User-Generated Content on Shopify: Collect, Permit, Display
User-generated content on a Shopify store, customer photos and videos of your products, comes from three places: review apps that let buyers attach photos, social posts that tag your brand, and photos customers send you by email or chat. Using any of it on your store needs the customer’s permission, even when the post is public, and a record that you have it. Show it where it helps the next shopper decide: in reviews on the product page, in a gallery section, or, with written permission, in the product’s own media.
Where UGC comes from
| Source | What you get | Permission |
|---|---|---|
| Review apps with photo and video reviews | Photos and videos attached to a review | Covered by the app’s review terms that the customer accepts; check them |
| Shop product reviews | Star ratings and comments from buyers; photos and videos only from supported partner review apps | Shop’s review guidelines |
| Social posts that tag you | Photos and videos on Instagram, TikTok and others | You need the creator’s permission to reuse them |
| Photos customers send you | Images by email or in support conversations | Ask explicitly before using them anywhere public |
Shopify’s Shop product reviews page, read on October 23, 2026, says buyers who purchase through Shop or your online store can leave a 1 to 5 star rating and a comment after delivery, and that reviews collected by a supported third-party review app can also show on Shop, including images or videos for eligible reviews. Photo reviews on your own product pages come from the review app you use; the options are compared in product review apps.
Get permission and keep a record
A public post does not give you a license to reuse it. To repost a customer’s photo on your store, in an ad or in an email, ask the person who took it, and keep the answer. A simple process:
- Ask in writing, in the comments of the post or by direct message, with the exact use: “May we show your photo on our product page and in our emails? We’ll credit you as @handle.”
- Keep the record: the post link, the creator’s handle, the date, the words of their yes, and the uses you asked for. A shared spreadsheet is enough; add a column for “removed on request”.
- Credit the creator the way you promised.
- Respect a withdrawal. If someone asks you to take a photo down, remove it from the store, emails and ads, and note the date.
- Be careful with people and children. A photo that shows a person’s face, a child or a home interior carries more privacy risk; ask specifically for that use, or crop.
Photos of people are personal data under privacy laws such as the GDPR, which affects how you store them and answer deletion requests; see GDPR. This is general information, not legal advice.
Show it on your store
- In reviews: The review app shows photos with the review text. That keeps the photo in its context, as a buyer’s opinion.
- In a gallery section: A “customers wearing it” or “in real homes” section on the product page or home page, usually from a UGC or review app, collects the best photos in one place.
- In product media: With written permission for that use, add the photo in the Media section of the product’s page (Products, then select the product), after your studio photos. Shopify’s product media page recommends square images around 2048 × 2048 px and one aspect ratio for main images, so crop customer photos to match.
- In emails and ads: Ask for those uses separately; permission for the product page does not cover a paid ad.
Choose photos that show what studio photos cannot: the product at real scale, in daylight, on different bodies or in different rooms. Other catalog and store guides are in the running a store hub.
Frequently asked questions
Can I repost a customer’s Instagram photo? You can once the creator gives written permission for that use; keep the record and give the credit you agreed. Public posting on Instagram does not give a brand the right to reuse the photo on its store or in ads.
Do review photos need permission? Photos submitted through a review app are covered by the terms the customer accepted when submitting the review, so check what those terms allow. Using a review photo outside the review widget, for example in an ad, needs separate permission.
Does UGC help SEO? Customer photos and review text add original content to product pages that otherwise repeat the manufacturer’s text. Write alt text for any customer photo you add to product media, as you would for your own.