Issue with Primary Photo

[BlueSageCreationsCo]

Hi All,

Is anyone having issues with their primary photo moving or getting larger on its own? When I edit my photos I try to keep the item the same size in the frame so I have a consistent look. Most of mine are no longer consistent. Some are far away and others are so close that part of the item is out of the frame. I have adjusted the thumbnail and even taken new photos and cropped them differently so they look good in the thumbnail. I've done this several times and they end up shifting. Any thoughts/advice is much appreciated.

[PlagueMiniatures]

I am having this issue as well. It is extra frusterating.

[ChillwolfArt]

Hi, Yesterday I Renew Sold > Edit. And nothing changed pertaining to my photos (desktop computer, Chrome). Are either of you using the App by chance?

[CadensPottery]

You're not alone. The thumbnail system honestly hasn't worked in a way that makes any sense for like a month now. It's a simple mission really, the thumbnail that I adjust and save, should be the EXACT thumbnail that is displayed across every version of the platform in every search.

Look at your shop in the app too. If you've edited any thumbnails recently, they probably show up differently on the app.
Makes everything look awful. No idea what version of the pictures buyers are actually seeing. Not to mention the amount of time spent on trying to readjust them. At this point I just don't even want to list anything

[PieceByNumberQuilts]

For literally YEARS now, I read regularly in the forums of problems with Etsy’s thumbnail adjustment tool.  Different problems that come and go, but so often problems all the same.

Because I’m obsessive about my images showing up exactly as I want, I long ago decided I would do all cropping and formatting independently of Etsy.  (I use Photoshop but there are other options.)  This works great, with no worry about what Etsy will do with them.

 If your products are one of a kind, and you’re not into photo editing, then maybe my suggestion is overkill.  But if your items are made to sell over and over, it’s probably worth learning to do the editing outside of Etsy to avoid the aggravation. 

[ChillwolfArt]

@PieceByNumberQuilts  I agree, I've never used the Cropping Tool. I crop them with Kodak EasyShare Editing Tool.  Then do simple tweaks with Microsoft Office Photo (pixels to 2,000 and up, and Brighten/Contrast). 

[CadensPottery]

All of my photos are cropped (1:1 square, *update* which Etsy's AI help chat says isn't recommended. Could have sworn we were told to use 1:1 a while ago but could be wrong. *update 2* for the sake of testing, I went ahead and used Etsy's recommended ratio 4:3 on one of my images and still can't make it look right without using the thumbnail editor, and still is way too zoomed in on the app even after thumbnail is perfect on PC ) and edited outside of Etsy. Etsy still changes the main photo to make it a thumbnail. For shops photographing multiple one of a kind similarly shaped items on an endless white background, this means that if I upload a perfectly cropped image of my item as the main image, the final thumbnail that customers see in searches and next to each other in my shop is going to be way too zoomed in. If I crop it with space for Etsy to do that zoom automatically and my item to still be in frame (this is how I do it), the items will all be at different levels in the thumbnails.

Thumbnail editor should set the thumbnail to appear across every version of the platform the exact same way that you save it.

Like all of us, I care too much about how my shop and my listings look as a whole, including how they look next to each other. The thumbnail editor is the only way that logically makes sense to do this, if Etsy automatically is going to zoom the thumbnail image from the main image no matter what. Many years ago, the photo you uploaded as the main photo, cropping and all was EXACTLY what was shown as a thumbnail. But it's been a while for me since that's been the case. 

Like you said, some shops/item types this probably doesn't matter, but ultimately, it does matter to some, and is the only way to reliably make certain types of listings consistent.

Right now I have some listings made since these current round of thumbnail issues, that are fine on PC, but in the app are zoomed in too far. If I adjust the thumbnail, or just crop the image further out in another app, then my PC version will have a ton of margin around it. 

[PieceByNumberQuilts]

@CadensPottery   

My main point above was about the cropping tool, which reliably goes glitchy here. Not that Etsy will always show your images as expected if you use a photo editor (this also changes too much here!)

I think your troubles may be that your pieces are shot on a totally white background (possibly you also use an editor to enhance to pure white).  This makes it harder for Etsy to “read” the image and know how to display it properly in different areas of the site, which as you know, use a variety of aspect ratios.  Have you tried square photo images with more defined edges around the square?  Something to give Etsy’s image processing software a sense of the image boundaries so it knows how to display it?  Also, are you uploading JPGs? (PNGs or other image types could be an issue, not sure tho.) 

One other trick you might try is to frame your image with a light grey square in your photo editor, just 3-4 pixels wide, centering your pieces as you want.  The frame will help orient Etsy to know what area is to be displayed.  

Nearly all my shop images are squares, which for 15 years now I’ve set into a 3:4 ratio with white space either side.  The few rectangles I have, I’ve also used white space to pad out the image to the same 3:4 ratio, to force Etsy to center the image as I want.  All images are uploaded as JPGs.  Knock on wood, this process has always (so far!) worked well for my shop.  

Good luck finding a solution - your items are so beautiful!