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News.Issue 6 ·

AI product photos for marketplaces: rules and AI labels

Can you use AI product photos on Google Shopping and Etsy? What the rules say about accuracy, AI labels and metadata, plus a pre-upload checklist.

By Olena, me20 Studio · 3 min read

Close-up of a pile of mint-blue, sugar-coated candies shaped like small aeroplanes, with soft shadows between them
high-impact product photograph, close-up of a pile of mint-blue sugar-coated candies shaped like little aeroplanes, fine sugary grain texture, monochrome pastel palette, soft diffused top light, gentle shadows, playful minimal mood, fills the frame --ar 16:9

Yes, you can use AI product photos on marketplaces, but with two conditions: the image must show the exact item you sell, and it must stay honest about being AI-made. Google Merchant Center asks for an AI tag inside the image file, and Etsy asks sellers to say in the listing when an item was created with AI.

Can you use AI images for product listings?

AI imagery is allowed, but accuracy comes first. Google's rule for the main product image is simple: it "must clearly display the exact item being sold", and a variant image should show only that variant. A beautiful render of a slightly different bottle or a colour you don't stock breaks that rule, however good it looks.

In practice, AI works best around a real product: a lifestyle scene, a seasonal background, a mood shot for social media. The product itself — shape, colour, label, size — should match what the customer receives.

What Google Merchant Center asks for

Google's image rules apply to AI images and ordinary photos alike. The main points from its Image link help page:

  • Show the product, nothing extra: no promotional text, marketing callouts, watermarks, borders or placeholder graphics, and no items that are not sold together with the product.
  • Size: Google recommends about 1500 × 1500 pixels; from 31 January 2027 the minimum becomes 500 × 500 for all products. Files can be up to 16 MB and 64 megapixels.
  • AI label: every AI-generated image must contain the IPTC DigitalSourceType tag trainedAlgorithmicMedia, and you must not remove it. This covers the main image, additional images and lifestyle images.

How the AI label works: the IPTC tag

The AI label is a line of metadata stored inside the image file, not text on the picture. IPTC, the body that maintains photo metadata standards, defines several "digital source types". Two matter for AI work:

  • trainedAlgorithmicMedia — created by a generative AI model. This is the value Google names for AI-generated images.
  • compositeWithTrainedAlgorithmicMedia — "Edited using Generative AI", for example inpainting or outpainting on an existing image.

Many AI tools write this tag automatically. The risk is losing it later: some editors, compressors and export settings re-save the file without its metadata. A free tool such as ExifTool can show whether the tag is still there before you upload.

Etsy: say when an item is made with AI

Etsy's rules are about the item, not only the photo. Under its Creativity Standards, "seller-prompted AI creations" — for example an AI-generated fantasy print — count as "Designed by a seller". Sellers must disclose in the listing description if an item is created with the use of AI. AI prompt bundles do not qualify as the seller's own design.

Pre-upload checklist

  • The product in the image is the exact item, colour and variant on sale.
  • No text, badges, watermarks or borders on the main image.
  • At least 1500 × 1500 pixels for Google Shopping.
  • The AI tag is still in the final exported file.
  • On Etsy, the description mentions AI if the item itself was made with it.

Need marketplace-ready product visuals? Tell us about your project.

P.S. The caption under the cover image is a ready-to-use prompt. Copy it into Midjourney, Higgsfield or any image generator and make your own version.

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