Uploading one export everywhere, so it fails Walmart's 1 MB cap or falls under Etsy's recommended dimensions.
Photo types and platforms
Listing image
Also called marketplace image, product listing photo or gallery image. Here is what it means, when it changes what you export, and what people get wrong.
Photo types and platformsRuns on your deviceUpdated 10 August 2026
The short answer
A listing image is a photo attached to a product listing on a marketplace. Unlike a photo on your own site, it has to satisfy someone else's rules: minimum pixel dimensions, a file-size ceiling, an accepted format, and usually a ban on text, logos and watermarks over the main image.
Updated
The short version
Listing image at a glance
| Quick fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Tightest file cap listed | Walmart, 1 MB per file |
| Most generous file cap listed | Shopify, under 20 MB |
| Most common minimum | 500 x 500 px (eBay, Meta catalogue) |
| Universal ban | Text, logos and watermarks on main images |
| Poshmark and Depop | Publish no official pixel specifications |
Slide the table sideways to see every column.
What are the published requirements on the major marketplaces?
| Platform | Dimensions | File size | Other rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | At least 1000 px on the longest side to enable zoom | Not stated here | Amazon's product image requirements state a pure white main-image background (RGB 255,255,255), the product filling 85 to 100% of the frame, and no text, logos, watermarks or borders on the main image |
| eBay | Minimum 500 x 500 px, about 1600 x 1600 px recommended | Up to 12 MB per file | Up to 24 pictures per listing; no added graphics, badges, logos or watermarks |
| Etsy | At least 2000 px on both width and height recommended; first photo at least 635 px wide | Files over 1 MB may fail to upload | Transparent PNGs are not supported; transparent areas appear black |
| Shopify | Up to 5000 x 5000 px (25 MP); 2048 x 2048 px displays best for square product images; zoom needs images larger than 800 x 800 | Under 20 MB | Store-level control, so your own rules apply |
| Meta / Instagram Shop catalogue | Minimum 500 x 500 px, 1024 x 1024 px recommended, square 1:1 | Max 8 MB | JPEG or PNG |
| Walmart Marketplace | 2000 x 2000 px at 300 ppi recommended for zoom | Max 1 MB per file | Pure white main-image background (RGB 255,255,255) |
Marketplaces revise these rules regularly and often without notice. Check the platform's current official requirements page before you submit or bulk-upload a catalogue.
Why do two platforms pull in opposite directions?
Because their upload limits and their quality recommendations are set by different teams. Etsy recommends at least 2000 px on both sides but warns that files over 1 MB may fail to upload. Walmart recommends 2000 x 2000 px and caps files at 1 MB. Those are not contradictions, but they do mean you cannot ship a lightly compressed 2000 px JPEG everywhere.
The practical answer is one high-resolution master per product, exported per platform: same crop, same colour, different pixel dimensions and different compression. Doing that by hand across a catalogue is where the time goes, which is what batch resizing and compression, in Photomop or a comparable tool, is for.
What gets a listing image rejected or suppressed?
- Added graphics. Price flashes, sale badges, borders and brand watermarks. Amazon's requirements prohibit them on the main image and eBay prohibits added graphics, badges, logos and watermarks on pictures.
- The wrong background. Anything short of pure white where pure white is required.
- Under the minimum. Below the pixel floor the image is refused, and just above it zoom stays switched off.
- Over the file cap. An upload that silently fails, most often on Etsy and Walmart.
- Transparency where it is unsupported. A transparent PNG on Etsy shows those areas as black.
What people get wrong about listing image
Each one is a real failure mode, not a style preference.
Sending a transparent PNG to Etsy, which renders the transparent areas black rather than white.
Meeting the pixel minimum exactly and losing zoom, which on Amazon needs at least 1000 px on the longest side.
Burning a sale badge or brand watermark into the main image on a marketplace that prohibits added graphics.
Questions people ask
Listing image, answered
The follow-up questions people search for once they have the definition.
What size should marketplace listing images be?
Shoot one master well above every minimum, then export per platform. Etsy recommends at least 2000 px on both sides, eBay recommends about 1600 x 1600 px, Meta's catalogue guidance recommends 1024 x 1024 px, and Walmart recommends 2000 x 2000 px at 300 ppi for zoom.
What are the image specs for Poshmark and Depop?
Neither publishes official pixel specifications. Treat that as an absence of a rule, not a licence to upload anything: a square photo of a few thousand pixels on a plain background will look right in their grids and give the app room to generate its previews.
Can I put my logo on listing photos?
Not on the main image on most marketplaces. Amazon's requirements prohibit text, logos, watermarks and borders on the main image, and eBay prohibits added graphics, badges, logos and watermarks on pictures. Your own website is where branded overlays belong.
Should listing images be JPEG or PNG?
JPEG for photographs, since it hits tight file caps far more easily. PNG suits flat graphics and line art, and is the format to reach for when a platform supports transparency. Meta's catalogue guidance accepts JPEG or PNG.
Why did my upload fail without an error?
A file-size cap is the usual culprit. Etsy warns that files over 1 MB may fail to upload and Walmart caps files at 1 MB, and both can drop an oversized image quietly. Re-export at higher compression before assuming the listing is broken.
Same cluster
More from the glossary
Neighbouring entries, so every term in the set is one hop from every other.
Lossless compression
Lossless compression makes a file smaller without changing a single pixel.
Lifestyle shot
A lifestyle shot shows a product in real use and real surroundings rather than isolated on a plain background.
Lossy compression
Lossy compression shrinks an image by permanently throwing away detail your eye is least likely to notice.
From the studio
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Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. Every link opens the specification, standard or documentation the claim was read at.
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