AI image tools can help you clean up a background, build a display scene or sketch a campaign idea. But the first rule is simple: images in a real product listing must reflect the actual product. The buyer receives the product, not the picture. This article is a checklist to run through before you use any edited or generated image.
It is general guidance. It does not cover any specific platform’s rules, and it has not been tested on a particular tool.
First: separate two kinds of use
- Listing image: shows the product the customer will receive. Keep edits minimal. Honesty comes before polish.
- Marketing or mood image: an ad, a social post, a cover. A generated scene or imagined background can work here, as long as the product is not shown differently from reality and disclosure is clear where needed.
Before each image, ask: could a customer reasonably believe something untrue about what they will receive?
What must stay true to the real product
- Shape and proportions: do not stretch, slim or reshape.
- Color: compare against the real item in ordinary light. Large color shifts can lead to returns and complaints.
- Material and finish: do not show a gloss, fabric or finish the product does not have.
- Parts and accessories: anything visible must actually be in the box, and anything missing must not appear.
- Quantity: the image matches what is in the package.
- Buttons, ports and functional parts: positions and counts match the original.
Packaging text and logos
Some image tools can distort lettering, Arabic included, or invent characters and words, so never assume the text is correct. So:
- Check every piece of text on the packaging or product letter by letter against the original.
- If text is garbled or unreadable, do not use the image. Use a real photograph, or place the original text with an ordinary design tool.
- Never let the tool invent a logo, certification mark, badge or warning that is not on the real product.
- Do not use a brand logo you have no right to use.
Labeling AI-generated content
- If an image is fully generated or the scene is invented, say so clearly where it appears, especially if it could be mistaken for a real photo.
- Do not present a generated scene as documentation of a real product or a real customer experience.
- Check the current disclosure rules for your channel and country at the official source. Do not assume they are the same everywhere.
Marketplace and channel policy
Every channel (own store, marketplace, ads) has its own image rules on backgrounds, content, disclosure and editing. Check the current official policy of your channel before uploading, and record the page link and the date you checked. We do not quote specific numbers or rules here because they change.
Human review before publishing
- Place the new image beside a photo of the real product, or the product itself.
- Zoom in. Inspect edges, hands, small parts and reflections; small distortions are common.
- Match text, logos, colors and piece counts.
- Ask another person to describe what they understand from the image, and compare it with reality.
- Approve the final version and record the tool used, the creation date and who reviewed it.
File basics that do not change
These points apply with or without AI:
- Keep the untouched original as a reference and edit a copy.
- Name files so original, edited and generated versions are easy to tell apart.
- Write alt text that describes what is actually in the image, not search keywords.
- Choose format and size according to your channel’s current requirements (check them officially), and avoid compression so heavy that detail is lost.
- Keep a record of the image source and usage permission when it comes from a third party.
Limits: when not to use AI for images
- Do not use it to beautify or hide a defect in the product.
- Do not use it for listings of regulated or sensitive products (food, medicine, cosmetics) without a qualified review.
- Do not generate images of real people, or imitate someone else’s work, without permission.
- This checklist does not replace reading the tool’s terms and output-rights policy on its official site.
What to verify yourself before relying on this
- Does the image match the real product in shape, color and accessories?
- Is the packaging text readable and correct, letter by letter?
- Did you disclose AI use where it is needed?
- Did you check your channel’s current image policy at the official source?
- Did you read the tool’s terms about rights to the images it produces?
For the text that goes with the images, see product descriptions with AI. To choose the right tool, see choosing an AI tool by task.