Abstract: The subject invention automatically generates a listing for an item to be sold on a marketplace, by maintaining a library of motifs, where a motif corresponds to a category of products and specifies attributes, and rules for automatically generating a generic listing, receiving at least one photo of an item to be sold, automatically determining a category of products to which the item belongs, based solely on the photos, selecting a motif that corresponds to the determined category, obtaining values for attributes specified by the selected motif, and automatically creating a generic listing.