Amazon is the only major marketplace that publishes real photo specs — and the only one that visibly rejects listings for breaking them. This guide is the short version of what the Seller Central image policy actually requires, what the category managers quietly enforce, and how to prepare compliant photos without a studio.
The hard rules (main image)
- Pure white background — RGB 255, 255, 255. Not off-white, not a light gray gradient. The product must be cut out and placed on true white.
- The product fills at least 85% of the frame. Tiny products floating in a white square get suppressed in search even when they technically pass.
- Square 1:1 aspect ratio. Amazon crops everything else; the longest side must be at least 1000px for the hover-zoom to work, and 1600px+ is the practical standard.
- No text, logos, watermarks, props or accessories that are not included in the box. One exception: apparel and some categories allow a model.
- JPEG preferred (sRGB), PNG accepted; no blurry or pixelated shots.
The 9 slots — what to put in each
- Main: product only, white background, 85% fill. This is the image buyers see in search — it does 80% of the work.
- 2–4: context and scale. The product in use or next to a familiar object. Lifestyle is allowed here, just not in slot 1.
- 5–7: features as callouts. Text annotations and diagrams are allowed on secondary images — this is where you answer the questions reviews will otherwise ask.
- 8–9: packaging and variants. What arrives in the box; color/size lineup.
Where AI editing is allowed
Amazon’s policy has two sentences that matter: images must accurately represent the product, and AI-generated people must be disclosed (and are banned as models in apparel). Everything else is standard retouching: background removal, lighting correction, shadow work and upscaling of a real product photo are exactly what studios have always done. What gets listings suppressed is fabricating: adding items not in the box, changing materials, or generating the product itself.
A compliant workflow without a studio
- Shoot the product anywhere with even daylight — a window and a white sheet are enough.
- Clean the background to true white with the white background tool, or run the whole main-image job (cutout + lighting + square fill) in the Amazon product photo editor.
- Check the cutout edges close-up — the background remover gives the same clean alpha if you pre-cut the product yourself.
- Upscale to 1600px+ with the image upscaler so zoom works.
- For lifestyle slots 2–4 reuse the same product shot — and if you also sell on Etsy, the Etsy photo editor covers that grid’s different taste (soft scenes instead of clinical white).
FAQ
Does eBay follow the same rules? eBay recommends white backgrounds but does not enforce them; the same photo set prepared for Amazon works on eBay, Walmart and Google Shopping unchanged.
My main image got suppressed — what now? In 90% of cases it is the background (not pure white) or the fill ratio (under 85%). Re-run the editor at 1:1 and resubmit; suppression clears within hours.
Can I use renders instead of photos? For products that exist physically, no — renders that misrepresent materials get listings removed. Prototype-stage listings are the narrow exception.