If you’re building a brand store on Shopify, Amazon, eBay, or your own website, the image you project matters just as much as the product you sell. Yet many sellers start their journey by using raw product photos from AliExpress or 1688, complete with supplier logos, text overlays, timestamps, inconsistent lighting, and cluttered backgrounds.
Poorly cleaned supplier images can reduce trust, lower conversions, and even violate marketplace image standards.
Deep dive into the most effective techniques to clean up AliExpress and 1688 images, from removing unwanted text or watermarks to improving backgrounds, lighting, and resolution, so you can build a polished, trustworthy brand store your customers actually want to buy from.
The silent conversion killer: Unedited/Raw supplier images from AliExpress/1688
At first glance, using images directly from AliExpress or 1688 feels convenient. The product is already photographed, the angles are there, and it saves you time and effort. But what many sellers don’t realize is that these images were created for suppliers, not for brands, and that difference matters a lot when you’re trying to build trust and convert customers.
Most supplier images are filled with elements that instantly make your store look less professional. You’ll often see bold promotional text, random Chinese characters, watermarks, store logos, or even camera timestamps sitting right on top of the product. Instead of showcasing your brand, these visuals scream “reseller” or “dropshipper,” and that’s not the impression you want to leave.
Supplier images frequently come with awkward lighting, mismatched tones, noisy backgrounds, or poorly cropped compositions. Some pictures are overly edited with exaggerated colors, while others look dull and flat. When customers scroll through your store and see this level of inconsistency, it subtly signals that the business is not polished or reliable.
Modern shoppers are smart. They can instantly recognize “AliExpress-looking” photos, and once that happens, trust drops dramatically. Instead of thinking “this is a brand,” they think “this is just another cheap product from a Chinese marketplace.” That mindset alone is enough to hurt conversions, reduce willingness to pay, and increase bounce rates.
Beyond perception, there are also platform and compliance risks. Marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Shopify stores integrated with major ad platforms have visual standards. If your images show third-party branding, copyrighted watermarks, or irrelevant overlays, you risk disapproval, lower ranking, or losing advertising effectiveness entirely.
How to clean up images from AliExpress/1688
Cleaning supplier images isn’t about heavy graphic design or turning yourself into a Photoshop expert. It’s about making smart, targeted improvements that remove anything that damages trust while keeping the product clear and attractive.
Remove supplier logos, text, and watermarks
One of the first, and most important, steps in cleaning up AliExpress or 1688 images is removing anything that ties the product back to a supplier. This includes factory logos, promotional badges, random English or Chinese text, camera timestamps, and watermarks layered across the image. To a shopper, visible supplier markings signal that the store is reselling generic products rather than offering a curated, professional brand experience.
This is where AI-powered cleanup tools make a big difference. Instead of manually retouching images in Photoshop or trying to crop around logos (often ruining composition), tools like DrWatermark can intelligently detect and remove unwanted text, logos, and watermarks while preserving the original background and texture. The AI analyzes what’s behind the overlay and reconstructs it naturally, so the result doesn’t look patched or artificial.
The process is simple: upload the supplier image, let the AI identify the unwanted elements, and generate a clean version that looks ready for a professional store. This is especially useful when dealing with multiple product images or large catalogs, where manual editing would be time-consuming and inconsistent.
Fix AliExpress/1688 products' photo backgrounds and improve overall image quality
For professional brand stores, the background should support the product, not compete with it. Clean, white, or neutral backgrounds are ideal for main listing images, especially on platforms like Amazon, which require a pure white background. For lifestyle images, the setting should feel intentional and aligned with your brand, not accidental or cluttered. When backgrounds are inconsistent across products, your store loses visual cohesion and credibility.
In addition to background cleanup, image quality enhancements matter just as much. Supplier images often suffer from dull colors, low contrast, or slight blur due to compression. AI enhancement tools can correct color balance, improve sharpness, and subtly enhance lighting, making the product appear closer to how it would in a professional studio shoot, without appearing over-edited or artificial.
Read more: 5 images mistakes that lead low conversion on Amazon or eBay
Standardize images for a consistent brand look
One of the biggest giveaways of a reseller or dropshipping store is inconsistency: different backgrounds, mismatched lighting, varying product sizes, and uneven framing across listings. Even if each image looks “okay” on its own, the store as a whole feels unprofessional.
Professional brand stores prioritize visual consistency. This means products are framed similarly, scaled to comparable sizes, and presented with the same background style and color tone across all images.
Standardization doesn’t mean every image has to look identical. A strong strategy is to combine clean white-background images for clarity and compliance with lifestyle images for emotional appeal. The key is consistency in how those images are styled, similar lighting, similar angles, and a uniform editing approach. When done right, customers recognize your brand’s look instantly, even before reading the product title.
Cleaning up images from AliExpress or 1688 is a critical step in building a professional, trustworthy brand store. Raw supplier photos may be convenient, but they often signal low quality and hurt buyer confidence, conversions, and even platform approval.
By removing watermarks and supplier logos, fixing backgrounds, correcting colors, and keeping your visuals consistent, you transform generic product images into brand assets that actually sell. The good news is that with modern AI tools and a clear workflow, this process is no longer slow or technical.
If you want your store to look like a real brand, not just another reseller or dropshipping, start with your images. Clean, polished visuals set the foundation for trust, higher conversion rates, and long-term growth.
