eBay listing form

How to upload pictures to eBay from a computer, the app or your phone

Published October 20, 2026 6 min read

To upload pictures to eBay on a computer, open your listing, find the Photos & Video section, and drag your files in. In the eBay app, start from the Selling tab, select List an item, and add photos on that screen. The first picture you add is the main photo buyers see in search.

You shoot a jacket on your phone, and the listing form is open on your laptop. Or you started the listing on the laptop and want to finish it from the couch. Where the photos are decides the route, and each case has one below. Button names differ even between eBay's own pages, so match the meaning, not the exact word.

How do you upload pictures to eBay from a computer?

It all happens in one section of the listing form. These steps follow eBay's help page on adding pictures.

1. Find Photos & Video in the listing formStart a listing, or open one to revise.
2. Drag files in, or select Upload from computerEach file can be up to 12MB. Already added one? Select Add for more. To pick several at once, hold Ctrl on Windows or Command on a Mac as you click.
3. Put the best photo firstThe first picture you add is the main photo, shown next to your title in search results. Once the files are uploaded, you can rearrange the order.
4. Edit if you need to, then select SaveThe Edit photo screen has icons to crop, rotate, edit the background and adjust brightness and contrast.

The same section takes a video too: how to add a video to an eBay listing covers it.

How do you upload pictures to eBay from the app?

Start from the Selling tab and add photos on the listing screen. Seller Center gives the first step below. The other two come from sellers in eBay's Community (one thread and another), who don't always say which phone they use.

1. Selling tab, then List an item. Or open an existing listing to edit it, then add your product photo.
2. Look for the box with a plus sign above the title. It sits on the create-listing screen. Tap it to start adding photos.
3. Tap the photos you want, then confirm. Each picture highlights when you tap it. Then tap the confirm button. One seller's screen says Upload, another's says Add and the number you picked, so go by the word on yours.

iPhone photos in HEIC format are fine: eBay's help page lists HEIC among its accepted file types. The phone camera settings guide covers the format.

The app also has a background tool. Tap a photo, tap the Background icon, choose White or an AI-generated Studio, Surface or Outside background, then Apply and Done. Keep the new background true to the item.

How do you give the eBay app access to your photos?

If the app shows an empty gallery, check your phone's settings, not eBay's. On an iPhone, go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, tap a category such as Photos, and turn eBay on (Apple's guide). eBay won't be on that list until the app has asked for access.

On Android, open Settings, then Apps, then eBay (tap See all apps if you can't find it). Tap Permissions, choose Photos and videos, and choose Allow (Google's guide). If your menu words differ, follow the words on your screen.

What if your photos and your listing are on different devices?

The first and last rows follow the help page. The middle row is how sellers in eBay's Community describe it.

How do you choose or change the main photo on eBay?

Choose the whole item, shot face-on, and drag it to the top left position: click and hold it, then move it there. The listing photo checklist sets out the order for the rest.

On a live listing, open Revise your item from My eBay or Seller Hub. You can change the main photo if a fixed price listing has no offers, or if an auction has no bids and more than 12 hours left.

To replace a photo, delete it and upload a new one. If the old one was copied from a web address, use a new URL for the replacement.

You can reuse photos too. eBay keeps copies from completed listings for up to 90 days, so they are there when you relist the item or list something similar.

How many photos can you upload to eBay, and how big can they be?

One listing takes up to 24 photos, each up to 12MB. eBay accepts JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, WEBP, HEIC and AVIF files. Photos must be at least 500 x 500 pixels, and about 1600 x 1600 is recommended. eBay photo size and picture requirements has the rest of the rules.

Why won't eBay let you upload your pictures?

Try the check that matches what you see, and move to the next only if it fails. That order is a rule of thumb. The checks themselves come from the help page.

• One file is refused. Check its type against the list above, and that it is 12MB or less.
• The uploader never appears. Turn off your pop-up blocker for a moment, because it can stop the uploader showing. Then update Chrome, Firefox or Safari, and clear your browser's cache.
• A photo you reused is gone. eBay stores pictures for 90 days, so an old one may have expired. Upload it again.
• It works on the laptop but not on your phone. Confirm the app has photo access, as set out above. That check is our addition, not on eBay's list.

If none of it fits, try another route from the table, such as the computer instead of the app.

Questions people ask about uploading eBay pictures

Do this today: open your newest draft and look at the first photo in Photos & Video. If it is not the whole item shot face-on, drag the one that is to the top left spot. Then select Add, then Upload from mobile, once, so the phone route is familiar before you need it.

Keep reading

• How to photograph jewelry to sell

  Soft light and a plain background, then the stamp, clasp, scale and flaw shots eBay's own pages ask for.

• How to add a video to an eBay listing

  Where the Add video button is, eBay's listing video limits, and what to put in the one clip.