To take photos of clothes to sell online, shoot the garment in daylight on one plain ground and fill four slots: front, back, label, and every flaw. What you may do to the photo afterwards is set by the platform, not by you. Vinted allows no image editing at all. eBay does not allow watermarks or added text. Etsy requires original photos of the actual item, with two exceptions for mockups. Depop does not allow stock images. Poshmark and Mercari publish slot counts and advice instead.
Many guides that rank for this question teach the same five things: window light, a plain wall, no wrinkles, shoot the tag, show the damage. All correct, and none of it tells you that the edit you just made is a policy breach on one of the apps you list to.
That gap is expensive. The same brightened, background-cleaned photo passes on Poshmark and violates Vinted’s Catalogue Rules, which state in one line that no image editing is allowed. Cross-listers can hit this easily, because the whole point of cross-listing is that one photo set goes everywhere.
This is the shot method, then the six rule sets, quoted from each platform’s own page. All six were checked in September 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Vinted is the strict one. Its Catalogue Rules say photos “have to represent the item as it is - no image editing is allowed” and “have to be taken by you” (vinted.com, September 2026).
- Slot counts differ by up to 6x. eBay 24, Vinted 20, Etsy 20, Poshmark 16, Mercari 12, and Depop 4 in its app or 8 on the web.
- eBay does not allow watermarks of any type, including ownership attribution, or added text, artwork and marketing material (ebay.com, September 2026).
- Etsy requires original photos of the actual product. It does not accept renderings or stock photos in their place, with two exceptions for mockups (etsy.com, September 2026).
- Four shots cover a listing: front, back, brand and care label, and one frame per flaw. That set fits even Depop’s four-photo limit in its app.
- Generated imagery is a styling shot, never a condition shot. It sits beside real photos of the real garment, never instead of them, and on Vinted it does not belong in the listing at all.
How to take photos of clothes to sell online
Five steps, in order, at the pace resale runs.
- Steam or press first. Creases read as damage to a buyer and cost you more in questions than the two minutes cost you.
- Shoot in daylight, away from the window. Direct sun blows out white cotton and turns cream beige. A metre back from the glass, indirect, is the whole lighting setup.
- Use one ground and never change it. A white sheet, a wooden floor, a painted wall. Consistency across a shop matters more than which one you pick.
- Fill the four slots. Front, back, brand and care label, then one frame per flaw. Vinted’s own photo tips ask for close-ups of labels and every defect.
- Check the file against the platform before you upload, not after. That is the step below.
The first four steps are the same on every app. The fifth is where the platforms stop agreeing.
Photo slots and limits on six resale platforms
Numbers pulled from each platform’s own documentation in September 2026.
| Platform | Photos per listing | Video | First photo must |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vinted | Up to 20 | Not stated | Clearly represent the whole item, no collages |
| Etsy | Up to 20 | Up to 2, up to 15 seconds | Be an original photo of the actual item |
| Poshmark | Up to 16 | 1 | Be the Covershot, the tap decision |
| Mercari | Up to 12 | Not stated | Be your best, shoppers see it first |
| Depop | Up to 4 in the app, up to 8 on the web | 1, in the app | Be the cover image you choose |
| eBay | Up to 24, at least 500 px on the longest side | Supported | Accurately represent the item |
Two footnotes on that table. Depop gives two different limits: four photos and one video in the app, and eight photos on the web (Depop Help Centre, September 2026). So count the slots where you list before planning a fixed shot list. eBay’s 500 pixels is a minimum, and eBay itself recommends images of about 1600 x 1600 pixels (ebay.com, September 2026).
Slot counts are the cheap half of the answer. The rules below are the half that gets listings pulled.
The rule that splits the six platforms
The six sort into two groups, and the line between them is whether you are allowed to change the photograph after you take it.
Group one does not allow editing. Vinted’s Catalogue Rules are explicit: pictures “have to represent the item as it is - no image editing is allowed”, they “have to be taken by you with the purpose of using the photos on Vinted”, and they “cannot be replaced with stock photos, photos from ads and watermarked images” (vinted.com, September 2026). There is no tier of allowed correction underneath that sentence. Etsy sits close by on a different axis. It requires original photos of the actual product, not renderings or stock photos. Its two exceptions are computer-made mockups in extra images for personalised items, and stock photo mockups for print-on-demand designs.
Group two regulates content, not process. Poshmark and Mercari publish slot counts and photographic advice. Depop asks for photos you took yourself and does not allow stock images. eBay publishes a list of image contents it does not allow. We found no rule from these four against correcting exposure on a photo you took yourself, as of September 2026.
One practical consequence follows, and cross-listers should read it twice. A photo set built for Poshmark can be non-compliant on Vinted for reasons that have nothing to do with how the garment looks. If you list to both, keep an unedited set as the Vinted set, and treat any corrected version as a Poshmark and Mercari asset.
There is a second Vinted trap. Its commercial-activity criteria, in the same rules document, list “your listings are using pictures from the internet or stock photos” as a signal that a private account is trading commercially. There, borrowing a manufacturer photo is also evidence about what kind of seller you are.
What each platform does not allow in a listing photo
| Not allowed | Vinted | Etsy | eBay | Poshmark, Depop, Mercari |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stock or manufacturer photos | Yes | Yes, with narrow exceptions | On used, damaged or defective items | Depop: yes. Poshmark, Mercari: none found |
| Watermarks | Yes | Etsy advises against them | Yes, any type, including your own attribution | None found |
| Added borders, text, artwork, marketing | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | None found |
| Image editing | Yes | Not stated | Not stated | None found |
| Photos taken by someone else | Yes | Allowed if someone took them for you | Not stated | Depop: yes. Poshmark, Mercari: none found |
| Collage as the first photo | Yes | Not stated | Not stated | None found |
eBay’s line on watermarks is the one that surprises sellers who came from Instagram. The policy lists “watermarks of any type, including those used for ownership attributions” as not allowed. So your own shop name across the corner of your own photo is a breach (ebay.com, September 2026). The same policy does not allow added borders, placeholder images or any photo that does not accurately represent the item.
Etsy takes a softer line. Its help page says it generally does not recommend watermarks, because they make photos unsuitable for Etsy’s own features and for off-site ads such as Google Shopping (Etsy Help, September 2026).
Frame with margin, because the first photo gets cropped
Your first photo is not always displayed at the shape you uploaded. On the web, Depop lets you choose a cover image and crop each photo (Depop Help Centre, September 2026), so a shot framed tight can lose the shoulders in the crop. Etsy asks for enough border around the product to crop the first photo into square, portrait and landscape thumbnails (Etsy Help, September 2026).
Leave 10 to 15 percent of empty ground on all four sides of the garment. One frame then survives the square, portrait and landscape crops, so you do not reshoot because a hem got cut off in a thumbnail.
Depop’s grid is a shop-level problem more than a listing-level one. Making a Depop grid look consistent covers imposing one ground and one crop across stock you sourced piece by piece. On the Poshmark side, the Covershot and the closet at volume is the arithmetic of forty listings a week. Etsy’s three thumbnail crops covers the rendering rule and what it leaves you.
AI imagery on resale platforms
Start with the honest half. On Vinted, generated and edited imagery has no place in a listing. The rule is one sentence long and it does not bend for a background clean-up. If Vinted is your main channel, the correct tool is a steamer, a plain wall and a window.
On Poshmark, Mercari and Depop, we found no published rule against correcting a photo you took, as of September 2026. Depop does ask for photos you took yourself, so check any generated styling shot against that rule before you post it there. Three jobs are worth automating for a resale shop:
- Background clean-up, so a bedroom carpet no longer appears behind every item. A clean white background template does this job, and you see the cost before you run it.
- Consistent ground across mismatched stock, which is what makes a shop grid read as one shop rather than a mix of rooms.
- An on-model styling shot built from the flat garment photograph, for a shop that works without a model. A virtual try-on template works from the real garment rather than a text description.
Build those three jobs once, on one garment, as a workflow. You make the ground, the crop and the correction decisions one time. A saved workflow runs the same way on the next product, so the next piece lands on the same ground without you remembering what you did in March. How it works explains the build-once step.
Two limits to know before you pay. Virtual try-on starts on Premium, at $75 a month billed monthly. The commercial licence starts on Pro, at $35 a month billed monthly, and Pro includes 1,000 credits a month. The cost of each run is shown before the run, so you can check a month of listings against that allocation. Plan pricing lists the credits on every plan.
The rule that outranks all of it: a generated image is a styling shot, not a condition shot. It goes in a detail slot next to real photographs of the real item, never as the only evidence of what you are selling. Misdescribing condition is a returns problem and a rating problem long before it is a policy problem. What each marketplace requires on AI disclosure covers where labelling actually applies.
For one-of-one stock the split is sharper still, because your photographs are the evidence a buyer holds you to. Photographing vintage and secondhand clothing covers where correcting a photograph ends and editing out age begins. To try the clean-up on your own stock, start from a template, add one garment photo and run it. The cost is shown before the run.
Five mistakes that cost sales or pull a listing
- Watermarking your own photos on eBay. Not allowed, your own attribution included.
- Reusing the brand’s product shot for a used item. eBay does not allow it for used items. Vinted does not allow stock photos, and Etsy requires original photos outside its two mockup exceptions. On Vinted it also flags you as a commercial seller.
- Editing a Vinted photo out of habit because the same file was corrected for Poshmark. Keep the sets separate.
- Skipping the flaw shot. Every platform’s accuracy rule bites here, and a pilled cuff photographed honestly costs you less than a return.
- Filling one slot when the app offers twelve. A buyer who sees only the front has to ask about the back, the label and the flaws.
FAQ
How many photos should I put on a resale listing?
Fill the slots the platform gives you, up to the point where the photos stop adding information. Four covers a plain garment: front, back, brand and care label, and one frame per flaw. Add a fit or styling shot and a fabric close-up on anything above roughly £30. On Depop’s app, four photos is also the limit.
Can I use AI photos on Vinted?
No. Vinted’s Catalogue Rules require pictures that represent the item as it is, state that no image editing is allowed, and require the photos to have been taken by you for use on Vinted. So generated imagery and edited imagery do not belong in a Vinted listing, whatever a tool’s marketing says.
Does Poshmark allow edited photos?
Poshmark publishes a 16 photo and 1 video limit and photographic guidance. We found no Poshmark rule against correcting a photo you took yourself, as of September 2026. The binding constraint is accuracy. A colour-corrected sweater that matches the real sweater is fine. A brightened one that hides a stain is a misdescription.
What size should a listing photo be?
eBay sets a hard floor of 500 pixels on the longest side and recommends about 1600 x 1600 pixels. Etsy recommends at least 2000 pixels. Shoot at your phone’s full resolution and upload the original.
Can I use the brand’s official product photo?
Only in narrow cases, and never for a used item. eBay does not allow stock photos for used, damaged or defective items. Vinted does not allow them, and lists them as a sign of commercial trading. Depop does not allow stock images either. Etsy requires original photos of the actual product, with two exceptions: mockups for personalised items and for print-on-demand designs.
Do I need a different photo set for each platform?
You need two sets, not six. One unedited set for Vinted and Etsy, and one corrected set for Poshmark, Mercari, Depop and eBay. Shoot once with margin on all four sides, then the crop and the correction are the only things that vary.
What is the fastest way to photograph a full batch?
Set the ground once and leave it up. Steam everything first, then shoot every item’s front in one pass, every back in the next, then labels, then flaws. Handling the setup once instead of once per item is where the time goes.
Sources
- Vinted, Catalogue Rules, section 2 requirements for the item’s photos (vinted.com), accessed September 2026
- Vinted Help Centre, what photos you should upload (vinted.com), accessed September 2026
- eBay, picture policy (ebay.com), accessed September 2026
- eBay, adding pictures to your listings (ebay.com), accessed September 2026
- Etsy, Listing Image Requirements house rule (etsy.com), accessed September 2026
- Etsy Help, requirements and best practices for images (help.etsy.com) and how to protect listing images (help.etsy.com), accessed September 2026
- Mercari Help Centre, creating a listing (mercari.com), accessed September 2026
- Depop Help Centre, how to list an item (depophelp.zendesk.com), listing on web (depophelp.zendesk.com) and what are stock images (depophelp.zendesk.com), accessed September 2026
- Poshmark, how to list an item (poshmark.com) and how to list on Poshmark (blog.poshmark.com), accessed September 2026
Platform photo rules verified from each marketplace’s own published documentation in September 2026. Slot counts and policies change without notice, so confirm the limit in your own app before planning a shot list. Individual results vary.
