The Etsy marketplace is built on trust. Your listing images should help buyers understand exactly what they will receive, including how an item looks, its condition, materials, or how your design will appear on a finished product.
By uploading images, you confirm that you have all necessary rights to those photos and are complying with our Intellectual Property Policy.
General Rules
✅ What is Required
- Accurate Representation: All images must accurately reflect the item's true appearance, including color, condition, scale, and materials.
- Unedited Photo: For most products, you must include at least one unedited photo of the actual item against a real background. This photo does not need to be the first image in your listing. Videos can complement your photos, but they don't replace the required unedited photo. See rules by product type below for exceptions.
While you're allowed to crop, add a watermark, resize, or change the file format of your unedited photo, make sure you're not using AI-powered tools to do so. Otherwise, our systems may flag your photo as AI-edited.
❌ What is Prohibited
- Misleading Editing: You must not hide flaws, conceal damage, or edit an item's appearance to make it look different from what the buyer will receive.
- Deceptive Content: You must not use images that create false expectations about what the buyer will receive.
⚠️ What Happens If Images Are Misleading
If the item received is materially different from the image:
- Disputes & Refunds: If a buyer opens a case, Etsy may issue the buyer a refund, and you may be responsible for the refund amount.
- Listing & Account Actions: We may remove misleading listings. Repeated violations may result in additional enforcement action, up to and including shop removal.
Photo Editing & AI Guidelines
For most products, you must include at least one unedited photo of the item. See rules by product type below for exceptions.
You may use photo editing software or AI-powered tools on your other listing images, provided the final result remains an accurate representation of the physical product.
| Allowed Edits ✅ | Prohibited Edits ❌ |
|---|---|
| Adjusting lighting, exposure, or color balance to match real life. | Changing the product's actual color, texture, or condition. |
| Cropping, resizing, or straightening the image. | Digitally removing or hiding defects, cracks, or damage. |
| Cleaning up or replacing the background, as long as the product itself is accurately represented. | Using AI to change the core design or features of a physical item. |
Rules by Product Type
Print-on-demand (POD) items
If a production partner prints your original design on a standard base product (like a t-shirt or mug), you may use a stock photo mockup, if the stock photo’s owner has authorized its use.
Digital downloads
Some digital items, like audio files, don't have visual elements. For those listings, you may use representative imagery, including AI-generated images, as long as it doesn't mislead buyers about what they're purchasing.
All other digital downloads should include a visual preview or excerpt of the content buyers will receive.
Customized & made-to-order items
For customized items you make yourself (like custom drawings or hand-monogrammed accessories), use photos of real, finished items you've made in the past to help buyers see the quality of your work.
Photos of finished results
If you sell items that must be made or grown in order to see the final product, such as instruction-based craft patterns, recipes, or seeds, you must include at least one real, unedited photo of something made using your product. For example, include a photo of a completed crochet project made from your pattern or a blooming flower grown from your seeds. AI-generated images cannot be the only images used to show the finished result.
- Grid-based visual patterns (e.g., needlepoint, cross-stitch, beadwork): Because these patterns serve as a 1:1 visual blueprint of the finished piece, you may use a direct digital preview, stitch-simulation render, or chart excerpt instead of a photo of a completed item, provided it represents the exact design, scale, and color palette of the completed pattern.
Examples
Allowed: Listings that contain a real, unedited photo of the item for sale, as well as an AI-edited image that accurately represents the item.
| AI-edited image that accurately represents the item | Real, unedited photo |
|---|---|
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Prohibited: An AI-generated approximation of the item that does not accurately reflect the color, texture, quality, or other characteristics of the product.
| AI-generated listing image | Photo of the real item |
|---|---|
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Prohibited: An AI-generated image that does not accurately reflect what the end result of the craft pattern or kit will look like.
| AI-generated listing image | Real end-result photo |
|---|---|
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Related Policies
Last updated on Nov 5, 2026