Amazon product photos. A guide to Amazon product photography.

How you are seen is how you convert. When meeting someone for the first time, just one glance is enough to say a lot about that person, and perhaps even to make an initial assessment. Sound familiar?

It’s the same with product images. You need to think of them as your image. You are presenting your product to millions of potential customers, and you must do everything to create a "spark" between the customer and the product within the fraction of a second they spend looking at your product. How to do this? Read on.

The main image of the Amazon product 

Main Image is the most important picture of your listing. Only this image appears in search results on Amazon. Its task is singular - to show professionalism, attract attention, and invite our customer further into the full product listing. Attention! You must do this strictly adhering to Amazon’s guidelines in this respect.

The basic technical guidelines for the Amazon main image are:

Dimensions: minimum 1000 pixels x 500 pixels, which allows for easy zooming of the product image. The longest side of the image must not exceed 10000 pixels.

The background of the image must be white. The preferred RGB value for the background is 255, 255, 255. It’s best to take pictures on a non-shadowy table dedicated to product photography.

The actual product must occupy at least 85 percent of the image area.

The preferred image file format is .JPEG, but .TIFF and .GIF formats are also acceptable. Animated file formats like .GIF are not accepted.

Do not try taking photos with a phone on a white sheet. If you don’t have professional studio equipment for photography, hire an external agency. This investment will surely pay off. The main product image should be photographed from its best profile, showing it in its entirety. The image should show only the product itself - there is room for displaying its individual elements, features, packaging images, labels, and lifestyle photos in additional image fields.

If your product has, for example, one distinguishing feature compared to other competitive products, you can add it as a pictogram integrated with the image itself, but it must not be a dominant element. For example, if we sell a desk lamp that looks like many other lamps, but ours can be linked to Alexa, you can add it in the form of a tag - Alexa Compatible. If the wallet you’re selling has a security insert against remote scanning of payment cards, you can add a crossed-out RFID logo.

Another often-added element of images is information about product variations. For example, if the T-shirt you are selling is available in different colors, you can include such information in the form of colored graphics on the main image. One of our clients communicates that the window pleats they sell are available in many colors. Attention, - if you are already communicating this in the image, remember to modify it if any of the colors are no longer available, and ensure that the stock level of that product is always positive. You can manage this in Seller Central -> Inventory -> Manage Inventory.

The main image should not contain any text, watermarks, frames, or duplicated images of the same product. The image should also not contain any Amazon logos or its products, such as Alexa, Prime, etc. No markers used by Amazon, such as Amazon's choice, Best Seller, Top Seller, etc., can be added to the image.

If your products are in the fashion industry and are photographed on models, they must be in a standing position - lying, kneeling, bent, or seated positions are not accepted. If you are selling lingerie or swimwear for children, showcasing these products on models is prohibited. Mannequins are only allowed for stockings and socks products. Obviously, any naked photos or any that suggest sexual connotations are prohibited.

Stick to the above guidelines, but most importantly, ensure that your image is professional and shows your product in the best light. This is the face of your product that will be shown to the widest audience of your potential customers.

Additional images on Amazon 

Additional images are where you should show what distinguishes your product and why the customer should buy this particular product. Try to correlate the information you provided in bullet points with the images. If you write that the T-shirt you are selling has an embroidered logo sewn inside to prevent irritation, show it in the photo. If you mention it is packed in a designer tube made of plastic, display that in the image. Do not leave your potential customer in doubt about what a particular feature may look like in reality. Show why they should choose your product.

Besides the product features, also try to show lifestyle images. If the T-shirt you are selling is aimed at runners, show it on a running person; if it's a towel rack, show how it actually fits in a bathroom. If your product solves a particular problem, show how effectively it does so in a wider perspective. If you sell a holder for winter/summer wheels, show it in a photo on the wall of a clean and organized garage.

In the case of additional images, photos unrelated to the product, blurry images, those containing nudity or having sexual connotations, and photos of children’s underwear or swimwear for children on models are prohibited.

What are Amazon swatch images?

Swatch images allow for additional identification of colours or patterns of products in listings with product variations. If your product is available in several product variations or has many fabric textures, a swatch image will better show these differences in the product listing.

How many images can you place in an Amazon product listing?

In total, for a product listing, we have:

One main image

Eight additional images

One swatch image

How to upload product images to Amazon?

Basically, there are two ways to upload product images to Amazon.

Manually. If you want to upload several or a small number of images for a few products, you can do it manually. To do this, enter the product editing in Seller Central -> Inventory -> Manage Inventory -> Edit -> Images. By entering the subsequent image icons and searching for them on your local drive, you can upload the image individually to each of the product listings. Easy.

Upload via file. If you are simultaneously uploading many products and have to upload dozens or hundreds of images, it is better to do this via upload. How to do this? First, you must download the product file assigned to the respective category. To do this in Seller Central, select Inventory -> Add Products via Upload -> Need to create a product file? - Download an Inventory File and sequentially choose your product category. Queue the file for generation and then download it in Advanced format. If you’re creating new products, you must fill out all required fields. If you are just updating them, add the identifying product numbers (EAN, ASIN) and set the file as "Partial Actualisation" / "Partielle Aktualisierung" around column Y of the file. In the file, you will find columns marked as "main_image_url", "swatch_image_url" and subsequent columns "other_image_url1", "other_image_url2", etc. These places should be filled with links to images previously placed on the server. The link must lead directly to the image and should not be password-protected. You can find many free and paid image hosting services online. A good tool we use and recommend is Image Shack. Then continue as with the upload of any of Amazon's files - save the sheet as a text file and send it using the Upload Your Inventory File function. Depending on the size of the uploaded database, you should wait from a few minutes to a few hours for the images to be fully visible on Amazon.

Do you have experiences regarding Amazon images? Do you know what issues others may face when managing product images - share with our Go2Market Community by adding a comment under this article.

Happy Picture Making,

Go2Market Crew