How-to · Etsy
Etsy buyers expect a different image set than Amazon — handmade context, styled lifestyle shots, multiple angles, and clear scale references — and Etsy's image carousel rewards 10 well-merchandised photos over 1 perfect hero. This guide walks an Etsy fashion seller through producing a full 10-image listing carousel from a single phone photo: one ghost-mannequin hero, three on-model lifestyle shots, two detail crops, a scale reference, and a styling-context image. Two minutes of work, $0.30 in credits.
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Open Ghost Mannequin and produce a clean invisible-mannequin hero on a soft neutral background (Etsy listings convert better with warm-neutral backgrounds than Amazon-spec pure white — Etsy buyers are looking for a handmade feel, not catalog clinical). This is image slot 1 — the carousel preview that decides whether a search result clicks through.
Open Reference Photoshoots and pick 3 saved creators whose vibe fits Etsy's audience — handmade-leaning, casual, lifestyle-rich rather than studio-clinical. Generate the garment on each. These become images 2–4 of the carousel; Etsy's algorithm rewards showing the garment in real wearable contexts.
Open Image Creation and crop into the source photo for fabric-detail and seam/stitching close-ups. Etsy buyers — particularly for handmade or small-batch fashion — explicitly look for craftsmanship signals in detail shots. These are images 5–6.
Generate or photograph a scale reference: garment laid flat next to a tape measure, ruler, or a common-size object. Etsy returns are heavily driven by 'item smaller than expected' — a scale shot in slot 7 cuts that return rate measurably.
Run one more Reference Photoshoot generation showing the garment styled with adjacent pieces (jewelry, layered tops, complementary outerwear). Etsy shoppers buy into a styling vibe more than a single SKU; image 8 sells the styling worldview.
If the listing is a single-color SKU, leave images 9–10 as repeat angles of the lifestyle shots. If you offer colorway variants, run the source photo through Edit with Paint for the additional colors and add them as images 9–10. See the colorway-variants guide for the masking workflow.
In Etsy seller dashboard, upload all 10 images to the listing in this order: ghost-mannequin hero, 3 lifestyle, 2 detail, 1 scale, 1 styling, 2 angle / colorway. Etsy's listing image limit is 10 — using all 10 slots correlates with higher conversion than half-filled carousels in Etsy's own seller research.
Roughly 100–150 credits at default settings (1 ghost mannequin + 3 reference photoshoots + 2 image creation crops + 1 scale shot + 1 styling shot + optional colorways). At 1 credit = $0.01 USD that's $1.00–$1.50 per listing — vs. $50–$300 for a basic photographer-shot Etsy listing. Free tier (100 one-time credits) covers one full listing; Starter ($10 / month, 1,000 credits) covers 7–10 listings — typical for a small-batch Etsy shop.
Etsy's handmade policy is about the production of the item being sold, not about how marketing imagery is created. AI-generated imagery of a genuinely handmade item is allowed; AI-generated imagery of an AI-generated 'product' that doesn't exist physically is not. Apiway's hybrid pipeline (real creator + your real garment overlaid) is closer to a real photographer's lifestyle shoot than to pure synthesis.
Different audiences, different conversion drivers. Amazon shoppers are search-driven, scanning a grid for the exact spec — pure-white carousel imagery is the platform's compliance baseline. Etsy shoppers are browse-driven, looking for vibe and craftsmanship — warm neutrals signal handmade authenticity. The same garment ships on both platforms with different image sets, generated from the same source photo on Apiway.
