ChannelEngine: product images

About this article

This article describes some of the basic requirements regarding product images.

Table of contents

Introduction

Requirements and recommendations

Troubleshooting

Introduction

Images, just like product feeds, must be sourced from online resources that are publicly available. This allows different marketplaces to display your product images without having to store them when you create or update product content.

Valid URL-based images are displayed as in the example above. The image shown can be found in this URL.

Requirements and recommendations

• Product images must be publicly reachable. Therefore, the following apply:
  • Only HTTP and HTTPS URLs
  • Without username, password, and authentication requirements
• The more content a product has, the higher are its chances to convert. Make sure to provide as many quality images as possible. Different marketplaces allow for different numbers of images per product.
• Most marketplaces require a minimum resolution of 500x500 px for product images. Smaller images are rejected.
• Most marketplaces require a maximum resolution of 5,000x5,000 px for product images. Larger images are rejected.
• Most marketplaces require product images in a specific file format, such as JPEG or PNG. If your product images are all in PNG and the marketplace you are working with only accepts JPEGs, you need to convert your images first. Note that the actual extension of image files cannot be capitalized. E.g.: image.png, instead of image.PNG.
• Most marketplaces require a white background for main product images. Additional product images may contain different backgrounds, other items, different angles, etc. to better showcase the product.
• Most marketplaces have unique requirements regarding product images. These requirements are listed on the Mappings page of each marketplace's marketplace guide.
• Images hosted on cdn.channelengine.net or img.channelengine.net are not allowed. If used, they are replaced by placeholder images.
• If you are unable to host your product images, you can use a service such as Flickr, Google Photos, or Imgur.

Troubleshooting

The marketplace is rejecting my images due to their dimensions, but the dimensions seem to be correct.

If your image files meet the marketplace's requirements in terms of minimum and maximum resolution, chances are the storage service you are using, such as Azure Blob Storage, is resizing the images. To verify:

1. Go to the URL of one of the rejected images using a browser such as Chrome, Edge, or Firefox.
2. To access your browser's dev tools, press F12 on your keyboard.
3. Look for the img HTML tag on the Elements tab of the dev tools.
4. Check the image's width and height. If they differ from the dimensions in the locally saved file, your storage service is resizing your images.
5. If you do not know how to change the settings in your storage service, get in touch with their support team.

I updated the image URLs for a specific product but the new images aren't appearing on the Product details page on ChannelEngine.

On the Product details page, click Clear image cache, and on the popup that opens, click the Clear image cache button. This clears the ChannelEngine image cache and refreshes the product images with the latest versions.