As creative tools evolve, Etsy are clarifying policies to protect creativity and self-expression with new Etsy’s Creativity Standards. They are also starting to enhance the shopping experience to help shoppers understand seller’s role in product creation. Reading between the lines… it means Etsy want to highlight products that are made by humans, not simply AI creations or mass produced tat.
Etsy have restructured their House Rules to include Etsy’s Creativity Standards. These lay out distinctive categories of unique items that can be sold in our marketplace, based on the seller’s role.
Etsy’s Creativity Standards
Reflecting the evolving creative world we live in, Etsy believe the following policy categories help to protect and strengthen the magic of Etsy:
- Made by a seller: Physical items crafted, altered, or assembled by a seller, by hand or using tools they own (e.g., a 3D printer or Cricut machine)
- Designed by a seller: Original designs by a seller (or seller-prompted AI art) offered as a digital download or produced/printed by a third-party
- Sourced by a seller: Items that enable buyer creativity, such as craft supplies, party decorations, and items buyers can personalise and print on demand
- Handpicked by a seller: Vintage items, items from nature, and certain collections of items selected/curated by a seller
In addition to their Creativity Standards, Etsy have extensive policies designed to keep our users safe and the marketplace special, including specific criteria for using production partners. Etsy have also evolved policies as new areas emerge for creativity, such as taking a clearer stance on the world of AI. Etsy do allow AI-generated art where a seller utilises their unique creative lens and abilities, in addition to being transparent about their process. (See “Designed by a seller” above.) However, they do not allow items that simply offer packages of prompts.
Highlighting sellers’ work in the shopping experience
On listing pages, Etsy now include one of the following item details:
- Made by: Items in the “Made by a seller” policy category.
- Designed by: Items in the “Designed by a seller” policy category – along with items buyers can personalise and print on demand (in the “Sourced by a seller” policy).
- Sourced by: Items in the “Sourced by a seller” policy category – with the exception of items buyers can personalise and print on demand. (See “Designed by” in the bullet above.) Note that craft and party supplies have an additional descriptor, too.
- Handpicked by: Items in the “Handpicked by a seller” policy category. Note that vintage items also have a second vintage descriptor, including the year of origin.
The good news is that Etsy have taken a pragmatic approach and not dumped a load of categorisation work on sellers. No action is needed for this item-detail rollout. Etsy have used existing data to begin testing.
However, having more detailed information about your processes will ultimately help them iterate on and refine item details going forward. That’s why, there is now an expanded set of options in the listing form to communicate how an item is made, the tools used, and other process details. For now, these listing-form additions don’t change what buyers see and won’t impact the placement of your listings on search.
Etsy are now working on enabling buyers to browse and narrow inventory more easily as it relates to the seller’s work and item category, so although there’s nothing for you to do at the moment, as you list new products and revise existing listings it will be worth ensuring they are correctly catgeorised.