Background Removal on MacBook for Ebay photos

Once a picture is loaded into an editor the file format doesn't matter.

The simplest, fastest, least number of steps option is to use Quick Actions. In Finder you right click on an image file to get a popup menu

and choose Quick Actions>Remove Background. It produces a new file, same size as the old one, with the background removed.

This is pretty clever stuff doing some pretty hard work. The background needs to be pretty obviously the background. I tried this on a number of pictures, and it seems to work well, but if the background isn't clear, I just get a "bong" -- means "no," I guess.

Anita 627:

Control (right) - click on the photo in the Finder and select Remove Background from the Quick Actions options like in my animated screenshot above.

You could also try using the Clips app on the iPhone to remove the background then make the transfer to your Mac. (Remove background command is under the three dots in the top right in Clips)

Anita627 wrote: Ok, maybe I'm stupid,

It's pretty clear that's not so.

but I'm editing photos taken with iPhone on my MacBook.

I think one thing that's confusing is that we don't get how you are transferring these pictures to the Mac. With either iCloud or in transfers using Finder the transfer goes to the Photos app, but you are referring to Preview. I had guessed that you used the app Image Capture to transfer your pictures to Finder folders, but apparently (once again) I shouldn't have guessed!

If you're in Photos then you can use the menu "Image>Edit with" and choose Preview. Is that what you're doing? Or something else?

The other option with the Photos app is to use "File>Export>Export nn Photos" or "File>Export>Export>Export Unmodified Originals," both of which can send pictures to a folder you choose in Finder. Then you can open them in Preview or just use the Quick Actions we talked about before.

The remove background tool is greyed out when I try to edit in preview, and I can't figure out how to open them with finder. They don't seem to show up.

That doesn't happen for me with any of those methods. Can you let us know the details of your workflow?

If you haven't already, try restarting the computer. Another thing you can try is a Safe restart.

This bypasses certain potentially disruptive processes, and it often helps. Safe Mode is different for different computers, so see this: 

           Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support 

The following is an example of Richard's recommendation of using the Finder and its Quick Actions ➙ Remove Background:

Anita627 wrote:

Ok, maybe I'm stupid, but I'm editing photos taken with iPhone on my MacBook. The remove background tool is greyed out when I try to edit in preview, and I can't figure out how to open them with finder. They don't seem to show up.

If the photo is in your Photos library export the original to the Desktop. If it's somewhere else move it to the Desktop. There Control (right) - click on the image and follow the previous instructions.