazon recommends 1600 px or more. The hard maximum is 10000 px on the longest side. Accepted formats are JPEG (preferred), TIFF, PNG and non-animated GIF. JPEG is the safe default. The main image must sit on a pure white background, RGB color values 255, 255, 255.
- Etsy: aim for at least 2000 px on the shortest side for crisp zoom, with 3000 px wide as the sweet spot. Etsy accepts JPG, PNG and GIF, and the file size ceiling is roughly 20 MB per image. Etsy is far more flexible on background and styling than Amazon.
- eBay: images must be at least 500 px on the longest side, but 1600 px unlocks zoom and enlarge. The maximum is 9000 px, and the per-file ceiling is 12 MB. eBay accepts JPEG, PNG, BMP, TIF and GIF.
- Shopify: supports up to 20 megapixels and a 20 MB file size limit, accepting JPEG, PNG, WebP, HEIC and GIF. Square images at 2048 x 2048 px display best across themes.
Two practical takeaways. First, when in doubt, export a square JPEG between 1600 and 3000 px on the longest side. That single specification clears the validators on all four platforms at once. Second, watch your file weight. A 12 MP photo straight out of a phone can easily exceed 20 MB once it includes location and camera metadata, which is enough to bounce on eBay and Shopify. If your files are too heavy, you can shrink them without visible quality loss using our photo compression tool, and strip bloated metadata with our EXIF cleaner. A common mistake we see is sellers uploading 8 MB phone photos with the longest side at 4000 px but the subject filling only a third of the frame, which technically passes the size check yet fails the quality and fill expectations we cover next.
Background and product fill: the rules that actually move listings
Passing the file validator is only half the battle. The rules that determine whether your listing ranks and converts are about what is inside the frame. Amazon is the strictest, and its main image policy is non-negotiable, so treat it as your baseline even if you also sell elsewhere.
- Pure white background on the main image. Amazon requires the primary photo to sit on a seamless white background, with no props, text, logos, watermarks or borders. Off-white, light gray or a subtly graded studio sweep will get flagged. If your shots have any backdrop other than clean white, our background removal tool isolates the product, and our AI background replacement drops it onto a perfect white field.
- Product fill of 85 percent. The product must occupy at least 85 percent of the image frame on Amazon. Too much empty space around the item is one of the most common silent rejections we see. Crop tight, but leave a small margin so nothing touches the edges.
- No watermarks, text or graphics on the main image. Promotional badges, "best seller" stickers and seller logos belong on secondary lifestyle images at most, never on the hero shot.
- Show the full product. The entire item must be visible and in focus. Cropped-off edges and out-of-frame parts trigger rejection.
Etsy, eBay and Shopify give you more creative freedom on secondary images and even on the main thumbnail, but here is the strategic point: a clean white-background hero converts better almost everywhere, and it future-proofs you if you ever expand to Amazon. We recommend shooting once, producing one compliant white-background master, then layering lifestyle and detail shots around it. If a product photo came in too tight or with a distracting backdrop, our crop tool fixes framing and our object removal tool erases stray props, cables or reflections that pull attention off the product. The biggest mistake we correct daily is a product floating in the middle of a huge frame: it looks small in search thumbnails, kills your click-through rate, and on Amazon it fails the 85 percent rule outright.
A step-by-step workflow to bring a whole batch to standard in one pass
Fixing photos one at a time is where sellers lose hours. The trick is a repeatable pipeline that takes a folder of raw shots and outputs a folder of platform-ready files. Here is the exact sequence we use in the studio, in order, because order matters.
- Step 1, cull and orient. Pick the sharpest frame per angle and rotate everything upright. Blurry or tilted shots waste the rest of the pipeline.
- Step 2, remove or clean the background. Isolate the product and place it on pure white for the main image. Keep a transparent PNG version too, since it is reusable for lifestyle composites later.
- Step 3, remove distractions. Erase dust, tags, stray hairs, reflections and any prop that is not the product itself.
- Step 4, crop to fill. Frame the product to roughly 85 to 90 percent of a square canvas with a thin, even margin. Square crops display consistently across all four platforms.
- Step 5, set format and weight. Export as JPEG, longest side between 1600 and 3000 px, then compress to comfortably under the 12 to 20 MB ceilings.
- Step 6, strip metadata and add a watermark only where allowed. Clean EXIF data, and apply a watermark only to secondary or off-Amazon images using our watermark tool if you want brand protection.
You do not need six separate apps for this. Our marketplace photo preparation tool runs the whole sequence, background to white, crop to fill, correct format and weight, in one flow, so you can do it online in a minute instead of stitching tools together by hand. If your source files arrived as iPhone HEIC images, convert them first with our HEIC to JPG converter so every platform reads them. The single most common batch mistake we fix is inconsistency: ten products at ten different zoom levels, three background shades and two aspect ratios. A storefront with uniform white-background squares looks professional and trustworthy, and that consistency is exactly what the one-pass workflow above guarantees.
The official requirements are only the surface. After processing thousands of marketplace images, we have a running list of the quiet failures, the ones that pass the obvious checks but still get a listing suppressed, demoted or returned for revision. Watch for these.
- Almost-white backgrounds. A background that looks white to your eye but reads as 248, 248, 250 will fail Amazon. The validator wants true 255 white. Always check with a color picker, not your monitor, since uncalibrated screens lie.
- Soft shadows that touch the edge. A drop shadow can be fine, but if it bleeds into the frame border or turns gray, it can trip the white-background check. Keep shadows contained and light.
- Color casts from cheap lighting. Mixed indoor lighting tints whites yellow or blue. This will not always be rejected, but it makes your product look off and lowers conversion. Correct white balance before export.
- Mislabeled file extensions. A PNG renamed to .jpg is a surprisingly frequent bounce. The actual file format, not the name, must match.
- Embedded color profiles other than sRGB. Adobe RGB or ProPhoto files look dull and wrong on the web. Convert to sRGB before uploading.
- Text or measurements baked into the main image. Size charts and feature callouts belong on secondary images, never the hero.
- Upscaled, low-detail files. Stretching a 600 px photo to 1600 px passes the size rule but looks mushy and can be flagged as low quality.
That last one matters more than people expect. If your only source image is genuinely small or blurry, do not fake the resolution. Our photo enlargement tool adds real detail when you upscale, and our photo restoration tool can recover an old or damaged product shot. For sellers who want the deeper play-by-play on the single most important image, our guide on the main product photo for Amazon and Etsy goes further, and our overview of AI retouching for Amazon covers automation at scale. The pattern across all these quiet rejections is the same: the file technically complies but the image quality or color is off, and platforms increasingly reward genuine quality.
Automated tools handle the vast majority of marketplace prep beautifully, and for most catalogs they are all you need. But there are cases where a human retoucher earns their fee, and we are honest with clients about where that line sits. Reach out to us when your products have tricky surfaces that confuse automatic background cutting: transparent glass, mesh, fine jewelry chains, fur, hair or wispy fabric edges where pixel-perfect masking matters. We also recommend studio work when you need flawless reflections and highlights on glossy or metallic items, when a hero shot has to be composited from several exposures, or when brand guidelines demand exact, consistent color across hundreds of SKUs. Fine jewelry is a category of its own, which is why we offer dedicated jewelry photo retouching, and full listing builds are covered by our product card creation service. For straightforward white-background prep on a normal product, though, the tool is faster and cheaper, and we will tell you so.
Compliant marketplace photos come down to a short list of numbers and one consistent process: a square JPEG between 1600 and 3000 px, under the 20 MB weight ceiling, on a true white background, with the product filling 85 to 90 percent of the frame, no watermarks or text on the hero, and clean sRGB color. Get those right and your uploads sail through Amazon, Etsy, eBay and Shopify on the first try. Rather than chase each setting by hand, run your batch through our marketplace photo preparation tool and do it online in a minute, then explore the rest of our photo editing toolkit for cropping, background work and compression. When a product is too detailed or valuable to trust to automation, our studio retouchers are one message away. Either way, the goal is the same: listings that look professional, load fast and never get bounced. Start with one folder today, and your store will look like it was shot in a single session.
The full pre-upload checklist
Before a single image goes live, run it through one consistent checklist so nothing slips past moderation and every listing looks professional. A written checklist beats memory because marketplace rules are strict and unforgiving: one wrong pixel dimension or a stray watermark can hold up an entire listing. The checklist also enforces visual consistency across your catalog, which shoppers read as trust even if they never consciously notice it.
The list below covers the elements every major platform cares about. Work through it per image, then per listing, before you upload. Keep a master version of each shot so that if a platform tightens its rules later, you can re-export without reshooting.
- Correct pixel dimensions and a square or platform-specified aspect ratio.
- Pure white background on the main image where the platform requires it.
- Product fills roughly 80 to 90 percent of the frame with a small margin.
- No watermarks, logos, borders, promotional text, or badges on the main image.
- Sharp focus, accurate color, and even lighting with no harsh shadows.
- File format and weight within the platform ceiling, usually JPEG.
- Only the actual product shown, no props or accessories that are not included.
- Consistent framing and scale across all images in the listing.
Sellers who standardize this checklist across a team report far fewer rejections and faster listing approvals, simply because the guesswork is gone. Treat it as a gate: an image either passes every line or it does not upload.
Amazon image requirements in detail
Amazon has the strictest and most enforced image rules of the major platforms, so meeting them is the safest baseline for everything else. The main image must sit on a pure white background, which the platform defines precisely as RGB 255, 255, 255, and it must show only the product you are selling with nothing else in frame. No text, logos, watermarks, borders, or inset badges are allowed on the main image, and the product should fill about 85 percent of the frame. Images should be at least 1000 pixels on the longest side so the zoom feature works, and 1600 pixels or more is better.
The additional gallery slots are more flexible and this is where you sell. There you can show the product in use, at different angles, with scale references, and with informational overlays. Accepted formats are JPEG, TIFF, PNG, or GIF, with JPEG the practical default, and files should stay within the platform size ceiling. Color must be accurate because returns driven by mismatched color hurt your metrics.
- Main image: pure white background, product only, no added graphics.
- Product fills about 85 percent of the frame.
- At least 1000 pixels long side to enable zoom, 1600 preferred.
- JPEG is the safe format; keep within the size limit.
- Use gallery slots for lifestyle, angles, scale, and infographics.
Because these rules are the tightest, an image built to Amazon's standard almost always passes Etsy, eBay, and Shopify without changes, which is exactly why it makes a strong master.
Etsy image requirements
Etsy is more relaxed than Amazon and rewards a different style, since buyers there expect handmade, vintage, and creative goods rather than clinical catalog shots. The platform recommends images at least 2000 pixels wide for the sharpest display and zoom, and it uses a landscape-leaning aspect ratio around 4 to 3 or 5 to 4 for the primary thumbnail, so shooting a touch wider than tall keeps the important part visible in the grid. You get up to ten image slots plus video, which is generous room to tell a full story.
Style matters as much as specs here. A pure white background is allowed but not required, and a tasteful lifestyle or in-context shot as the lead image often converts better because it conveys craft and scale. Use the remaining slots for detail close-ups, a size or scale reference, packaging, and the product in real use. Color accuracy still matters for returns, and lighting should be soft and even so texture reads clearly, which is central to handmade appeal.
- Aim for at least 2000 pixels wide for crisp display and zoom.
- Compose for a landscape-leaning thumbnail so nothing is cropped out.
- A lifestyle or in-context lead image often outperforms plain white.
- Use all ten slots: detail, scale, packaging, and product in use.
- Keep lighting soft and color true to the real item.
The freedom Etsy allows is an opportunity, not a shortcut; the best shops still shoot deliberately, they just tell a warmer, more human story than a catalog page.
eBay image requirements
eBay sits between Amazon and Etsy in strictness and cares most about clarity and honesty, since much of its inventory is used or secondhand. The platform requires images at least 500 pixels on the longest side, but that is a floor, not a target; aim for 1600 pixels so buyers can zoom, which eBay's viewer supports and which lifts conversion. Crucially, eBay prohibits added borders, text, and watermarks on photos, and it discourages stock or manufacturer images for used goods because buyers need to see the actual item they will receive.
For used and open-box listings, honesty in the photos protects you from disputes. Show real wear, scratches, or missing parts clearly rather than hiding them, and include enough angles that the buyer knows exactly what they are getting. A clean, uncluttered background, white or plainly neutral, keeps attention on the product and reads as trustworthy. For new items you sell in volume, a consistent white-background catalog style works just as it does elsewhere.
- Use at least 1600 pixels on the long side even though 500 is the minimum.
- No borders, text, or watermarks on the images.
- Photograph the actual item, not stock photos, for used goods.
- Show real condition and wear honestly from multiple angles.
- Keep backgrounds clean and neutral to build buyer trust.
Because eBay buyers scrutinize condition, a few extra honest close-ups do more for your sales and your dispute rate than any amount of retouching.
Building a strong main image
The main image does more work than every other photo combined, because it is the one shoppers see in search results and it decides whether they click at all. A strong main image is instantly readable at thumbnail size, which means the product is large in the frame, centered, sharply focused, and cleanly separated from its background. On platforms that require white, that background must be genuinely pure white so the product appears to float, with no gray cast, shadow halo, or visible seam from the shooting surface.
Composition choices at thumbnail scale are what separate a click from a scroll-past. Fill 80 to 90 percent of the frame so the product is not lost in empty space, but leave a small even margin so nothing touches the edges. Shoot the most recognizable angle of the product, the one a buyer pictures in their mind, rather than an artistic three-quarter view that hides the item's identity. Keep color true, since the main image sets the buyer's expectation and a mismatch drives returns.
- Make the product large and centered so it reads at thumbnail size.
- Fill 80 to 90 percent of the frame with a small even margin.
- Use pure white where required, with no gray, halo, or seam.
- Choose the most recognizable angle, not the most artistic one.
- Keep color accurate to avoid returns and lost trust.
Sellers who test main images often find that a cleaner, larger, better-lit shot lifts click-through more than any change to price or title.
Gallery and infographic slots
If the main image earns the click, the gallery earns the purchase. These additional slots are where you answer the questions that stop a buyer from adding to cart: how big is it, what is it made of, what comes in the box, and what does it look like in real life. Plan the sequence deliberately rather than uploading whatever shots you happen to have. A proven order is a clean angle set, then a scale reference, then materials and detail close-ups, then the product in use, then an infographic summarizing key features.
Infographic slots are especially powerful because most shoppers skim images before they read the description. A simple graphic with two or three short callouts, dimensions, a key material, a headline benefit, communicates more in a glance than a paragraph of bullet points. Keep overlay text large and minimal so it survives being viewed on a small phone screen, and keep the visual style consistent across the listing so the gallery feels like one designed set rather than a pile of random photos.
- Sequence slots to answer buyer questions in order of importance.
- Include a scale reference so size is never a guess.
- Use detail close-ups to prove material and build quality.
- Add a lifestyle shot showing the product in real use.
- Finish with a clean infographic of two or three key features.
A well-built gallery does the selling that text alone cannot, because shoppers believe what they can see far more than what they read.
The most common moderation rejection reasons
Most rejections come from the same short list of avoidable problems, and knowing them lets you clear an image before a moderator ever flags it. The single most frequent cause is a background that is supposed to be pure white but is not, a slight gray tint, a soft shadow, or a visible seam where the shooting surface meets the backdrop. The second is prohibited elements on the main image: watermarks, logos, promotional text, borders, badges, or price stickers that the platform bans. Both are easy to catch with a careful look before uploading.
Other common triggers are technical or honesty issues. Images below the minimum pixel size get rejected outright, as do files in the wrong format or over the weight limit. Showing props, accessories, or bundle items that are not actually included misleads buyers and gets flagged, as does using a stock or manufacturer photo where the actual item is required. Blurry, poorly lit, or heavily over-edited images that misrepresent color round out the list.
- Background not genuinely pure white where required.
- Watermarks, logos, text, borders, or badges on the main image.
- Image below the minimum pixel dimensions or wrong format.
- Props or extras shown that are not included in the sale.
- Stock photos used where the real item is required.
- Blurry, dark, or over-edited images with inaccurate color.
Run each image against this list and the vast majority of rejections simply never happen, which keeps listings live and revenue flowing instead of stuck in review.
One master shoot to fit every platform
Reshooting the same product for Amazon, then Etsy, then eBay, then your own Shopify store is wasted effort. A smarter approach is a single master shoot captured to the strictest common denominator, then exported to each platform's needs. Shoot at high resolution, at least 3000 pixels on the long side, on a clean setup so you have room to crop, resize, and reformat without losing quality. Capture more than you think you need: the pure white hero, several angles, detail close-ups, a scale reference, and a lifestyle frame all in one session.
From that master set, exporting per platform becomes a quick derivative task rather than a new shoot. Crop to a square for the Amazon main image, to a landscape-leaning ratio for the Etsy thumbnail, and keep a versatile crop for eBay and Shopify. Build white-background versions for platforms that require them and lifestyle-led versions for those that reward them, all from the same source frames. Keep the high-resolution masters archived so future platform rule changes cost you an export, not a reshoot.
- Shoot once at high resolution on a clean, flexible setup.
- Capture hero, angles, detail, scale, and lifestyle in one session.
- Crop and reformat per platform from the same masters.
- Build both white-background and lifestyle versions from one source.
- Archive the masters so rule changes mean a re-export, not a reshoot.
This one-shoot workflow is how efficient sellers keep a large multi-platform catalog consistent without multiplying their photography time.
Frequently asked questions
What size and format should marketplace photos be?
Use JPEG as the safe default and shoot high resolution so you can crop freely. Amazon wants at least 1000 pixels on the long side, Etsy recommends 2000 pixels wide, and eBay accepts 500 but rewards 1600. A master captured at 3000 pixels or more covers every platform and lets you export the exact size each one needs.
Does the main image really have to be pure white?
On Amazon and most catalog listings, yes, and it must be genuinely RGB 255, 255, 255 with no gray tint or shadow. Etsy allows other backgrounds and often favors a lifestyle lead image. eBay wants clean and neutral. When in doubt, build a pure white main image because it passes every platform.
Why do my listings keep getting rejected?
The usual causes are a background that is not truly white, prohibited watermarks or text on the main image, images below the minimum pixel size, or showing props and extras that are not included. Run each image against a fixed checklist before uploading and almost all rejections disappear.
Can I use one set of photos for every marketplace?
Yes, if you shoot to the strictest standard first. Capture a high-resolution master set with a pure white hero, multiple angles, detail, scale, and lifestyle frames, then crop and reformat per platform. This avoids reshooting and keeps your whole catalog visually consistent across Amazon, Etsy, eBay, and Shopify.
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