When you use a product supplier, like Printify, it will generate mock-ups of all your variations for your product. In the case of the most commonly sold print-on-demand item, T-Shirts, if you do not have enough color choices, then you will have less than 10 images in your listing.
The Printify images include product-only images of each color T-Shirt, as well as images with default models wearing the choice of color shirt you set as the main choice. This may fill all 10 images on the Etsy listing, but you do not want to go that route.
When you search on Etsy for any t-shirt product, you are likely to see a mock-up of a close-up of the shirt or sweatshirt worn by someone. This image here is the most common one I see used:
I used this one as an example not for the message on the shirt (though In My ****** Era is very popular now), but for the pose. It looks very natural. Looks very real. Obviously, there can’t be 1 million sellers on Etsy with access to this model to wear their shirts, so what’s the deal?
Fake Images! Using AI
AI image generation to the rescue. You can purchase flat, AI-generated mock-up model (there are thousands of sellers of these templates out there on Etsy). This is where I started. You then upload your design and overlay it on the model’s shirt and voila, you have an image worthy of a post.
I purchased a few (around $3), then bought some more (for up to $15). I started to fill in my listings with better images. I followed the advice of one of the YouTube influencers who, I will give credit, showed how to position the image and recommended that you reduce the transparency to around 80% to give it a more faded, realistic appearance.
Here is what a blank template looks like, followed by one with one of my original designs added.
It looks okay. But if you do a poor job of it (and trust me, there are plenty of examples of that), then it looks fake and plastic. And face it, a picture is worth… well, you know. And there’s a whole industry dedicated to commercial product shots. These images are just a sandbox in comparison to the more sophisticated programs out there. But are they worth the price?
There are a few options out there. The most popular (and the one I have been using) is Place.It. While Place.It has free options, before long you’re going to want to buy the subscription. What Place.It does (and I will discuss some competitors) is that you upload your design and it loads it onto a pre-defined model and then the image will wrap to the folds of the cloth, react to shadows and movement. You can even load your design onto MP4 videos of models moving (but this feature crashes a lot).
This is what my sample looks like when using Place.It:
You can see the difference immediately. The Place.It images look real. They are angled to the profile of the model, show light or shadow, and conform to the body and shirt.
But does this really matter if you want to make a sale? I think the jury may be a bit out on this one. For example, I have found plenty of Star Seller’s whose product images are the defaults from Printify. But, without going deeper in those seller’s store catalogs, I can’t be sure if the seller reached star level and then stopped wasting money on AI generated images, or does the seller just produce a better product or time it better (or use better tags and SEO- separate post coming later).
The Must-Do For Product Images
However, if you dig into the Etsy Seller’s Guide and watch enough honest videos and read enough about Etsy listing tactics you will learn there are a few essential must-do’s to improve your listing. And they are:
There are 10 image slots for your listing. Fill them all. Use all of them. One of these images MUST be a size chart. You don’t have to make one, there are plenty out there for $1 or $2. Spend the money and grab the ones for the products you intend to see. For example, the most popular t-shirt sellers use is the Bella Canvas 3001. Get a size chart for that. Here’s the one I use in my posts. The most popular sweatshirt is the Gildan 18000. Same deal, find a size chart.
There is also a slot for a video. Etsy likes listings that use all of their options. So, add a video. For a while I was using one particular video from Place.It that doesn’t crash. But the model wasn’t appropriate for everything I was selling. I created a few reels on Canva, and they looked okay. Then I started noticing that people were posting a video in their listings that made it look like you were watching them custom make the shirt in their own factory. Don’t believe it. It’s a stock video. They are available from a few sources, like iStock and Adobe. But, be aware, they are pricey. Anywhere from $75 to $100 for a 10 to 15 second video.
When I started my Etsy experience, I considered it as I would if I were to rent a shop in my town and open a store there. If I didn’t invest in my store, I was unlikely to draw in customers. So, I found a video I liked and paid the price. I then uploaded the video into Canva, and created a custom template with a frame and my logo, along with the words “all of our products are custom made.” I now add that video to all my listings. It’s a video that anyone else can buy and use, so I doctored mine to match my brand.
An Extra Step That May Make a Difference
So, you upload 10 images and a video. At this point, you have completed 95% of the options available to you for this section of your listing. So, what more can you do? Read that Etsy Seller’s guide, there’s one more thing to help you improve your Etsy listing.
If you click on each image, you will see there is a box for text. They will allow you to add up to 250 characters to describe your image. Why would you do that, you may ask. Well, Etsy states that this block of text is for visually impaired buyers. Your words can be converted to audio that they can hear that describes your image. That may help. Something else to keep in mind. Images are also SEO tools. Put the right words in there, and it improves your search score.
You are probably asking yourself: how long does this take? In my experience, if you create 8 unique product mock-ups not including the size chart and maybe your shop logo, add the word descriptions, crop the images to fit the frames, order them so the best image is front and center, and include the video, you are looking at about 1 hour for each product listing. That’s just the images.
In my next post, I will round out the process you need to create a complete listing from title to tags.
Place.It Alternatives
I have not tested nor used any of these sites, but they are among the list of many options to Place.It.
- Mockey
- Renderforest
- Alboompro
- MockupsJar
- Canva
- SmartMockups
- Visme
- Artboard.Studio
- Fotor
- Marq
- Printify
- Media Modifier
- Mockup Mark
- Mockuuups Studio
- Mockup.photos
- DesignCap