Why Amazon keeps rejecting your main image, and the pure white fix

Amazon requires the main product image to sit on a pure white background, and its automated scanner is strict about it. Even a near-white background like 250,250,250 can be rejected. If your listing keeps getting flagged or your image is replaced, the background is the usual cause.

What pure white means

Pure white is exactly red 255, green 255, blue 255. Anything off that, including a slightly gray studio backdrop or a warm cream from indoor lighting, can trip the check. Your eye reads all of these as "white," but the scanner reads numbers.

Why your white photo is not white

Three common reasons a background that looks white is not:

• White balance. Indoor bulbs add a yellow or orange cast, so your white sweep photographs as cream.
• Shadows. A product sitting on white still casts a gray shadow that bleeds into the background.
• Underexposure. If the photo is slightly dark, white drops to light gray.

How to fix it

Photograph your product on a white sweep or lightbox so the background is already white, brighten the shot so the background reads as true white, then pad the image to a white square at 2000 by 2000 with the product at about 85% of the frame. SelfShot checks the border of the output and tells you the exact value it found if the white is off, so you can fix the shot before you upload. There are more ways to get a clean white in how to make a white background.

A note on cutouts

If your product was photographed on a busy background, padding will not turn that background white. Padding adds white around the photo, it does not replace what is behind the product. You would need to cut the product out first with a separate tool, then bring it here to size and confirm the white.

Get the framing right too

Background is half the battle. Amazon also wants the product to fill about 85% of the frame, with no props, text, or logos in the main image. Too small and the listing looks weak in search, too large and it gets cut off. See the 85% rule and other Amazon mistakes for the rest.

Fix the white, fix the fill, and the main image stops getting rejected.