You priced twelve sizes in your shop settings. You publish a poster and Etsy shows two. Nothing is broken. Your file has one shape, and only two of your sizes have that shape.
This trips up most sellers who make their artwork in Midjourney, because Midjourney's portrait default is 3:4 and very few standard print sizes are 3:4.
Print sizes come in shapes, not just sizes
Every print size has a width-to-height ratio. Sizes with the same ratio are just bigger or smaller versions of each other, so one file covers all of them. Sizes with different ratios need different files.
| Shape | Sizes |
|---|---|
| A series (1:1.41) | A5, A4, A3, A2, A1, A0, and 50x70cm |
| 2:3 | 12x18, 16x24, 20x30, 24x36 |
| 3:4 | 18x24, 24x32 |
| 4:5 | 8x10, 16x20 (11x14 is close) |
| Square | 10x10, 12x12, 20x20 and so on |
A 3:4 Midjourney poster fits the 3:4 row and nothing else. If you also sell the A sizes, 2:3 and 4:5, most of your price list can't be printed from that file.
Why the printer won't just make it fit
The printer has three ways to put a 3:4 image on A3 paper:
- Stretch it. Circles become ovals and faces get longer. Buyers notice.
- Crop it. The printer picks what to cut. If your text or subject is near an edge, it goes.
- Leave white space. You get an uneven margin you didn't design.
Print-on-demand services such as PrintShrimp reject a file whose shape doesn't match the size it's sold as, for exactly this reason. That's why a good listing tool only offers the sizes your file fits. You don't want to find out from a customer's photo.
Crop or border: choosing for each shape
To sell the other sizes you need a version of the poster for each shape. There are two honest ways to make one.
Crop fills the new shape and trims the overflow. From 3:4 to an A size you lose about 6% from the sides. To 2:3 you lose about 11%. To 4:5, about 6% from the top and bottom. Crop when the edges are background: sky, sea, a plain wall, texture. Choose which part to keep, not just the centre. A landscape with the subject on the left should lose its right edge.
Border keeps the whole artwork and fills the extra space with a plain margin. Use it when the subject or text runs to the edges, or when the poster has a deliberate frame. It also suits gallery-style and minimalist prints, where a margin looks intentional. Pick a colour from the artwork rather than defaulting to white if the poster is dark.
You can choose differently for each shape. Crop is often fine for A sizes, which are only slightly taller than 3:4, while 2:3 is far enough off that a border is often safer. Square artwork is a bigger jump again; mounting square art covers that case.
Put the text on last, at print size
If your poster has text, such as a place name, a date or a quote, add it after the poster has its final shape and size, not before.
Text drawn on a small file and then enlarged prints with soft, fuzzy edges. Text drawn at full print resolution, 300 DPI at the size it's sold, prints with crisp edges, as close to vector as a print file gets. For 24x32 that's 7200 by 9600 pixels. The print resolution guide explains the numbers, and always mastering at the biggest size you sell explains why you size down, never up.
Text should also move with the shape. A title placed 88% of the way down a 3:4 poster should sit 88% of the way down the A3 version, not at a fixed pixel position that ends up in the wrong place.
Keep files under the upload limit
A 7200x9600 PNG of a photographic poster can pass the 50 MB limit most print services set. A high-quality JPEG (quality 95) of the same file is usually a fraction of that. The text still prints cleanly, because it was drawn at that resolution rather than scaled up to it.
How PSDmate does this
In Poster text, the Sizes panel previews your poster at every shape you've priced in Listing Defaults. For each shape you pick Crop, Border or Off. With Crop you drag the preview to choose what stays, and with Border you pick the margin colour.
When you publish, PSDmate makes one print file per shape at 300 DPI, with your text drawn at that resolution. The Etsy listing then offers every size those files cover, not just the two your original file fits.
The short version
- One file per shape, not per size. Five shapes cover almost every standard poster size.
- Crop when the edges are background, border when they matter.
- Choose what the crop keeps.
- Add text last, at 300 DPI, so it prints sharp.
- Save print files as quality-95 JPEG to stay under upload limits.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my Etsy listing only show some of my print sizes?
Every size in a listing is printed from a file, and a file has one shape. A 3:4 artwork fits 18x24 and 24x32 exactly, but an A3 is taller and an 8x10 is wider, so the printer would have to cut or stretch it. A tool that only lists the sizes your file actually fits is protecting you from orders that print wrong. To offer the other sizes, you need a version of the poster made for each shape.
Which print sizes share the same shape?
The A series (A5 to A0) is one shape, 1:1.41, and 50x70cm is close enough to print from the same file. 18x24 and 24x32 are 3:4. 12x18, 16x24, 20x30 and 24x36 are 2:3. 8x10 and 16x20 are 4:5, and 11x14 is close to it. Squares are their own shape. One file per shape covers every size in that group.
Should I crop my poster or add a border for other sizes?
Crop when the edges of the artwork are background, such as sky, sea, a plain wall or texture, because trimming them costs nothing. Use a border when the subject reaches the edges, when there is text near the edge, or when the poster has a deliberate frame that cropping would cut. A plain border also suits minimalist and gallery-style prints, where a margin looks intentional.
How much of the artwork does cropping remove?
Going from 3:4 to an A size trims about 6% off the sides. From 3:4 to 2:3 it is about 11%, and from 3:4 to 4:5 about 6% off the top and bottom. The further apart the two shapes, the more you lose, which is why it helps to choose what stays rather than always cutting from the centre.
What resolution should a poster print file be?
300 DPI at the size it is sold. For 24x32 inches that is 7200 by 9600 pixels. Text matters most: lettering drawn at print resolution prints with clean edges, while text drawn on a small file and enlarged prints soft. If your artwork is smaller, enlarge it before adding the text, not after.