Etsy is committed to seller creativity with new standards and campaigns

Etsy promotes creativity and authenticity in its goods.

Etsy Inc. returns to its original mission of being an online marketplace for unique, handmade, and/or vintage items.

Online retailer launches new set of creativity standards to help sellers and buyers better understand what you can buy and sell on Etsy and why.

According to Etsythe standards are intended to clarify, not change, what is permitted on the site, without adding any previously prohibited elements.

Creativity Standards – An Introduction

Under the new standards, all items offered for sale on Etsy must fall into one of four categories:

• Seller-Made: Physical items made by the seller, either by hand or using personal or computer tools.
• Merchant Designed: Original merchant designs that are produced or printed by a third party or offered as digital downloads.
• Seller-Original: Items that are an expression of the buyer’s creativity, including craft and party supplies, and items personalized with the buyer’s custom text or image.
• Personally selected by the seller: vintage goods, items from nature, as well as some collections of items personally selected and prepared for sale by the seller.

As of Tuesday, July 9, 2024, listing pages will feature a new item description that will mark each item as falling into one of these four categories. Etsy will add more options to the listing form so sellers can share details about their processes, materials, and tools. The online retailer says it reserves the right to remove listings that don’t follow its policies, and sellers will still be responsible for any fees incurred in connection with listing such items.

Advertising campaign

To promote new standards of creativity, Etsy is launching a multi-channel advertising campaign, including TV advertising, billboards, and social media content in the US and UK, highlighting individual sellers.

As part of the promotion, Etsy is showcasing select sellers on billboards throughout New York and London, highlighting the unique role each seller played in creating their products. The out-of-home placements are designed to be intimate and accessible through street-level listings, presented alongside larger-than-life spaces that elevate sellers to a status traditionally reserved for celebrity spokespeople.

The social content aims to tell deeper stories about sellers, while the new TV ad highlights sellers as partners in Etsy’s mission to live up to its campaign slogan of “keeping commerce human.”