Common Policy Violations to Avoid

Friendly disclaimer: If you list products for sale on Etsy, you must comply with all federal, state, and local legal requirements and Etsy policies applicable to those products and product listings. This article provides a general overview of intellectual property for informational purposes only, is subject to change over time, and is not legal advice. It is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, a lawyer-client relationship. The authors, Etsy, Inc. and Etsy Ireland UC, disclaim all responsibility for any and all losses, damages, or causes of action that may arise or be connected with the use of or reliance on these materials. Please consult an lawyer or tax expert if you have any questions.

At Etsy, we value transparency. Transparency as a seller means that you honestly and accurately represent yourself, your items, and your business. And a big part of transparency for Etsy as a marketplace means being clear with our seller community about our policies and enforcement actions.

Our Handmade Policy outlines the requirements for sellers on the marketplace, including the importance of transparency about your business. Etsy doesn't screen every listing before sellers publish them, meaning that from time to time you may come across listings that do not qualify for our marketplace. When sellers sign up to sell on Etsy, they agree to follow our policies. It's each seller's responsibility to make sure their shop and its items are compliant with Etsy's policies.

We understand it can be surprising to hear from us about items that do not meet Etsy's policies. Our team reviews many items and shops daily, and we reach out to members all the time about what qualifies for sale.

We also have automated systems in place to protect the safety and security of the Etsy marketplace. These systems are monitored by Etsy employees and we are always working to improve the accuracy of these systems.

Throughout 2022, we’ll continue building on last year’s roughly 40 million USD investment in the teams and technology that help make our marketplace a safe and secure destination for handmade, vintage, and special items. This includes expanding our efforts to remove listings that don't meet our policies and help you resolve issues with buyers.

In this article, we’ll cover some of the most frequent issues that lead to listing takedowns, including reselling, counterfeit items, and intellectual property infringement.

Reselling

“Reselling” is selling an item that you, the seller, did not make or design. Our marketplace includes handmade items, vintage items, and craft supplies. Reselling is only allowed in the vintage and craft supplies categories.

Examples of prohibited reselling include the following:

Creatively repackaging commercial items (for example a gift basket consisting of exclusively non-handmade items)
Curating a collection of others’ handmade goods that you did not design or make
Selling items made or designed by someone who is not part of your shop
Selling traditional handicrafts or fair trade items that you did not design or make

Tips for transparency

Add shop members. If your shop has multiple people, you must disclose the role for each of your shop members in your About section. There you can explain how each shop member contributes to the day-to-day running of your business. Learn about adding shop members to your About section.
Build trust in listing photos. Your listing photos play an important role in providing transparency and building trust with buyers. Listing images must be of the item itself, not a rendering or stock photo. Learn more about listing image requirements here.

Counterfeit

Counterfeit or unauthorised items are prohibited on Etsy. We consider counterfeit or unauthorised goods to be items that imitate an authentic good, particularly by using a brand’s name, logo, or protected design without the brand owner’s consent.

Examples of prohibited counterfeit or unauthorised goods include replica luxury and non-luxury items like bags and branded apparel. You can learn more about these types of prohibited items here.

Vintage vs non-vintage

For an item to be considered vintage on Etsy, it must be at least 20 years old.

When selling vintage clothing, you can use the brand name in the title, tags and description to describe the item. However, if you’re not sure of the brand, don’t guess. Never tag items with a specific luxury brand to illustrate the quality of your handmade jewellery. Similarly, don’t use the name of an artist or designer who may inspire you to advertise your item. The same rule applies to using the title of a television show or a popular film in titles and tags, since it may confuse buyers. Learn more about the policies for selling vintage items on Etsy here.

Tips for transparency

When listing vintage items, think about reflecting the following information in your listing description to build trust with buyers.

Where do your vintage items come from? How do you source them?
How did you determine the age of an item?
Who is the designer? Which of their collections is this item from? What year did that collection debut?
For clothing: What fabric is the garment made of? Does the garment have a brand label or care instructions? What material do the zip or buttons appear to be made of?

Intellectual Property Infringement

Intellectual property (IP) is a type of property for which creators and makers have certain ownership rights. Different intellectual property terms like copyright, trademark, and patent mean different things, and one item can have multiple types of IP.

If you received a report of intellectual property infringement, this means an intellectual property owner (or an agent authorised by them) notified Etsy that they believe certain content in your Etsy shop infringes their intellectual property. We comply with our Intellectual Property Policy by deactivating the identified listings. The automated email you received should outline which listings were removed at the request of the intellectual property owner (or an agent authorised by them).

Read 5 Common Questions About Intellectual Property on Etsy to learn more.

I see a similar item on Etsy. Can I sell it, too?

Many sellers write to us saying that they’ve searched Etsy for a certain item to determine if they could sell similar items. Others say that they created the listing using materials purchased from Etsy. These are not reliable tests.

Etsy is a venue comprised of third-party content generated by our sellers. An Etsy seller may post content that’s not authorised and it may be visible on our site until we receive an infringement report or is otherwise removed.