Etsy's listing guide allows up to 20 photos and 2 videos per listing, and the best use of them is one photo for every question a buyer could ask about the product. Fill the slots with genuinely different shots, and stop when the next photo would only repeat one you already have.
This is for sellers of apparel and wall art, print-on-demand sellers especially, whose buyers never touch the product before they pay. The photos have to do the job a shop counter would: show the item, its size, its colours and its details. The number of photos is the easy part to get right. The order they appear in is where many listings still have room to improve.
What Etsy allows and recommends
Etsy's guide to creating a listing says you can add up to 20 photos and 2 videos to each listing (Etsy Help: creating a listing). Videos can run up to 15 seconds and play without sound (Etsy Help: videos).
Etsy's photo guidance adds the technical side (Etsy Help: photos):
Photos should be at least 2,000 pixels wide and tall.
The first photo should be at least 635 pixels wide and tall, or it may show up lower in search.
The first photo should be horizontal (landscape) or square.
Accepted files are .jpg, .gif, .png, .svg and .heic, but animated GIFs and transparent PNGs are not supported.
Etsy converts images to the sRGB colour profile.
Etsy also crops thumbnails to square, portrait and landscape across the site, so keep the subject clear in all three views (Etsy Help: thumbnails). Since June 2026 you can preview listing thumbnails before you publish (Etsy Help: what's new).
The first photo does most of the work
The first photo is the one buyers see in search, so it carries more weight than any other photo in the set. Etsy's Search Visibility page checks for a high-resolution primary photo that shows one finished product, clear and well lit, with no collage (Etsy Help: search visibility). A collage of every colour can feel efficient, but it fails that check and turns into a jumble of tiny pictures at thumbnail size.
Put the design on the product, one item, on a background that does not compete with it. We cover this shot in depth in what your first Etsy photo has to do in search results.
The shots buyers expect for apparel
An apparel buyer wants to know what the design looks like, how the shirt looks on a person, which colours exist, and whether it will fit. A strong set covers:
The design on the product, alone, for the first photo.
A close-up of the print, so the buyer sees the detail and the lettering.
The product worn or styled in a scene, so the buyer sees scale on a body.
The back, if the design has a back print.
Each colour you offer, one photo per colour.
A size chart with real measurements.
Fabric and fit notes, such as the blank's weight and material.
An example of the personalization, if the item is personalized.
A size chart answers fit questions before they reach your inbox. See how to build a size chart for Etsy apparel listings.
The shots buyers expect for wall art
A wall art buyer's main worry is size: will this fill the wall, or look like a postage stamp. The set should open with the artwork straight on in a room, then show a close-up of the surface, the piece next to furniture for scale, the available sizes side by side, and any frame or canvas edge options. Room shots carry the most information here. Our guide to poster mockups that show size in a real room explains how to pick them.
The order to put them in
| Position | Apparel listing | Wall art listing | Buyer question it answers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The design on one product, simple background | The artwork in a room, straight on | What is this? |
| 2 | Close-up of the print | Close-up of the surface or detail | What does it look like up close? |
| 3 | Worn or styled in a scene | Next to furniture for scale | How big is it in real life? |
| 4 | Back print or second location | Sizes side by side | What exactly do I get? |
| 5 | Colour options, one per photo | Frame or canvas edge options | Which version should I pick? |
| 6 | Size chart | Size chart with dimensions | Will it fit? |
| 7 | Fabric and fit notes | Material and finish notes | What is it made of? |
| 8 | Personalization example | Personalization example | How will my text look? |
| 9 onward | Gift and occasion scenes | More rooms and seasonal scenes | Can I picture it as a gift? |
| Videos | A short turn or close-up clip | A slow pan across the art in a room | Does it look real? |
Positions 2 to 8 are a starting order, not a rule. If buyers keep asking about one thing in Messages, move the photo that answers it closer to the front.
Variation photos and colour sets
If your listing has colour options, a photo for each colour lets the buyer see exactly what they pick. Etsy has one limit to plan around: "If you have more than 20 options, you can only add photos for 20 of these options." (Etsy Help: variations). A listing with many colours and many sizes therefore needs its colour photos chosen with care, and a colour you cannot show is often better left for another listing.
Videos are worth one of your two slots even on a simple product, because movement shows fabric and print in a way still photos cannot. See Etsy listing videos: do they help and what to show for ideas.
How smart mockups fill the slots in Alomations
Most print-on-demand sellers do not own a photo of every product in every colour, and that is where mockups come in. Alomations has a built-in mockup library of ready product photos for the catalog products, so you can list without owning a photo. Smart mockups render your design onto those photos with real fabric folds, shading and light, and they are free to use. You can pick a background for flat-lay shots, keep objects such as a hand or a strap in front of the design, give a front mockup its own chest-logo spot, and use the zoom control so a product shot from far back fills more of the image. Before a run starts, you can preview every colour and every side, and the mockups are downloadable too. Our smart mockups guide shows them in detail.
Smart mockups count toward Etsy's 20 images, and you choose which ones each listing uses, so you can plan the set around the table above. Each design also comes in light and dark versions, with tone rules per garment colour, so the colour photos show a design that reads on white shirts and on black ones. On the paid plans you can upload your own photos to your own mockup library and reuse them in every run.
Frequently asked questions
Do more photos help an Etsy listing rank?
Etsy does not say that the number of photos changes ranking. Its Search Visibility checks look at having at least one image and at the quality of the primary photo. Extra photos mostly help buyers decide once they open the listing.
What size should Etsy listing photos be?
Etsy recommends at least 2,000 pixels in width and height, and at least 635 pixels for the first photo so it does not show up lower in search.
Can I upload a transparent PNG as a listing photo?
No. Etsy does not support transparent PNG files or animated GIFs as listing photos. Use a mockup or a photo with a solid background.
Should my first photo be a collage of colours?
No. Etsy's Search Visibility page looks for a primary photo that shows one finished product, with no collages.
Start on the free plan and fill your next listing's photo slots with smart mockups.