Most product photography advice assumes you are selling something brand new: pure white background, product filling the frame, every blemish retouched away. Condition photography is the opposite discipline. When you list a used, refurbished or open-box item, the photo is not a marketing asset. It is evidence. Its job is to show the buyer exactly what will arrive in the box, including the scuff on the corner.
Get this right and you convert cautious buyers at a higher price. Get it wrong and you collect "item not as described" claims, forced returns and negative feedback that costs far more than the sale. This guide covers what each major platform requires, which shots belong in a condition set, and how to photograph a flaw so it reads as honesty rather than damage.
The one rule that applies on every platform: shoot the actual unit
Stock photography and supplier images are acceptable for new, sealed inventory in many categories. They are not acceptable for secondhand goods anywhere. eBay's images and text policy restricts stock images to brand-new items in eligible categories, and used, open-box or refurbished listings need photographs of the specific unit you are shipping. Carousell tells sellers the same thing: take photos of the actual item instead of using stock images, and include the defects.
The reasoning is practical, not moral. A stock photo shows a pristine object. The moment your buyer opens a box containing a two-year-old device with a hairline scratch, the stock photo becomes the basis of their dispute, and platform resolution teams side with the buyer almost every time. A photograph of the actual scratch, visible before purchase, closes that door completely.
Platform requirements at a glance
| Platform | Image specs | Condition rules that matter |
|---|---|---|
| eBay | Minimum 500 px on longest side; 1600 px recommended to enable zoom; up to 12 MB; JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, GIF (non-animated) | Actual-unit photos for used and refurbished. No borders, watermarks or added promotional text on the primary image |
| Amazon Renewed | Standard Amazon rules apply: pure white (RGB 255, 255, 255) main image, product filling around 85% of the frame, 1600 px on the longest side for zoom | Application requires roughly 8 to 10 photos of a sample unit and its packaging proving "Excellent" cosmetic grade. A screen-on shot is required for devices with screens. Mockups and digitally altered images are rejected |
| Amazon used offers | Shares the existing catalogue detail page, so the main gallery is the manufacturer's | Condition is disclosed in the condition note, not the hero gallery. Some categories permit seller-supplied offer images. Write the note as if it were the photo |
| Back Market | Catalogue imagery, not per-unit photos | Grading carries the disclosure instead: Premium, Excellent, Good and Fair, defined by how far away a scratch stops being visible (roughly 8 inches for Excellent, 20 inches for Good) |
| Carousell | Up to 10 photos; portrait or landscape both supported; oversized files are flagged for resizing | Actual item only. Show defects, the original box and the receipt if you have it |
| Shopee and Lazada preloved | Shopee: 500 x 500 px minimum, 1024 x 1024 px or higher to unlock zoom. Lazada: 330 x 330 px minimum, up to 2000 x 2000 px and 3 MB | Standard listing rules still apply, including white-background expectations on the main image. Put condition shots in the gallery slots |
Notice the split. Some platforms want you to photograph the individual unit; others, like Back Market and Amazon's used offers, use shared catalogue imagery and push condition disclosure into a grading scale or a text field. Know which model you are selling under before you shoot, because it changes what your photos are for.
The condition set: eleven shots that end disputes
For any individually photographed secondhand listing, work through a fixed sequence. A repeatable set takes about four minutes per item once you have the habit.
The identity shots
- Hero. The product, clean background, best angle. This is the only shot allowed to flatter.
- Front, back and both sides. Four separate frames, square-on, so nothing hides behind a three-quarter angle.
- Top and base. The base carries the model number, serial and regulatory marks that prove authenticity.
The function shots
- Screen on. Mandatory for Amazon Renewed and strongly advisable everywhere else. A powered display in the photo answers "does it actually work" before it is asked. Show the home screen, not a startup logo, and avoid a screensaver that could hide dead pixels.
- Ports, hinges and moving parts. The places wear concentrates.
- Battery health or usage screen for phones, laptops and power tools. A screenshot of the battery health percentage is one of the highest-trust images you can add.
The completeness shots
- Everything laid out. Device, cables, adaptors, manuals, spare parts, in one flat lay. This defines "what I am buying" more clearly than any bullet list.
- The box. Photograph its condition too, especially for open-box items where box damage is often the only reason the item is discounted.
The honesty shots
- One close-up per flaw. Scratch, dent, fading, missing screw, stain. Each gets its own frame.
How to photograph a flaw properly
There is a technique to this, and most sellers get it backwards. They either bury the flaw in a soft, flattering wide shot, or they crank the macro lens so close that a two-millimetre scuff looks like structural damage and scares off the buyer.
Use raking light. Position your light source at a low, sharp angle across the surface rather than pointing straight at it. Front-on light flattens scratches into invisibility; light skimming across the surface makes them read clearly and truthfully.
Include a scale reference. A coin, a fingertip or a ruler in frame stops the buyer imagining the worst. A 3 mm scratch next to a ten-cent coin is obviously minor. The same scratch filling the frame looks catastrophic.
Shoot the flaw twice. One close-up showing the detail, one mid-distance shot showing where it sits on the product. The pairing gives context and is what stops a buyer feeling ambushed.
Do not retouch condition shots. Adjust exposure and white balance so the image matches reality, then stop. Heavy noise reduction and skin-smoothing style filters erase fine scratches, which is exactly the misrepresentation you are trying to avoid. Amazon Renewed explicitly rejects digitally altered images as proof of condition.
Grading language and photos must agree
Refurbished marketplaces run on grade labels, and buyers learn to read them literally. Back Market's scale is a useful mental model even if you sell elsewhere: Excellent means micro-scratches invisible from about 8 inches, Good means light marks invisible from about 20 inches, Fair means visible signs of use. If you label an item Excellent and your own close-up shows a scratch a buyer can see across a desk, you have created a contradiction in your own listing.
The fix is to grade from your photos, not from memory. Shoot first, review the images at 100%, then choose the grade the pictures support. It costs nothing and it removes the single most common cause of refurbished returns.
Sizing and file preparation
Condition photography produces more images than a standard listing, and they often come straight off a phone at 4000 px and several megabytes each. Every platform has a different ceiling: eBay accepts up to 12 MB, Lazada caps at 3 MB, and marketplace uploaders will reject or silently downscale anything that overshoots.
Resize to a single master width first, typically 1600 px on the longest side, which satisfies eBay's zoom threshold and comfortably exceeds Shopee's 1024 px zoom trigger, then export per channel. Batch tools such as PixelPrep handle the resize, format conversion and per-marketplace dimensions in one pass, which matters when a single secondhand listing carries eleven images instead of four. Keep the originals; if a dispute arises, the full-resolution file is your evidence.
One caution specific to condition shots: do not compress aggressively. JPEG artefacts and fine scratches look similar at low quality settings, and a compressed image can either hide a real flaw or invent the appearance of one. Keep quality around 85% and let the file be slightly larger than you would accept for a new-product hero image.
Your condition photography checklist
- Photograph the actual unit. Never a stock or supplier image for anything secondhand.
- Shoot the full set: hero, six faces, screen on, ports, accessories laid out, box.
- Give every flaw its own close-up, plus a mid-distance shot showing where it is.
- Light flaws from a low raking angle and include something for scale.
- Capture the serial or model label and the battery health screen where relevant.
- Review at 100% zoom, then pick the condition grade your photos actually support.
- Adjust exposure and white balance only. No smoothing, no cloning out marks.
- Export at 1600 px on the longest side, around 85% quality, and check each platform's file size cap.
- Keep the full-resolution originals for at least the length of the returns window.
The counter-intuitive part is that thorough flaw photography usually raises your price rather than lowering it. Buyers of secondhand goods are not looking for perfection; they are looking for certainty. Show them every mark on the item and you have removed the risk they were mentally discounting for.