When using AI for product images, the fail isn’t usually about whether the picture looks good—it’s about whether it’s still the same product. Generative models love to take liberties: the bottle cap’s threads get changed, the logo blurs out, the texture goes from matte to glossy, the color shifts half a shade off. The more polished the image, the more dangerous these subtle distortions are, because you won’t notice them unless you look closely.
Once it’s actually listed, customers get the real item and it doesn’t match—worst case, returns or complaints. For product images now, I always start with real photos as the base, and only use AI for swapping backgrounds, fixing lighting, or creating scenes. I never let it generate the main subject from scratch. Looking good is a bonus, but matching the actual product is the bare minimum to pass.