The BIGGEST Photo Mistake That Every Etsy Seller Makes

About this video

Dylan says text overlays are ruining many Etsy thumbnails and costing sellers clicks. Her core rules are that 70% of listings should have no text overlay at all, and the product itself should take up at least 80% of the thumbnail, with the rest neutral background and natural light and no distracting props. Shoppers scroll dozens of tiny thumbnails and may give a listing only about half a second, so a cluttered image or a small product — for example wallpaper taking up only about 10% of a living-room lifestyle photo — loses the click, while clean photos look more premium and are instantly understood. If text is used, it must add something not obvious from the photo: she advises against labels like ‘pink sweatshirt’ or ‘beaded bracelet’ and instead suggests value points such as free personalization, ships in 24 hours, or waterproof. When text is used, she says to avoid default fonts like Arial and Anton, choose clean modern fonts such as Montserrat, Open Sans, Quicksand, or Playfair, and match the background shape to the words — for example a rectangle with rounded corners for ‘free personalization’ rather than a circle. She frames this as a difference between a $50-a-month shop and a $5,000-a-month shop, and tells sellers to audit photos, remove unnecessary text, make remaining text twice as concise, and zoom in on the product.

Key takeaways

• Keep 70% of listings free of text overlays, and let the product fill at least 80% of the thumbnail.
• Do not use overlay text to state the obvious, such as ‘pink sweatshirt’ or ‘beaded bracelet.’
• Use text only for added value a photo cannot show, such as free personalization, ships in 24 hours, or waterproof.
• Avoid default fonts like Arial and Anton; use clean fonts such as Montserrat, Open Sans, Quicksand, or Playfair.
• Match the text background shape to the wording, e.g. a rounded rectangle for a long phrase like ‘free personalization.’

Episode details: published September 4, 2025 · 5:19 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dylan Jahraus’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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