Text on a product photo does a job a title can’t. “20% OFF this weekend” catches the eye in a grid of search results. “Personalized with your name” answers the first question a buyer has. “Available in 6 sizes” saves a click. Each of those is easy to add to one photo in any image editor.

The work is doing it for 150 listings: download each photo, open it, type the text, line it up, export, upload it back to Etsy, delete the old one, put the new one in the right position, and fix the alt text you just lost. Then do it all again when the sale ends.

This guide shows how to do it in one pass with Everlyst’s Add text to photo bulk action, and how to make the text work at the small sizes buyers actually see.

Before you start: keep your originals

This is the most important step, so it comes first.

Adding text replaces the photo. Etsy has no “layer” on a listing photo. The only way to show text on it is to upload a new image with the text in it. Everlyst creates that new image, uploads it, then deletes the original from Etsy. Everlyst doesn’t keep a copy of the original, and the change can’t be undone from Backup & Restore.

If you’ll want the clean photo back, for example when a sale ends, make sure you have the originals saved somewhere you control. Your camera roll, a cloud folder, or your product photography files all work.

Step by step

Add text to photo is part of Images & Media on the Growth and Pro plans.

1. Select listings and open the action

In Images & Media, select the listings you want to change, open the Bulk Operation Builder, and choose Add text to photo.

2. Choose which photo to change

Pick the photo by its number. Photo 1 is your search thumbnail, the one buyers see first. Photo 2 or a later one suits information people look for once they’re on the listing, such as dimensions, care instructions, or what’s included.

Everlyst changes the same position on every selected listing, and each listing keeps its photo order.

3. Write and style the text

Text: up to 500 characters. Line breaks are kept exactly as you type them, so you can put “SALE” on one line and “20% off” on the next.
Font: Outfit (clean and modern), Lora (a classic serif), or Bricolage Grotesque (bold and characterful).
Colour and alignment: any colour, aligned left, centre, or right.
Position: nine spots, from top left to bottom right. Text sits slightly in from the edge so it isn’t cropped.
Maximum size: set as a percentage of the photo’s width, from 2% to 20%, with 5% as the default.
Black banner behind text: a semi-transparent strip that keeps text readable on busy or light backgrounds. It’s on by default.

4. Preview every listing

Photos differ in shape, and a phrase that fits one may run off the edge of another. Use Previous photo and Next photo to step through every selected listing’s actual photo with your text applied.

If your text is too large for a photo at your chosen size, Everlyst shrinks it for that listing only and shows the size it used. If it can’t fit even at 2%, that listing is left out rather than squeezed.

5. Confirm and replace

Confirm the replacement. For each listing, Everlyst uploads the new photo before removing the old one, so a failed step never leaves the slot empty. It then puts the new photo back in the same position with the original’s alt text.

Some listings are skipped, each with its reason shown:

The photo is linked to a variation option. Replacing it would break that link, so those listings are left alone.
The listing already has 20 photos, Etsy’s maximum. The new photo has to be uploaded before the old one is removed, so remove one photo first.
There’s no photo in that position, or another photo update for that listing is still running.

Making text work on Etsy

Design for the thumbnail. Most buyers first see your photo as a small square in search results or on a phone. A short phrase at a larger size beats a long sentence at a small one. Step through the preview and ask whether you could read it at a glance.

Don’t cover the product. Text over the item itself hides what the buyer came to see. Bottom or top positions with the banner usually sit over background, not product.

Keep promotional text off photo 1 if you rely on ads. Your first photo can also be used to advertise your listing outside Etsy, and some shopping platforms reject product images with promotional text like “SALE” on them. Information-led text, or text on a later photo, avoids that risk.

Remember it’s permanent until you change it. A “this weekend only” message stays on the photo after the weekend. When the sale ends, upload your originals again. In Images & Media you can replace a photo on a single listing, or use bulk Add Images to put the clean versions back.

Keep the alt text accurate. The new photo keeps the original’s alt text. If the text you added changes what the photo communicates, update the alt text too. Why alt text matters.

When to use something else

Add text to photo applies one text layer to one photo. It doesn’t crop, filter, add logos, or stack multiple layers. For heavy branding work, design the images in a dedicated editor and upload them with bulk Add Images, which places a set of photos at the start or end of each listing’s gallery with alt text attached.

For the rest of Everlyst’s photo tools, see Images & Media, and for organizing the photos you already have, read how to organize Etsy listing photos.