diff --git a/frontend/src/admin/Admin.tsx b/frontend/src/admin/Admin.tsx
index bee99d4..ab5daef 100755
--- a/frontend/src/admin/Admin.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/admin/Admin.tsx
@@ -214,7 +214,10 @@ function Inventory() {
    * The response replaces the open modal's images rather than being trusted to
    * have changed nothing else. The editor is a modal and this changes files on
    * the server while it is open, so without a refresh the thumbnails keep
-   * showing the previous files and the button looks like it did nothing.
+   * showing the previous files and the button looks like it did nothing. That
+   * holds even when the server answers something other than 200: a restore
+   * that fails partway can still have swapped some files back before it did,
+   * so the refresh below runs whether the call succeeded or not.
    */
   async function handleBackgrounds(itemId: number, action: 'remove-backgrounds' | 'restore-originals') {
     const label = action === 'remove-backgrounds' ? 'remove backgrounds' : 'restore originals';
@@ -223,24 +226,26 @@ function Inventory() {
       const res = await fetch(`/api/admin/items/${itemId}/${action}`, { method: 'POST' });
       if (!res.ok) {
         message.error('That did not work.');
-        return;
-      }
-      const summary = await res.json();
-
-      if (action === 'remove-backgrounds' && summary.failed) {
-        // Said plainly rather than as a generic failure. How far it got is what
-        // decides whether pressing it again is worth anything, and it is —
-        // a retry skips the ones that already worked.
-        message.warning(`${summary.removed} of ${summary.total} photos done. Try again to finish.`);
       } else {
-        message.success('Done.');
+        const summary = await res.json();
+        const done = action === 'remove-backgrounds' ? summary.removed : summary.restored;
+
+        if (summary.failed) {
+          // Said plainly rather than as a generic failure. How far it got is
+          // what decides whether pressing it again is worth anything, and it
+          // is — a retry skips the ones that already worked.
+          message.warning(`${done} of ${summary.total} photos done. Try again to finish.`);
+        } else {
+          message.success('Done.');
+        }
       }
 
       // Re-read the list through load() — same as every other mutation here —
       // so a filtered view survives this, then pick this item's fresh images
       // back out of it for the open modal. The item's own filtered fields
       // (category, tags, status, search) are untouched by a background swap,
-      // so it stays in the result whenever it was in it before.
+      // so it stays in the result whenever it was in it before. Run for a
+      // failed response too — see the doc comment above.
       const rows = await load();
       const updated = rows?.find(candidate => candidate.id === itemId);
       if (updated) setEditingItem(prev => (prev && prev.id === itemId ? updated : prev));
@@ -381,24 +386,47 @@ function Inventory() {
                     </div>
                   ))}
                 </Space>
-                {(backgroundRemoval || editingItem.images.every(img => img.original_image_path !== null)) && (
-                  <div style={{ marginTop: 8 }}>
-                    <Button
-                      size="small"
-                      loading={busyBackgrounds}
-                      onClick={() => void handleBackgrounds(
-                        editingItem.id,
-                        editingItem.images.every(img => img.original_image_path !== null)
-                          ? 'restore-originals'
-                          : 'remove-backgrounds'
-                      )}
-                    >
-                      {editingItem.images.every(img => img.original_image_path !== null)
-                        ? 'Restore originals'
-                        : 'Remove backgrounds'}
-                    </Button>
-                  </div>
-                )}
+                {(() => {
+                  // `!= null` rather than `!== null`: original_image_path is
+                  // optional on the shared Item type (it is absent from the
+                  // public storefront response), so a stray `undefined` has to
+                  // count as "not cut out" too — `undefined !== null` is `true`,
+                  // which would misread a public-shaped item as fully cut out.
+                  const allCutOut = editingItem.images.every(img => img.original_image_path != null);
+                  const someCutOut = editingItem.images.some(img => img.original_image_path != null);
+                  // Remove and Restore are independent, not two labels for one
+                  // button: a partly cut-out item — a partial removal's normal
+                  // result, or REMBG_URL going away after the fact — needs both,
+                  // or the cut-out photos it already has can never be restored
+                  // from this screen (#293).
+                  const showRemove = backgroundRemoval && !allCutOut;
+                  const showRestore = someCutOut;
+                  if (!showRemove && !showRestore) return null;
+                  return (
+                    <div style={{ marginTop: 8 }}>
+                      <Space>
+                        {showRemove && (
+                          <Button
+                            size="small"
+                            loading={busyBackgrounds}
+                            onClick={() => void handleBackgrounds(editingItem.id, 'remove-backgrounds')}
+                          >
+                            Remove backgrounds
+                          </Button>
+                        )}
+                        {showRestore && (
+                          <Button
+                            size="small"
+                            loading={busyBackgrounds}
+                            onClick={() => void handleBackgrounds(editingItem.id, 'restore-originals')}
+                          >
+                            Restore originals
+                          </Button>
+                        )}
+                      </Space>
+                    </div>
+                  );
+                })()}
               </Form.Item>
             )}
             <Form.Item label={editingItem ? 'Add More Images' : 'Images (front, back, etc.)'}>
diff --git a/frontend/tests/e2e/admin-item-backgrounds.spec.ts b/frontend/tests/e2e/admin-item-backgrounds.spec.ts
index 7f374b8..b5a4070 100644
--- a/frontend/tests/e2e/admin-item-backgrounds.spec.ts
+++ b/frontend/tests/e2e/admin-item-backgrounds.spec.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { test, expect, createAdminContext, uniqueSuffix } from './fixtures';
+import { test, expect, createAdminContext, createCategory, uniqueSuffix } from './fixtures';
 
 /**
  * The per-item background control in the inventory editor (#293).
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ import { test, expect, createAdminContext, uniqueSuffix } from './fixtures';
  */
 const RUN = uniqueSuffix();
 const NAME = `Vase ${RUN}`;
+// A category of its own, not shared: it exists only so filterByCategory below
+// has something unique to narrow the table down to, the same way
+// admin-inventory-filters.spec.ts uses one per run.
+const CATEGORY = `Backgrounds ${RUN}`;
 
 // The 1x1 PNG the other upload specs use, so this goes through the real
 // validated upload path rather than a buffer that merely starts correctly.
@@ -27,6 +31,7 @@ const PNG = Buffer.from(
 
 test.beforeAll(async ({ playwright }) => {
   const api = await createAdminContext(playwright);
+  const categoryId = await createCategory(api, CATEGORY);
   // Seeded with an image directly: createItem cannot attach one, and the
   // control does not render for an item with no photos.
   const res = await api.post('/api/admin/items', {
@@ -34,7 +39,7 @@ test.beforeAll(async ({ playwright }) => {
       name: NAME,
       description: '',
       price: '50',
-      category_id: '',
+      category_id: String(categoryId),
       tags: '[]',
       images: { name: `${RUN}.png`, mimeType: 'image/png', buffer: PNG }
     }
@@ -44,10 +49,17 @@ test.beforeAll(async ({ playwright }) => {
 });
 
 test.describe('Removing backgrounds from the item editor', () => {
-  test('offers the control on an item that has photos', async ({ page, admin }) => {
+  test('offers the control on an item that has photos', async ({ page, admin, adminInventory }) => {
     await admin.open('Inventory');
 
-    await page.getByRole('row', { name: new RegExp(NAME) }).getByRole('button', { name: 'Edit' }).click();
+    // The table paginates at 10 and this suite runs fullyParallel, so an
+    // unfiltered page 1 is not a reliable place to find this fixture — see
+    // AdminInventory.filterByCategory. Filtering to this item's own category
+    // narrows the table down to just it, the way admin-inventory-filters.spec.ts
+    // does.
+    await adminInventory.filterByCategory(CATEGORY, NAME);
+
+    await adminInventory.row(NAME).getByRole('button', { name: 'Edit' }).click();
 
     await expect(page.getByRole('button', { name: 'Remove backgrounds' })).toBeVisible();
   });