eBay Photo Requirements in 2026: Size, Count and No Watermarks

Published 13 October 2026 · by Tekiba

If you came here from our article on adding a watermark, this one goes the other way: on eBay, you do not add one. Can you watermark eBay or Etsy listing photos? quotes eBay's picture policy on that line by line; this page covers the rest of what eBay asks, and getting a whole listing's photos ready in one pass.

What eBay's pages say

Two of eBay's help pages set the rules. The first is Adding pictures to your listings, which gives the sizes and the count:

Images should have a minimum resolution of 500 x 500 pixels but we recommend images that are about 1600 x 1600.

You can add up to 24 pictures.

It sets the file limit at 12 MB each, lists the accepted formats as JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, WEBP, HEIC and AVIF, and says this about graphics:

Do not add graphics to images such as badges, logos, copyright notices or watermarks as they can affect your listing's placement in search results

It also says you can't use a catalog or stock photo if you are listing an item as used. The second page, the picture policy, is the rule rather than the advice: it does not allow "Watermarks of any type, including those used for ownership attributions", nor "Photos with added borders", and asks for at least 500 pixels on the longest side.

Neither page gives a largest size in pixels. 1600 × 1600 is a recommendation, not a ceiling, and it is not a rule that the photo be square either: the page names one size and says nothing about shape.

Getting a listing's photos ready in one pass

A phone photo is usually far bigger than eBay needs and carries where it was taken. Three changes cover what the pages above ask for, and none of them needs an upload to us.

1. Open SignetDrop with the eBay preset, or pick eBay under Marketplace preset. It switches the watermark off and adds no space around the photo, the two things eBay's policy rules out.
2. Set Resize to Longest edge and the amount to 1600. The preset leaves the size as you have it, so this is the one setting you choose. A phone photo stored as 4032×3024 with a quarter-turn tag counts as 3024×4032, so a longest edge of 1600 gives 1200×1600, not a sideways 1600×1200. SignetDrop does not enlarge: a photo already smaller than 1600 is left at its size. So a photo below eBay's minimum stays below it — the picture policy asks for 500 pixels on the longest side, and the help page gives 500 × 500 as the minimum resolution — and the fix is a larger original, not a setting here.
3. Leave Format on JPEG and the quality where it is. At that size, a JPEG comes out far below eBay's 12 MB limit.
4. Drop the photos and press Process and download ZIP. The ZIP holds the new files. Unzip it and upload those to eBay.

The location comes off on the way, with no extra step. The output is drawn onto a canvas and saved as a new file, so the GPS position, the camera serial number and the rest of the EXIF block from the original are not carried across. Remove location data from photos before selling online goes through what a phone writes into a photo and how to check a file yourself.

Why not pad the photos to a square?

Some marketplaces show every photo in a square frame, and padding a photo to a square on white is how you would keep the whole product in it — it is what we suggest for Poshmark's 3:4 frame in Poshmark portrait photos without cropping. On eBay we would not. The picture policy lists "Photos with added borders" among what it does not allow, and plain space added around a photo is close enough to a border that we leave the shape as the photo is. That is why the eBay preset adds no padding.

Where the free version stops

Everything eBay asks for above can be done in the free version. It handles ten photos at a time, up to 2048px on the longest edge — and 1600 is under that — with no account, and it does not write our name onto your photos. A full listing of 24 photos is three runs: ten, ten and the last four, each its own ZIP.

The paid version is $29 once, not a subscription. For eBay it saves time rather than unlocking anything eBay requires: a whole listing, or a week of listings, goes through in one run, file names can follow a template, and the settings can be saved as your own preset. The full split is on the pricing panel.

What this page does not do

It reports what two of eBay's help pages said on 13 October 2026. eBay changes these pages from time to time, its apps can treat a photo differently from what the help describes, and other eBay sites may word things differently. Whether a listing meets eBay's rules is eBay's call, not ours. Before a large holiday batch, open the pages linked above and check the figures again.

Questions