Bol.com product image requirements are short enough to read in five minutes, which is why sellers keep losing on them. The pixel rules are easy. The rule that decides whether your photograph ever appears on the item page is not a pixel rule at all — on bol you share the page with every other seller of the same product, and an algorithm picks whose content wins. Here are the hard specifications, the rejection traps, the content rules that quietly overwrite your work, and what changed in June 2026.
Bol.com product image requirements: the hard numbers
Every figure below is published by bol in its partner and supplier documentation. These apply to the main image and to every additional image.
| Requirement | Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum dimensions | 500 × 500 pixels |
| Maximum dimensions | 6 000 × 6 000 pixels |
| Minimum file size | 30 KB |
| Maximum file size | 10 MB |
| Zoom function activates from | 1 200 × 1 200 pixels |
| Colour space | CMYK is not accepted |
| White space | does not count toward the minimum or maximum pixel dimensions |
| Duplicate images | removed — only unique images are placed online |
Two of those rows do more damage than the rest. The 500 × 500 minimum has been enforced at the API since 10 February 2022, and an upload that misses it comes back with a resolution error rather than a warning, so a feed that ships 480-pixel thumbnails fails silently in bulk. And the 1 200 × 1 200 zoom threshold is not a rule, it is a feature gate: a compliant 600 × 600 image passes validation and then sits on the page with no zoom, on a marketplace where the buyer's only way to check a detail is to magnify it.
The white-space clause is the one people misread. Padding a small photo out to 500 × 500 with white margin does not make it compliant, because the white space is excluded from the count. If your product occupies 380 pixels on a 500-pixel canvas, the measured image is 380. Reshoot or re-export from the original rather than padding — the same compression and resampling mistakes that cause product images blurry after upload are what leave sellers with nothing above 500 pixels to work with in the first place.
Main image and additional images follow two different rule sets
Bol treats the first image as a catalogue photograph and the rest as sales material. Sellers who apply the main-image rules to everything throw away the only slots where context is allowed.
| Main image | Additional images | |
|---|---|---|
| Background | white, neutral, no visible shadows | white background preferred, not mandatory |
| Models | not permitted | permitted |
| Text and statements | not permitted | promotional and service text still banned |
| Lifestyle shots | not permitted | permitted |
| Packaging | item must be out of its packaging, except board games and media carriers | permitted, provided the unpacked item is also shown |
| Views | front of the item only, never front plus side plus rear combined in one image | different perspectives and relevant details, as full-frame as possible |
| Illustrations and drawings | not permitted as the representation of the item | generic illustrations banned except in Hardware and Vehicles and Parts |
| Contents | the item, out of its box | the item and its accessories |
Bol's own guidance is to add as many images as possible showing the item from different perspectives, and it does not publish a cap. The practical limit is how many angles genuinely answer a question.
What bol bans in every image
The bol.com product image requirements do not stop at pixels and backgrounds. Read this list as an image-approval checklist rather than as background, because every entry on it has caught real listings.
- Discount labels and any promotional wording, including "buy now", "cheap" and "customisable"
- Service claims such as free shipping or extended warranty
- Watermarks, company names and company logos
- Kieskeurig and Consumentenbond stickers
- Comparisons with competitors, or references to a competing product
- Customer reviews reproduced in the image
- Generic illustrations, except in the Hardware and Vehicles and Parts categories
- Images you did not shoot and are not licensed to use — bol explicitly rules out pulling images from Google Images or from other bol pages
That last one is enforced against sellers who lift a manufacturer photo from a rival's listing on the same item page. It is the fastest way to turn a content dispute into a takedown.
The rule with no Amazon equivalent: you do not own the item page
On bol, product content is shared. One item page per product, contributed to by every partner offering it, and bol's algorithm decides whose version the customer sees. In bol's wording, the algorithm looks at partners' content, produces a score per partner, and the content from the partner with the highest score automatically appears online on the item page.
Two properties of that scoring change how you should work.
It is scored at product category level, not per item. Weak content on ten listings in a category drags down the score that decides your strong listing in the same category. There is no such thing as one flagship product page you optimise and forget.
Brand owners can opt out of the contest. Brand owners and official distributors can register their brand and take control of the content for their own branded items, which removes them from the scoring competition. If you manufacture what you sell, brand registration is worth more than another round of image edits.
For a supplier selling into the Netherlands and Belgium through resellers, that shared-page model has a blunt consequence: the photographs your distributor uploads become your product page, and you have no editorial control unless you register. The contrast with a marketplace where each seller has an isolated listing is stark — on Kaufland product image requirements the enforcement is on your own listing, and getting it wrong costs you your own traffic, not the whole item page.
Title and description rules that get your content replaced
The image rules are only half of the content score. Bol's title and description rules are unusually prescriptive, and they are written for a Dutch-language marketplace.
| Element | Rule |
|---|---|
| Title length | no more than 70 characters, including spaces |
| Title content | brand where applicable, model or type number, product category, one or two distinguishing features |
| Title bans | whole words in capitals, English words, alternative spellings or synonyms, strings of adjectives, symbols, and promotional wording such as discount, cheap, free or Father's Day |
| Description bans | references to websites, prices, claims about delivery or delivery time, and holiday or promotional framing |
| Banned sales phrases | "while stocks last", "cheap", "buy one get one free" |
| Sustainability claims | must be specific and substantiated, for example 70 % recycled material or energy-saving |
| Banned sustainability words | environmentally friendly, eco, ecological, sustainable, climate-friendly, biodegradable, emission-free, carbon-neutral and similar vague terms |
The "no English words" rule catches exporters hardest. A title written for Amazon UK and pushed to bol through a feed manager is non-compliant before anyone reads it, and a non-compliant title is a content-score problem, which is an item-page-ownership problem.
What changed in 2026: the quality score now counts returns
Bol replaced the performance score with the quality score in the buy box on Wednesday 24 June 2026. The change is bigger than a rename.
| Performance score | Quality score | |
|---|---|---|
| Service standards measured | 3 | 5 |
| Measurement window | 6 weeks | 22 weeks |
| Standards | items delivered on time, cancellations, Track and Trace | items delivered on time, cancellations, customer questions, returns, Track and Trace |
| Buy box | counted | counts from 24 June 2026 |
Returns and customer questions are the two new standards, and bol applies a dynamic target value to both, depending on the items you offer. Missing the minimum on a single standard blocks a score of 70 or higher no matter how strong the other four are. The published thresholds: 70 or higher to take part in select deals, 75 or higher for reduced strike risk, and from 1 July 2026 a growth reward that needs a quality score of at least 69 together with a delivery promise score of 60.
Read that alongside the image rules and the incentive becomes explicit. Bol has just made "how many customers sent this back" and "how many customers had to ask you something" into buy-box inputs, measured over nearly six months. The two questions that generate both are the same two questions on every marketplace: what size is it, and will it fit. Before deciding how much to spend on fixing that, price what a return actually costs you across freight, handling and unsellable stock — a return cost calculator makes the trade-off concrete instead of theoretical.
Where the dimensions go when the main image cannot carry text
Bol's main image cannot carry text, statements, logos or icons. That is not negotiable, and it means the primary photograph can never answer a size question. Everything dimensional has to live in the additional images and in the specification fields.
The prohibited list for additional images is specific about what it targets: promotional wording, service claims, watermarks, brand marks, competitor comparisons and reviews. Informational callouts — a measured length, a bowl depth, a bracket spacing — are not in that list. Field practice among sellers in dimension-heavy categories is therefore to put a clean annotated diagram in the second or third slot, free of any brand mark or sales language, and it survives review.
Making that image is where the method matters. A callout is only worth adding if the number on it is the real one: software that snaps a dimension label to the measured edge of the object and exports at the pixel size bol expects produces a figure you can defend when a customer measures the delivered item, while an AI image generator will print a plausible number onto the photograph because it is composing a caption rather than measuring anything. On a marketplace that now scores you on returns over a 22-week window, a confidently wrong number in slot two is more expensive than no number at all.
Pre-upload checklist
Run this before a bulk upload. It maps one-to-one onto the bol.com product image requirements above, in the order the failures actually happen.
- Main image at 1 200 × 1 200 pixels or larger, so zoom is available
- Product fills the frame — white padding is excluded from the pixel count
- File between 30 KB and 10 MB, exported in RGB, never CMYK
- Main image on a white neutral background with no visible shadows, item out of its packaging
- No models, text, logos, icons or watermarks anywhere on the main image
- Main image shows the front only, not a combined front, side and rear composite
- Additional images carry the perspectives and detail shots, with a dimension diagram in an early slot
- No promotional wording, service claims, competitor comparisons or review screenshots in any image
- Every image is your own or licensed — nothing lifted from another listing
- Title at 70 characters or fewer, in Dutch, with no capitals, symbols or promotional words
- Sustainability claims quantified, or removed
FAQ
What size should a bol.com product image be?
At least 500 × 500 pixels and at most 6 000 × 6 000 pixels, with a file size between 30 KB and 10 MB. Aim for 1 200 × 1 200 pixels or larger, because that is the threshold at which bol's zoom function becomes available. White space is excluded from the measurement, so an image padded out to meet the minimum will still be rejected.
Why was my bol.com image rejected?
The most common causes are a resolution below 500 × 500, a CMYK colour profile, text or a logo on the main image, a coloured or shadowed background where a white neutral one is required, or a promotional element such as a discount label or a free-shipping claim. Bol has enforced the 500 × 500 minimum at the API since February 2022, and a feed upload that misses it returns a resolution error.
Can I put text on a bol.com product image?
Not on the main image — bol prohibits text, statements, logos, icons and watermarks there. On additional images the published prohibitions cover promotional wording, service claims, watermarks, company logos, competitor comparisons and customer reviews. Informational annotation such as a dimension callout is not on that list, and sellers in size-sensitive categories routinely use it in the second or third slot.
Who decides which images appear on a bol.com item page?
Bol's content algorithm does. It scores each partner's content and publishes the content from the partner with the highest score, assessed at product category level rather than per item. Brand owners and official distributors can bypass the contest through brand registration and take control of the content for their own branded items.
Do returns affect the bol.com buy box?
Yes, since 24 June 2026. The quality score replaced the performance score in the buy box on that date, and it measures five service standards instead of three, over 22 weeks instead of six. Returns and customer questions are the two additions, each with a dynamic target value based on the items you sell.
Next steps
Three moves, in the order that pays back fastest.
- Audit resolution before anything else. Pull your bol feed and flag every image below 1 200 × 1 200. Zoom is the single largest gap between a compliant listing and a useful one, and it costs nothing but a re-export from the originals.
- Decide whether you are competing for the item page or exiting the contest. If you own the brand, register it. If you do not, your content score is a category-level average, so fix the weakest listings first rather than polishing your best one.
- Put the dimensional answer in an early image slot. That can be a photographer's job, an in-house designer's job, or a dimension annotation tool that measures against the object and exports at the marketplace's pixel spec — the requirement is that the number is measured rather than estimated, because from June 2026 the returns it prevents are scored in the buy box.
Sources & References
- bol Partner Platform — these rules apply to your images
- bol Partner Platform — optimise your images, main image and additional image rules
- bol Supplier Platform — add or change an image per item, technical requirements
- bol Developer Portal — product image restrictions, 500 × 500 minimum enforced from 10 February 2022
- bol Partner Platform — these rules apply to your content, including sustainability claims
- bol Partner Platform — write a good title, 70-character limit and prohibited elements
- bol Partner Platform — writing content, the content score and brand registration
- bol Partner Platform — from performance score to quality score, the five service standards
- bol Developer Portal — from 24 June the quality score replaces the performance score in the buy box