Product content for ABOUT YOU: image requirements, product data and checklist

ABOUT YOU and Zalando compared

ABOUT YOU has been part of the Zalando Group since 2025. As of October 2026, partners still deal with two portals and two sets of rules:

If you sell in both shops, you need two image sets from the same shoot. Zalando's rules in detail are in our guide Product content for Zalando and OTTO.

Who can sell on ABOUT YOU

The marketplace is aimed at fashion brands and retailers. You sell as the seller of record on a commission basis, control assortment, prices and stock yourself, and ship either yourself or through Fulfillment by ABOUT YOU. According to ABOUT YOU there are no registration fees; you only see the commissions after registering.

• EU entity: you need a legal entity based in the EU. ABOUT YOU reviews every application manually, followed by an onboarding questionnaire (with a LUCID number for Germany) and a KYC check via SCAYLE Payments.
• EU manufacturer: for each brand you name the manufacturer in the EU or, for suppliers outside the EU, the importer or authorised representative, with postal and email address (Art. 3 points 8, 9 and 10 of Regulation (EU) 2023/988). This summary is not legal advice.

Image requirements

Format, size and file

• Format: model images and uncropped bust images always in 3:4 portrait.
• Size: recommended 1500 × 2000 px at 96 dpi or more. The web page gives 1125 × 1500 px as the minimum, the Content & Style Guide (PDF) 1500 × 2000 px. At 1500 × 2000 px you meet both.
• File: JPEG for white or grey backgrounds (up to 2 MB), PNG for transparent ones (up to 4 MB).
• Count: via the API, 1 to 10 images per item; for apparel ABOUT YOU recommends 1 to 2 bust images, 2 to 4 model images and 1 to 2 detail images.
• Replacing an image: downloaded images stay cached for at least three days. A changed image therefore needs a new URL.

Required views and background

• First bust view: frontal, shot on a bust or mannequin and cut out, plain white or transparent background. In the shop, ABOUT YOU turns it light grey.
• First model view: cropped to the product, fabric not cut off, product facing front. According to the style guide, ABOUT YOU does not show half faces, crops at eye level or no face at all.
• Model background: light grey #F4F4F5 (RGB 244/244/245) is ideal, white or transparent is also allowed, no strong colour variations.
• No model needed: shoes, accessories, kidswear and home & living do not require model images.
• Shoes and caps: left shoe at a 30 degree angle or turned to the left (the rejection page gives 30 or 50 degrees), caps frontal or slightly to the left.

Exceptions and launch stoppers

Exceptions go live but raise your APR by 1.0 percentage point (a term the public docs do not explain): only one of the two first views, moody model backgrounds (if both first views exist), another format that looks right after automatic cropping, right shoes or caps pointing right. Launch stoppers keep a product offline: bust views without a white or transparent background, anything below 1125 × 1500 px, wrong shoe or cap direction (including top-down or inside views), formats blocked by cropping.

Product name and description

The Seller Center generates the visible title from category and colour. You add your own name only through the “Product Name” attribute at master level:

• Only the design name, such as ‘Lea’, shown in single quotes next to the generated name. No colour, size, category or description; without a design name, leave the field empty. The API allows at most 120 characters.
• Description: optional, per language, shown as plain text (formatting is stripped). The older single API field is limited to 2500 characters; no limit is published for the per-language fields.

Attributes, material and required fields

Attributes drive virtual categories, filters and shop search. Only choose “Further / no specification” if nothing else fits. Via the API, every variant requires SKU, colour, size, brand, category, weight, country of origin, prices and images among other fields, and according to the Seller Center docs the EAN as well.

• Category: always the deepest one that fits, exactly one per product, locked after approval. Map unisex items to women.
• Pattern: must reflect the main part of the product, otherwise it is rejected.
• Colours: search colour at most two values, detail colour at most four; with more colours, “Mixed color”.
• Animal-derived parts: “yes” for leather, down, feathers, horn, mother-of-pearl or bone, “no” for wool and silk.
• Material: always required. For textiles the total is 100 percent, with “Other material” at most 15 percent. Shoes need three components (upper, lining, outsole), lined jackets and bags two. Only the exact spelling of the ABOUT YOU list, in German according to the rejection page.

EAN, variants and sizes

Every product has three levels: the master with a unique style key (the product page), below it the colour variants with images and descriptions, and below those the size variants with their own stock, price and VAT rate.

• EAN: now mandatory for all products so ABOUT YOU can aggregate identical products; it must be an EAN-13 with a valid GS1 prefix and check digit.
• Size: the size on the label, one per variant, all from one size system within a colour (no XS next to 44). A second dimension such as leg length or cup size is then required for all variants.
• Cannot be changed: size and category are locked after approval; request missing sizes through the service desk.

Countries and languages

ABOUT YOU's corporate site names 26 European markets, the partner home page up to 28 countries. The Seller Center shows your account's countries and languages. You set a price per sales country; descriptions are optional per language (Germany, for example, has German and English).

The most common rejection reasons

According to ABOUT YOU, most products fail because of missing or weak images, especially jewellery, and incomplete material data. The docs list ten reasons:

1. First bust or model view missing.
2. Background not white, transparent or light grey.
3. Wrong viewing angle on the first bust view.
4. Images and data do not match.
5. Photos do not match the selected colour variant.
6. Wrong or inconsistent sizes, missing second size dimension.
7. Brand missing or not matching the images.
8. Wrong or inconsistent prices.
9. Incomplete material specification.
10. Blocklisted term or protected design, such as “Smiley”: these products stay offline permanently.

After correcting a product, you request a new review. Products imported via Excel go live automatically once all required attributes and valid images are present.

What the public docs leave open

As of 24 October 2026, the public partner docs contain no specific rule for AI images. Commissions, the meaning of “APR” and the terms of use only appear in the Seller Center after registration. Our advice: start from real product photos, because every image must match the data and colour exactly.

Checklist before uploading

The ecomDNAI Marketplace Content Creator creates product copy for ABOUT YOU in German, English and French, attribute suggestions and portrait image sets, plus the brand page if you want it. It always starts from a real product photo, and a check shows what is still missing before export. The Marketplace Optimizer rates existing listings against ABOUT YOU's rules.