Print-on-demand sellers have one advantage here: every photo is planned, not snapped in a rush. That also means there is no excuse for a dark thumbnail or a size chart in the wrong spot. Get the rules and the order right once, and every listing can follow them.
How many photos and videos can a listing have?
Up to 20 photos and 2 videos per listing, according to Etsy's help page on creating a listing. You don't have to use all 20. Use as many as it takes to answer a buyer's questions, and stop when the photos start repeating each other.
What size should listing photos be?
Etsy's image requirements page recommends photos at least 2000 px on the shortest side, and says the first photo should be at least 635 px wide. For print-on-demand, large files matter: the design is the product, and it should stay sharp when a buyer looks closely.
Why the first photo matters most
The first photo is the thumbnail, the picture shoppers see in search before they click. Three things make it special:
- It gets cropped. Etsy crops the thumbnail square, portrait and landscape in different places (Etsy's page on editing listing photos). Keep the product near the middle with space around it, so no crop cuts it off.
- It has rules. Etsy's image requirements say it should be landscape or square, and not a collage, dark or blurry.
- Search uses it. Etsy's guide to how search works says the first photo is used when Etsy matches listings to a search, and a good first photo counts toward listing quality when it ranks them.
Listing videos
A short video can show what a photo can't, like a case turning in a hand or a print catching the light. Etsy's rules: up to 100 MB, at least 500 px (ideally 1080 px or more), and the sound is removed. On length, Etsy's own pages disagree. Between its listing videos page and its page on creating a listing, you will find both 3 to 15 seconds and 5 to 15 seconds. Keep clips to 5 to 15 seconds and you meet both.
A photo order for print-on-demand listings
A good order answers questions in the order buyers ask them. What is it? Which design? How does it look in real life? What should I know? How big is it?
Phone cases
- All the designs in the listing together, so the thumbnail shows the whole set.
- The case beside the phone, so the style is clear at a glance.
- Each design on its own, one photo per design.
- Lifestyle scenes that show the case in everyday use.
- Info photos: features, care and anything to read before buying.
- In-hand shots, so buyers can judge the size.
This is also the order of the 17-photo set built into Shop Pilot's phone case mockups: one photo of all five designs, the case beside the phone, five single designs, two lifestyle scenes, six info photos and two in-hand shots. The full how-to is in how to make phone case mockups for Etsy listings.
Posters and wall art
- The artwork shown clearly, on its own or framed in a simple room scene.
- The same piece in a few different rooms, so buyers can picture it in theirs.
- A close-up of the print or the frame.
- A size guide that shows each size you sell.
A poster listing built around one design keeps every photo about that one piece. Shop Pilot's poster mockups work that way: one design per listing, shown in room scenes.
Info photos: size charts and care cards
- Put them after the product photos. They answer questions, while the product photos do the selling.
- Use the same ones on every listing of the same product, so you make them once.
- Use text large enough to read on a phone screen.
- Keep the design off them. A size chart is clearer without art behind it.
Personalized items
If buyers can add a name or a note, Etsy's listing image requirements say the first image must show a real finished example of the item. Plan that photo before you turn on personalization.
Keeping the same order on every listing
When you list often, photo order slips. One listing ends up with the size chart first, another with a lifestyle shot as the thumbnail. A few habits prevent it:
- Number your files in gallery order: 01, 02, 03 and so on.
- Use the same templates, in the same order, for every listing of a product.
- Look at the first photo of each new listing once it is live.
How Shop Pilot keeps photo order for each shop
In Shop Pilot, a shop's master listing holds its photo order. You give each gallery spot a photo once, and every listing puts the matching file in the same spot, so the right photo always leads. Files are matched to the master listing's photo list by name. Anything unmatched stays behind in the folder instead of being uploaded in a random slot, and the run tells you which images were left behind and why.
The mockup generator saves each listing's photos in the photo order you set, and Check Image Order shows which photo lands in which spot of the Etsy gallery before you list. Info photos such as a size chart or a care card go into every listing as they are, with no design on them. Each shop keeps its own photo order, so two shops can sell the same product with different galleries.
Questions about Etsy listing photos
How many photos should an Etsy listing have?
Etsy allows up to 20 photos and 2 videos. Use enough to show the product, each option and the details buyers ask about.
Can the first photo be a collage?
Etsy advises against it. The first photo should be landscape or square, and not a collage, dark or blurry.
What is the best photo size for Etsy?
At least 2000 px on the shortest side, and at least 635 px wide for the first photo.