Etsy photos: main image size, first photo rules and what buyers click

Your item looks great in the photo on your phone. Then you see it in Etsy search and the top of the vase is cut off, or the necklace is a tiny speck in the middle of a beige square. Shoppers scroll straight past it.

On Etsy, the first photo does most of the work. It becomes your thumbnail in search, in categories and on your shop page, and it's cropped differently in each place. This guide covers what Etsy's own help pages say about size, shape and thumbnails, and how to choose the photos that come after it.

Etsy's photo size rules

From Etsy's image requirements and best practices:

Etsy also notes that making an image smaller doesn't lower its resolution, but enlarging a small image can make it pixelated. If your photo is small, retake it rather than stretching it.

First photo rules

Use a horizontal photo (square at most)

Etsy says the first photo in a listing should be horizontal or square, so the centre of the image shows in the cropped thumbnail views. Its thumbnail tips on the same page go further: avoid square crops and upload horizontal images, because a horizontal photo uses more of the thumbnail frame and a vertical one has more cropped out. Your first photo also sets the shape for the photos after it, so using the same shape for all of them looks tidier.

Leave space around the item

Etsy shows your thumbnail in square, portrait and horizontal crops in different places. Its advice:

• Shoot from further back than you think you need, so you can crop in without cutting off the item.
• Keep the most important part of the item in the centre.
• Leave enough border that every crop still shows the whole product.

Set the thumbnail yourself

When you create or edit a listing, use the thumbnail adjustment tool to preview how your first photo looks in each place across Etsy. Etsy's guide to editing listing photos suggests cropping first, then adjusting the thumbnail, because cropping changes how the thumbnail looks. You can't undo a saved crop without uploading the original again.

Avoid dark, blurry and collage main images

Etsy's help page says a main image that's too dark, blurry or part of a photo collage may make your listing show up lower in Etsy search. Your shop's Etsy Search visibility page in Shop Manager lists any listings with image problems.

The authenticity rules

Etsy's image requirements now include rules on editing:

• All images must accurately show the item's colour, condition, scale and materials.
• Each listing must include at least one unedited photo of the actual item against a real background. Some exceptions may apply depending on what you sell.
• Other photos can be edited, including with AI, to adjust light or colour, crop, or change the background.
• You can't use editing to hide flaws or make the item look different from what the buyer receives.
• If you sell patterns, recipes or instructions, show a real result made from them, not an AI-generated one.

Etsy's best practice is to make your first photo the clearest, most realistic picture of the item, and to mention in your description if you've used AI to edit any photos. We cover this in more detail in our guide to AI product photography.

What buyers click

The first photo has one job: make the item obvious at a small size. Things that help:

• One item, clearly the subject. Not a pile of products, not a collage.
• Good light. Daylight from a window beats a ceiling bulb. Our guide to product photos at home covers a simple setup.
• A background that makes the item stand out. Plain, light or softly styled. Etsy doesn't require white.
• The item at a size you can see. Fill a good part of the frame, but leave the border Etsy recommends.
• Consistency across your shop. When all your first photos share a style, your shop page looks like a brand, not a jumble.

What to put in the rest of your photos

Etsy lets you add several photos and a video to each listing. Use them to answer questions before buyers have to message you:

1. 1First photo: the item, clear and centred, ideally horizontal.
2. 2Unedited real photo: if your first photo is edited, add one that isn't.
3. 3Scale: the item in a hand, being worn, or next to a familiar object.
4. 4In use or in context: a lifestyle photo in a real setting.
5. 5Details: texture, stitching, the clasp, the back.
6. 6Options: colours, sizes or personalisation examples.
7. 7What's included: packaging or gift wrap if it's part of the purchase.

A worked example

This is a made-up example. "Harrow Hill Pottery" isn't a real brand.

Harrow Hill's first photo for a tall bud vase was a portrait phone shot, tight on the vase. In search, the square crop cut off the top and bottom. The fixes:

Where YelloShelf fits

Everything in this guide can be done with a phone and window light. If you'd rather not shoot every angle, YelloShelf makes AI listing images from your own product photos, sized for Etsy and checked against your photos for shape, colour, logo and details. They don't replace the unedited photo Etsy requires, and Etsy suggests mentioning AI edits in your description. It also drafts your Etsy title, description and 13 tags. It doesn't have a free plan or trial. You buy a credit pack, starting at $10, and your first purchase comes with a money-back guarantee. We're helping you remove the manual, tedious, time-consuming work. You still read it, edit it and paste it in yourself.

For the words around your photos, see our guides to Etsy titles and tags and the Etsy description template.

Quick checklist

• Photos at least 2000 pixels on each side.
• First photo at least 635 pixels, horizontal if you can.
• Item centred with space around it.
• Thumbnail checked in all crops with the adjustment tool.
• First photo not dark, blurry or a collage.
• At least one unedited photo against a real background.
• Edits don't hide flaws or change how the item looks.
• Files under 1 MB if your connection is slow, in sRGB.