Etsy Bans Sex Toys — and Sellers Are Thrilled and Exasperated: “A Huge, Crushing Disappointment”

Sex sells—but not on Etsy.

The e-commerce platform will no longer allow the sale of adult toys or sexual accessories on its website, the company announced in a recent memo that was met with frustration and anger from its loyal sellers.

Starting July 29, Etsy will remove listings that advertise sex toys — such as dildos, vibrators, and similar products — as well as items that depict sexual acts or genitalia, or include sexual terms that refer to familial relationships, such as “daddy” or “mommy.”

The policy was changed to “keep our users safe,” according to a memo from Alice Wu, who leads the company’s trust and security team, but vendors have called the move “lazy” and a “crushing disappointment.”

“The ban will basically close the door on a lot of craftspeople like us in the adult toy industry,” Etsy seller Preston Stevenson told The Guardian.

“For small shops like ours that have spent most of their time on Etsy, 30 days of notice is simply not enough to convert a storefront into the same number of customers or increase in-store sales.”

Stevenson, from Ohio, who has been selling handmade sex toys with co-creator Laura Norden since 2018, said the 30-day notice was “not enough time to transition” to the new platform, which offers the same visibility as Etsy, fearing the traffic to their site would not resonate.

“Bans like this also reinforce the idea that sexual health and pleasure are somehow taboo or something to be ashamed of,” Stevenson added. “This has a wider impact on society as a whole.”

Alexandra Houston, founder of British fetishwear platform Charmskool, has criticised Etsy for pandering to the “mass market” rather than staying loyal to its users.

“Etsy wants everything creative, as long as it’s beige and average. It doesn’t want anything risky anymore,” Houston, who has seen a surge in former Etsy sellers migrating to Charmskool, told The Guardian.

“It is a huge, devastating disappointment to see a former ally (Etsy) turn away from this community without so much as an apology.”

The post reached out to Etsy for comment.

Simply Elegant Glass, which has been selling sex toys on Etsy for almost a decade and catering to around 5,000 followers, has written an open letter to Platform X, criticizing the company for what it calls a “lazy solution” under the pretext of keeping the community safe.

“Protecting children from adult content is a noble cause and we agree it should be done – no question about it. But that’s not a fair representation of what you’re doing here, is it?” the retailer wrote, in part, according to The Guardian.

“A blanket ban is a lazy solution to the problems of non-compliance and non-enforcement that you (Etsy)… created in the first place,” they continued. “It’s a solution that’s designed to keep shoppers out and appease investors and advertisers. It’s the wrong solution – even if it’s framed as ‘safety.’”

Business owners say switching to other platforms or ways to reach customers will be difficult because many payment processors “have obscene clauses and will not work” with sellers advertising adult toys.

The founder of Simply Elegant Glass, who only goes by the first name Anna, told the BBC she felt “betrayed” by the updated policy.

“As creators who have helped Etsy grow and who have remained loyal to its platform over the years, we feel betrayed,” she said, advocating for clear labeling of sex products rather than banning them outright.

According to Anna, a significant portion of their profit comes from selling on the Etsy platform, and setting up a store on a new e-commerce site is like starting from scratch.

Other sellers, who asked not to be named, echoed her sentiment, telling the BBC that traffic to the new platform or personal website may not generate enough revenue for retailers.

“Imagine selling on Etsy for 10 years,” Houston said. “It’s like your house burned down.”