Overview

Error 20017 is a product listing error that Amazon sellers encounter when an image URL they've submitted has been blocked by the hosting website due to policy or copyright restrictions. While not a critical account-level issue, this error can delay listing creation and updates, making it important for sellers to understand the cause and how to resolve it quickly.

Key Points / What Sellers Need to Know

• Root cause — The image-hosting service where your product photo is stored has blocked Amazon from accessing the image, typically due to hotlinking restrictions, copyright policies, or changes in the host's terms of service.
• Common trigger — Third-party image hosting platforms such as Photobucket, Imgur, and similar services periodically update their policies around external linking, which can suddenly break image URLs that previously worked.
• Resolution — You need to replace the blocked image URL with a new one hosted on a service that permits external access, then resubmit your product listing.
• Prevention — Uploading images directly through Seller Central rather than relying on external URLs eliminates this category of error entirely.

Why This Error Occurs

When you submit a product listing with an image URL, Amazon's systems attempt to fetch and process the image from the external server. If that server returns an access-denied response — whether due to hotlink protection, copyright takedown, or updated terms of service — Amazon cannot retrieve the image and returns Error 20017. This is distinct from errors caused by invalid URLs or unsupported file formats. The image itself may be perfectly valid, but the hosting platform is actively preventing Amazon from downloading it. Sellers who rely on third-party hosting services are particularly vulnerable to this issue, as those services can change their external linking policies at any time without advance notice.

How to Resolve Error 20017

The fix for this error is straightforward. First, identify the affected listing by checking the error report in your inventory management dashboard. Next, obtain or re-upload your product image to a hosting source that allows external access. The most reliable approach is to upload images directly through the Seller Central listing editor, which stores them on Amazon's own servers and avoids third-party dependency altogether. If you prefer using external URLs, ensure the hosting service explicitly permits hotlinking and that the image URL points directly to the image file rather than to a webpage containing the image. After updating the image URL, resubmit your product information through your preferred method — whether that is the listing editor, a flat file upload, or an API call.