Six is the limit — the grid shows Photos ({n}/{max}). Six is also the answer: use all of them, because each slot has a job and none of them is a second angle of the same thing.
The six jobs
- The whole item, filling the frame, straight on. This is the thumbnail, and it is the entire reason anyone opens the listing.
- The back.
- The detail that proves quality — the weave, the stitching, the hallmark, the maker's mark.
- The flaw. Close, lit, honest.
- Scale — next to something a buyer knows the size of, or worn.
- What is included — box, papers, dust bag, spares, laid out together.
The two that prevent disputes
Number four and number six. Almost every return request traces to one of them being missing.
The flaw, because a buyer who can see a mark buys with confidence and one who finds it on arrival opens a dispute. And an undisclosed flaw comes back for 7 days whatever your returns policy says, so hiding it buys you nothing. How to write a condition description
What is included, because "was the box supposed to be in there" is otherwise a matter of memory rather than record. Something is missing from what I bought
Scale is the third most valuable, and it is the cheapest: a coin next to a brooch, a tape beside a frame. It is much smaller than I expected
Three good ones beat six where four are repeats
The limit is not a target for its own sake. Six photographs of the same angle in slightly different light is worse than three that each show something new, because a buyer scrolling six near-identical images concludes you have nothing else to show.
The first one carries everything
Look at your set as thumbnails on a phone, which is where it will be seen. If the first picture is not instantly readable at that size, reshoot the first picture and leave the rest alone. Nothing else on the listing matters as much.
For an import
A spreadsheet row carries photo links rather than files — real web addresses, up to the same limit per item. A row with none still becomes a draft and waits for you to add them. How to import a lot of listings
What not to use
The manufacturer's photo as your only image. Can I use the manufacturer's photo?
A watermark. It makes the item harder to see and stops nobody.
A collage. Six slots exist so you do not need one, and a collage is unreadable as a thumbnail.
More: how to photograph an item, a photograph is not the thing, how to write a listing title.