Amazon calls it the MAIN image: the first image on the detail page and the one shown in search results. Most marketplaces ask for the product alone on a plain, usually white, background in this slot, and allow lifestyle, detail and on-model shots in the additional images.
Rules for the main image are therefore stricter than for additional images: the background, the framing and what may appear beside the product are all specified.
What the main image does
The main image is the picture a shopper sees before anything else: in search results, on category pages, in ads and in the basket. Most shoppers decide whether to open a listing from this one picture, at the size of a thumbnail.
That is why marketplaces regulate it more closely than any other image. A page of results in which every first image follows the same rule is easier to scan, and no seller can draw attention with text, badges or a busy scene.
What marketplaces usually ask for
The details differ, and the rule rows further down quote a few marketplaces. The common ground is the product alone, whole and in focus, on a plain and usually white background, filling most of the frame.
What is usually kept out of the first image: added text, logos and watermarks, borders, price or discount badges, props that are not part of the product, and more than one view in a single picture. Clothing is the main exception to the product-alone rule, since some marketplaces want it worn by a model.
When a main image breaks the rule
A picture that breaks the rule may be refused at upload, or the listing may be hidden from search until the image is corrected. What happens differs by marketplace and is described in its own rules.
The usual causes are a background that is close to white without being white, a product that is too small in the frame or cut off at an edge, and text or a graphic laid over the picture.
Three first images, each made from one photo of the product: a watch, a pair of shoes and a pair of earrings, alone on white. Made with Herofab · Packshot studio
Main image and other kinds of product photo
- Packshot
- A packshot is a kind of photo: the product alone on a plain background. The main image is a place in the listing, and a packshot is what most marketplaces want in that place.
Hero shot- A hero shot is the picture a brand chooses to lead with. In a brand's own shop it can be the first image; on a marketplace it can take that place only when it meets the rule for the main image.
Lifestyle image- A lifestyle image shows the product in a setting or in use. It usually belongs among the additional images, after the main image.
On-model image- An on-model image shows the product worn by a person. For clothing some marketplaces ask for it as the main image, and others keep the first place for the product alone.
- Thumbnail
- A thumbnail is the small version of an image shown in lists and search results. It is usually cut from the main image, so the main image has to read at that size.
A checklist before choosing the main image
- The picture shows the product that is sold, whole, in focus and once, and nothing is cropped at an edge.
- The background is what the marketplace asks for, and where that is white it is white throughout, not light grey.
- The product fills the share of the frame that the marketplace sets, with an even margin around it.
- There is no added text, logo, watermark, border or badge on the picture.
- Nothing appears beside the product that the buyer does not receive.
- Shape, size and file format follow the marketplace's rule, and the picture is still clear at thumbnail size.