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Selling online has many unique challenges, and many of them stem from one core drawback: buyers cannot interact with an item before they purchase it. For this reason, online sales must defer to the next-best option – high-quality, illustrative product images that give shoppers a better sense of the item they'll be buying. As a handmade and vintage marketplace, item images are particularly important for Etsy shoppers, since they're shopping for something that's truly one-of-a-kind, an item that they've never encountered in stores before. As an Etsy seller, it's in your best interest to include the highest quality product images you can in your listings; you'll not only increase your conversion rate, but also decrease potential returns, boost your search ranking, and create a more cohesive look and feel for your brand. In this guide, we'll review what size are Etsy photos supposed to be, understand the technical requirements for Etsy listing images, learn how to take a good Etsy listing photo, and share some insider tips for optimizing Etsy product images.
Before we dive into the ins and outs of perfectly optimized Etsy listing images, we'll review the basics of Etsy's product image requirements. From a technical aspect, Etsy's listing photo requirements are pretty straightforward, and once you've got the technical aspect down, you'll be able to easily create perfectly optimized Etsy product images for all your Etsy product listings. Below, we'll go over the size requirements for Etsy listing photos, review accepted file formats, learn how many listing photos you can upload to an Etsy listing, and understand the ratio and orientation requirements that your listing photos must adhere to.
The minimum size for Etsy listing photos is 1000 pixels wide. That said, 1000 pixels is not something you should strive for. Etsy recommends that your product images be at least 2000 pixels on their shortest side, with a resolution of 72PPI. While this recommendation may be suitable for certain products, in our experience, products with a lot of detail benefit from an even larger image size.
The recommended size for a portrait-oriented (vertical) item image with a 4:3 aspect ratio is 1588 x 2117 pixels, while for a landscape-oriented (horizontal) item image with the same aspect ratio the recommended size is 1588 x 1191 pixels. For square item images, the recommended size is 2000 x 2000 pixels. Regardless of the orientation or size of the image, the maximum file size should not exceed 1MB in order to ensure error-free uploading.
Etsy listing images can be uploaded in three formats: *.jpg, *.gif, or *.png. The images cannot be animated (i.e. no multi-frame gifs), however Etsy allows sellers to add product videos in listings, too.
The maximum number of product listing photos allowed on Etsy listings is 10, plus one video that's up to 15 seconds in length. Conventional optimization wisdom holds that more Etsy listing photos result in better conversion, but that's not the whole story. While it's best to use 10 listing photos, it's also important to ensure that each photo shows the product in a new way, from a different perspective, or provides new information about it. In other words, don't upload ten identical or nearly-identical pictures of the item; instead, use each listing image as an opportunity to showcase your item in a new way.
Etsy recommends a 4:3 aspect ratio for listing photos, with a horizontal (landscape) orientation. We recommend ensuring that the product is centered both horizontally and vertically in the main listing image so that when it's cropped into a thumbnail that appears in search results, it will remain clearly visible to shoppers. You can also manually adjust how the thumbnail for the listing is cropped through the listing editor on Etsy.
Etsy is a marketplace that hosts a community of sellers who sell practically every handmade, vintage, or craft-related item under the sun. With every seller offering a something one-of-a-kind, it's important to maintain some level of standardization that can give buyers a more cohesive shopping experience on the platform. Providing sellers on the platform with listing photo guidelines is just one of the ways that Etsy fosters a consistent shopping experience, and adhering to these guidelines are essential for sellers who wish to succeed on Etsy. Below, we'll go over some of the benefits of ensuring that your Etsy listing photos are the right size, and understand the importance of each one for the success of your listings on Etsy.
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Etsy's algorithm knows the importance of a good selection of product images in a listing, which is why one of the best things you can do to improve your Etsy SEO is include all 10 images in your listings, and ensure that each image is in the appropriate size, ratio, resolution, and orientation. Listings with better images simply perform better in search results, since Etsy knows how much better they'll do well with buyers compared to bare-minimum listings with only one or two item photos.
Once shoppers have found your listing, it's the listing images that play the biggest role in buyers' purchase decisions. In fact, according to Etsy's own data, the quality of item photos was rated as the most important factor by buyers when deciding whether or not to make a purchase, beating even item cost and reviews by other buyers! Furthermore, positive interactions such as wishlist saves and purchases increase your listing's quality score, making it more likely to rank better in buyer searches.
Listing photos are a visual medium which have a significant impact on your Etsy Shop's overall look, feel, and perceived level of professionalism. In addition to keeping your listing photos a consistent size, it's also important to take the time to give them a cohesive aesthetic, one that you feel represents your brand as a whole. An item against a plain white background might be suitable for selling computer parts, but as a marketplace centered on the handmade and artistic, Etsy item photos should aim to not only inform buyers, but also entice them to buy it while reinforcing the aesthetics and feel of your brand.
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Without stock images to choose from, you'll need to take photos of your items yourself and use them as item images in your Etsy listings. Now that we've understood the importance of correctly sized, optimal listing photos on Etsy, we'll go over a few important tips to help you get the perfect shots of your items. Keep reading to learn about the seven types of Etsy listing photos, how to choose the right background for your items, how to achieve proper lighting, how to take photos that show details and texture, and how to use props and staging that enhance your item's presentation without distracting from it.
Etsy divides listing photos into seven types, categorizing them based on the function they fulfill when presenting an item. Before we dive into how to take the perfect product photos for your Etsy listings, we'll take a moment to understand the different kinds of listing photos and when you should use them. As you read through the types of listing photos, keep in mind that not every listing will necessarily benefit from every one of these, and that certain photo types may not be relevant at all to certain product listings.
A studio shot is a type of well-lit listing photo that is taken against a plain, neutral background, with the item taking up most of the image. This type of Etsy listing photo is useful for all kinds of items, from vintage jewelry to handmade mugs. The purpose of this type of photo is to showcase your item on its own, and indicate to customers what they can expect to receive when they place an order with you. No matter what you're selling, every listing should have, at the very least, a high-quality studio shot.
Lifestyle shots are shots that show potential buyers how the item will look in their day-to-day life. This type of shot is aspirational, intended to market your item and inspire shoppers to make a purchase. While this type of shot may seem geared towards more functional items, it's suitable for all kinds of listings and is a great tool for boosting conversion.
While providing accurate item measurements in your listings is essential, most buyers will gauge the scale of your item with the help of a scale shot. This type of shot shows the item in a way that conveys its size. For instance, if you're selling hoop earrings, showing them on a model helps buyers understand if they're buying sleeper huggies or statement hoops.
As its name suggests, this type of shot is intended to show the more intricate details of your item. Whether it's the texture of a leather wallet or the details of the glaze on a ceramic mug, in lieu of physically inspecting the item, detail shots give your buyers a better understanding of the little details that matter before they make a purchase.
Perfect for showcasing items that come in different color variations or those sold in sets, group shots are shots of your item along with other items that match it. They can either show your item alongside other items from a set, or show several units of the item from multiple angles side-by-side. This type of photo has two main benefits: it can advertise additional items you sell, and it enables you to show your item from many angles in one photo.
The value of aesthetic packaging and a memorable unboxing experience cannot be overstated for the online shopper. The way your product is packaged, the materials used, and the experience of unpacking an item is an opportunity to showcase your brand and create a memorable shopping experience for your buyers. With a packaging shot, you give shoppers a sneak peak of how they can expect their item to look when it arrives.
If you're selling an item that's handmade, process shots are a great way to give shoppers a glimpse behind the scenes to see how it was created. Letting buyers see your artistic process shows how much effort went into creating the item, and are great for promoting your business via social media.
Choosing the right background for a product photo will depend on what type of Etsy listing image you're trying to achieve. For studio and scale shots, you'll want to choose a plain background. For lifestyle and scale shots, you'll want the background to play a part in showcasing your item, rather than being a neutral backdrop.
Good lighting is particularly important in studio, detail, and scale shots. In the latter, you'll have the ability to pose the item in multiple ways, but for studio and detail shots, you'll need to carefully consider the angle of your item before you snap a picture. Studio shots should be taken from the front of the item, showing it as its intended to be worn or used. In detail shots, it's important to position and light your item in such a way that the detail you're trying to capture shows up clearly on camera.
Use a high-resolution detail shot to showcase small details and/or textures of your item. These should be well-lit shots that enable buyers to understand the minute details and textures of the item they're purchasing. Additionally, they can be used to illustrate the quality of the materials and craftsmanship that went into making the item.
While this is most relevant for lifestyle shots, making use of props when photographing your item makes your shots more aesthetically pleasing, and is an opportunity to reinforce your branding and brand aesthetics. Try to be varied yet consistent with the styling of product images across your Etsy listings, as this establishes your brand's look and feel while giving a sense of professionalism and attention to detail.
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Having optimized product images in a manageable size is key to ensuring consistent listing quality across your Etsy Shop. Luckily, there is no shortage of free tools that can help you edit your product photos and compress file sizes without compromising on quality. In this section, we'll give you a rundown of our favorite free tools for cropping and resizing your Etsy listing photos and compressing file size, and give some simple tips to help you maintain image quality when resizing.
While there is a multitude of free image editing tools available online, and even some free downloadable programs, we recommend using your computer's built-in image editor for image cropping and resizing. Cropping and resizing are basic image editing functions, and can be done through native image editors just as well as they can be done on professional image editors.
It may seem like you need to upload large, heavy images in order to have quality Etsy listing photos of your items, but that's not the case. Ideally, your Etsy listing photo size should strike a balance between image quality and manageable file size, and the best way to do this is to optimize your product photos with an image file compression tool. Our favorite free tool is TinyPNG.com, a free online image compressor tool that you simply need to upload your files to, then download the optimized compressed image file. We've never seen a noticeable drop in quality with images compressed with TinyPNG, and the free tool even allows for bulk image compression of up to 20 files in one go.
Ensuring good image quality for your Etsy product images begins before you crop, resize, and compress. A high-quality Etsy listing image begins with a high quality item photo, which is why it's important to take high resolution photos of your items from the start. The higher your starting image resolution is, the better your outcome will be once you've resized your image and compressed the file. Additionally, you should ideally crop your image to the correct aspect ratio before resizing it. This prevents image distortion, and keeps your product images representative of your item.
We've covered what you need to know as an Etsy seller about Etsy photo listing size, and now it's time to iron out the remaining details and ensure that your Etsy listing images are not only the right size, but the best they can be in order to boost listing visibility and drive conversion. Check out these frequently asked questions about listing photos on Etsy below for everything else you need to know about creating the perfect listing images for your products.
Etsy allows for up to 10 product photos in each listing, and we recommend making full use of this allowance. In our experience, using all 10 images, plus an item video if possible, is a valuable tool for driving sales and boosting your listings' quality score, which in turn gives your listing better visibility in search results. Make sure to combine several types of listing images (i.e. studio, lifestyle, detail, scale, etc.) to encourage shoppers to make a purchase, give them a better sense of what they're buying, and minimize the chance of returns or poor feedback.
While you can use vertical photos on Etsy, it's important to be aware of the limitations and drawbacks of vertically oriented product images. The main problem with using vertical images is with the thumbnail crop that Etsy uses to show your product in search results. With vertical images, the crop will need to remove more of the image, and since it's done automatically, this often results in a less than ideal thumbnail image. To mitigate this, you'll simply need to adjust the thumbnail crop for your listing images via Etsy's listing editor.
Once you've cropped your product photo to the correct aspect ratio and compressed the file with a compression tool, you won't need to make any further optimizations for mobile. Etsy will take care of any mobile-specific optimizations for you, whether it be for the mobile site or for the Etsy mobile app.
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