Product photo sizes and backgrounds for Amazon, Shopify, eBay, and Etsy

If you sell in more than one place, you have probably noticed that every marketplace wants something slightly different. Amazon insists on pure white, Etsy crops thumbnails to a landscape shape, Shopify themes look best with square images, and eBay has its own size floor. Reshooting for each store is a waste of time. The better approach is to shoot once, remove the background once, and export several versions from the same cutout.

This guide collects the rules that matter for each platform and explains how to turn them into export settings.

The quick reference

These figures come from each platform's help pages, linked at the end and checked on the date at the top. Marketplaces revise their guidance from time to time, so treat the table as a starting point and confirm the details for your category.

Amazon: the strictest rules

Amazon's main image must be a photo of the product alone on a pure white background, filling at least 85% of the frame, with no text, logos, or graphics added. Secondary images can show the product in use, infographics, and size charts. Because the main image is checked automatically, it is worth exporting it as a JPG with the white background already applied rather than as a transparent PNG. We cover the details in How to make Amazon main images with a pure white background.

Shopify: consistency beats any single rule

Shopify itself accepts almost any image, but your theme decides how it is displayed. Most themes crop or letterbox product images into a fixed shape on collection pages, so a mix of portrait and landscape photos produces a ragged grid. Shopify recommends 2048 × 2048 pixels for square product images, which gives zoom features enough detail.

The practical rule for Shopify is to pick one shape and one background for the whole store and stick to it. Square on white is the safe default. A soft studio gray or a light brand color can look more premium, as long as every product uses the same one. The bulk tool's Shopify preset outputs 2048 × 2048 and lets you pick any background color or one of the gradient templates.

eBay: clean and large enough

eBay's picture policy requires at least 500 pixels on the longest side and recommends 1600 pixels so buyers can zoom. It does not allow borders, text, or artwork added to listing photos, and it discourages stock photos for used items: buyers want to see the actual item. A white or light, uncluttered background is recommended because it keeps the focus on the item and looks consistent in search.

For used items, it is tempting to remove the background so the photo looks like a catalog shot. That is fine, but do not hide wear or damage: a clean background should make defects easier to see, not harder. See better photos for resale listings for more on this.

Etsy: thumbnails are landscape

Etsy recommends listing photos at least 2000 pixels in width and height (and at least 635 pixels for the first photo, so it does not rank lower in search), and its search results and shop pages show the first photo as a landscape thumbnail. If your product is tall and centered in a square photo, the top and bottom can get cropped in search. Etsy lets you adjust the thumbnail crop when you edit a listing, but it is easier to start from an image that already has room on both sides.

Etsy buyers also respond well to styled photos, so a pure white background is not required. Many sellers use a clean cutout as the first image and lifestyle photos for the rest. The bulk tool's Etsy preset exports 2000 × 1500 (4:3), with the product filling about 80% of the frame so there is breathing room for the crop.

One shoot, several exports

The workflow that saves the most time:

1. Shoot every product the same way: same distance, same angle, same lighting. This makes the cutouts consistent before you even start. How to shoot product photos for clean cutouts has a simple setup.
2. Run the whole set through the [bulk background remover](/bulk-background-remover) with the first platform preset, say Amazon. Check the edges, fix any individual images, and download the ZIP.
3. Switch the preset to Shopify, Etsy, or eBay. The cutouts are already done, so the tool only re-lays out each product on the new canvas with the new background. Download again.
4. Name each export clearly. A file name template such as "{name}-{preset}" produces names like mug-blue-amazon.jpg and mug-blue-etsy.jpg, so you never upload the wrong version.

Because the background removal runs on your own device, re-exporting costs nothing and does not upload your catalog anywhere.

File size and format choices

• JPG is the best default for marketplaces: small files, universal support, and a white background is baked in. Use quality around 85 to 90 for product photos.
• PNG keeps transparency, which you only need if you will place the product on a background later in a design tool. Marketplaces will fill transparent areas with their own color, which may not be what you expect.
• WEBP is smaller than JPG at the same quality and supports transparency. Shopify accepts it; some marketplaces do not, so check before uploading.

Several platforms have file size caps. The bulk tool's Max file size field lowers the JPG or WEBP quality step by step until each file fits; PNG is lossless and cannot be squeezed this way. How to reduce image file size explains the trade-offs.

Summary

Each marketplace has a different idea of the perfect product photo, but they all reward the same things: a sharp photo of the actual product, consistent framing, a clean background, and enough resolution to zoom. Remove the background once, then export a platform-specific version for each store from the same cutouts.