How does Live Preview for Etsy work?

Written by

Pascal Blake

Live Preview lets Etsy buyers see how their personalized text or image will actually look on the product before they buy. Buyers can catch formatting issues before placing the order, which means fewer personalization errors and order exceptions for you, and more confidence for buyers to complete their purchase.

In this article:

How do I set it up?
What is the buyer experience?
Are there any limitations?

How do I set it up?

Live Preview is automatically enabled by default for any product that supports it. If you don't want to offer live preview on a specific product, you can uncheck the Let buyers preview their personalized item before buying checkbox before publishing.

To create a listing with Live Preview, pick an eligible apparel product using DTG or DTF, then publish it following the steps in How do I set up automated personalization for Etsy?

Let buyers preview their personalized item before buying checkbox when publishing an eligible product from Printify.

Note

The product must be published to Etsy directly from Printify. If you save it as a draft and set up or publish a similar listing separately on Etsy's side, Live Preview won't work correctly for that listing.

What is the buyer experience?

When live preview is enabled on a listing, buyers can:

Open the listing in Etsy.
Select variant (color & size)
Click Add personalization.
Enter their personalization details.
Click Preview your item.

Preview your item button on an Etsy listing with Live Preview enabled.

A drawer opens showing a newly rendered mockup with their text and/or image applied to the product, so they can confirm it looks right before adding it to their cart. If a buyer selects a different color than the default mockup, the preview updates to match.

Side drawer in Etsy showing a live rendered mockup of the product with the buyer's personalization details.

Are there any limitations?

Product limitations

Live preview is currently available only for select apparel products using DTG or DTF. We'll continue expanding support and will update this section as more products become eligible.

Eligible products:

Unisex Garment-Dyed Heavyweight T-Shirt | Comfort Colors 1717
Unisex Crew Neck Sweatshirt | Gildan 18000
Unisex Classic Tee | Gildan 5000
Unisex Staple T-Shirt | Bella + Canvas 3001
Unisex Heavy Blend Hoodie | Gildan 18500
Unisex Basic Softstyle T-Shirt | Gildan 64000
Youth Classic Tee | Gildan 5000B
Unisex Garment-Dyed Sweatshirt | Comfort Colors 1566
Kids Softstyle Tee | Gildan 64000B
Toddler Staple Tee | Bella + Canvas 3001T
Youth Midweight Tee | Comfort Colors 9018
Youth Staple Tee | Bella + Canvas 3001Y
Unisex Garment-Dyed Heavyweight Long Sleeve Shirt | Comfort Colors 6014
Men's Long Sleeve Shirt | Gildan 2400
Toddler's Fine Jersey Tee | Rabbit Skins 3321

Other things to note

For products with multiple print areas (front, back, side), the preview can show more than one view.
Buyers can't crop, resize, or reposition their text or image within the preview.
If a live preview can't be generated, buyers will see a standard product photo instead.
The preview includes a "Powered by Printify" label.

If you have any questions or need help, contact our Support Team.