Etsy published updated guidelines on artificial intelligence (AI) for sellers on Oct. 22. The marketplace is restricting specific categories of AI-generated content, tightening listing photo requirements and introducing new enforcement tools.
The changes signal a larger effort to protect buyer trust, which Etsy says is being eroded as AI-generated listings proliferate across the platform.
“AI should support your creativity and craftsmanship, not replace them,” Etsy vice president of customer operations James Ossman wrote in the update. “Buyers should always be able to understand the role you play in every item you sell on Etsy.”
Etsy is No. 20 in Digital Commerce360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database. The market research tool ranks the 100 largest marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).
Etsy’s seller handbook now includes a categorical ban on AI-generated functional guides, including patterns, recipes or instructions. Listings for these items must also show a real result made using the seller’s own instructions, not an AI-generated image of what the finished product might look like.
In addition, Etsy now requires that every listing include at least one unedited photo of the actual item against a real background. Supplemental images can still use AI-assisted editing to adjust lighting, color, cropping or backgrounds, but all photos must accurately represent the item a buyer will receive.
Notably, the marketplace is not banning AI-generated art outright. The policy continues to allow it when sellers play a clear creative role in its creation, such as a fantasy illustration based on the seller’s own prompt and creative direction.
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