Listing photo studio

Why prepare photos before you post

Good photos sell second-hand things faster than anything you write. But the photos that come off a phone are not ready to post. They are several megabytes each, so they upload slowly on mobile data. They come in mixed shapes, so the listing looks untidy. And most of them carry hidden details you probably do not mean to hand to strangers.

The hidden details inside a photo

A phone photo usually stores more than the picture: the make and model of the phone, the exact date and time, and often the GPS position where it was taken. Photograph a bicycle in your hallway and the file may hold the location of your home. Some marketplaces strip this when you upload and some do not, and it is nearly always still there when you send the photo directly by email or chat. This tool shows what each original contains and removes all of it from the copy you download.

What size to use

A long edge of 1600 pixels is a safe choice. At the time of writing, eBay asks for at least 500 pixels and recommends 1600 for its zoom; Amazon needs 1000 pixels before zoom works; Etsy suggests 2000 pixels on the shorter side. Larger than that only makes the upload slower. A JPEG at quality 80 to 85 looks the same as the original on a screen at a fraction of the file size.

Square or not

Many sites show search results as square thumbnails and crop whatever you give them. If you crop to a square yourself, you decide what stays in the frame. If the item is tall or wide and cropping would cut it off, choose “Fit inside, add borders” and the whole photo is kept on a white or blurred background.

Common questions

Are my photos uploaded anywhere? No. The page does all the work on your own phone or computer. Nothing is sent to a server, and you can switch off your connection after the page has loaded to see for yourself.

What should I hide? Vehicle number plates, serial numbers, house numbers, letters with your address, other people’s faces, and anything reflected in a mirror or screen. Use “Hide part” and drag a box over it.

Will a watermark stop my photos being copied? It discourages the lazy kind of copying, where a scammer reuses your photos for a fake listing. Keep it small and in a corner on the main photo; some marketplaces do not allow watermarks at all, so check their rules.

Why can it not open my iPhone photos? Some iPhones save photos in the HEIC format, which only Safari can read. Open this page in Safari, or in the phone’s camera settings choose “Most Compatible”.