How do I set up automated personalization for Etsy?

Automated product personalization on Printify lets you sell customized products with buyer-added text or images. With the new Etsy personalization experience, buyers can now include personalization details like text, images and graphics directly in the listing using text fields, dropdown selections, and image uploads—creating a more seamless buying experience.

Buyer personalization inputs are automatically imported into Printify and applied to your product’s personalization layers, helping streamline personalized order processing and review. Automated personalization is especially useful for scaling personalized product sales, since buyer inputs are applied to the design automatically and orders can be reviewed and approved more quickly before production.

In this article:

• How Etsy personalization works
• Steps to enable automated personalization for Etsy
• How personalized orders work
• How to manage orders with exceptions
• Restore Etsy personalization mapping
• FAQs

How Etsy personalization works

The new Etsy personalization features allow sellers to create listings that enable customization selections ahead of checkout—buyers can customize products directly on the listing page before placing an order. Depending on the listing setup, personalizable listings may allow buyers to enter custom text, select options from dropdown menus, or upload custom images.

You can learn more about Etsy personalization in Etsy’s guide: How to Offer Personalized Listings on Etsy

Current Etsy limitations

Etsy supports a maximum of 5 personalization questions per listing. In Printify, this means you can use up to:

• 5 text and text option dropdown fields combined, or
• 4 text/dropdown fields together with up to 10 personalized image layers.

Multiple personalized image layers are grouped into a single image upload section on the Etsy side.

Steps to enable automated personalization for Etsy

To use automated personalization with Etsy, you’ll need to create a product in Printify using personalizable layers in Product Creator and then publish the product to your Etsy store. Personalizable layers created in Printify are automatically synced to Etsy personalization fields.

If you’d prefer to receive buyer instructions and customize products manually instead, you can use manual personalization rather than automated personalization.

Step 1: Open Product Creator

Pick a product from the Catalog and click Start Designing to open Product Creator. Currently, automated personalization can only be set up for new products and isn't available for existing products.

Step 2: Add personalizable layers

Personalizable layers allow buyers to customize specific parts of your design directly on Etsy. You can add both text and image personalization layers to the same product.

Adding personalized text

To let buyers enter custom text, add a personalizable text layer from the Personalize tab in the left-hand menu.

Then, configure the layer options:

1. Resize the layer
   • Buyer input text will be scaled to the layer width and height
2. Enter placeholder text
3. Set up text options with Add text options
   • Add available fonts
   • Add available text colors

Click Edit next to one of the text options to set them up:

1. Add available colors or fonts, you can also use custom fonts
2. Set the default option with the checkmark button, the default option will be used for generating mockups

How buyers see it on Etsy

• Text entry appears as a text box under the layer name.
• Font and color selections appear as dropdown menus.

You can add field names and additional instructions from the product details page before publishing.

Adding personalized images

To let buyers upload custom images:

• Add a personalizable image layer from the Personalization tab, or
• Add a regular image layer and enable the Personalizable image checkbox
• Set the width and height, buyer-uploaded images will be scaled to the size you set

How buyers see it on Etsy

If the product has one personalizable image layer, buyers will see a single image upload field labeled with the layer name.

If the product has multiple personalizable image layers, buyers will see separate upload prompts for each layer grouped under one image upload section.

Step 3: Edit personalization details and publish

Before publishing, review and edit your personalization setup in the Etsy field details section of the product details page. The What buyers see in Etsy preview shows how the field titles, instructions, option lists, and image labels will appear to buyers on your Etsy listing.

Click Edit next to a personalization field to set up its details:

1. Enter the Field title, buyers will see it above the input field on Etsy
2. Enter the optional Instructions to give buyers helpful directions, they appear under the field title
3. For text color and font fields, edit the Option names, buyers will see them in the dropdown menu

Once everything looks right, publish the product. After publishing, check the buyer experience in Etsy Shop Manager or on the live listing.

Editing personalization details for existing products

To edit the personalization details of an already published product, open the product in My products, make the changes, and republish the product with the Personalization checkbox enabled under Sync product details.

In addition, editing these personalization details on Etsy will break the mapping between buyer inputs and your Printify personalization layers:

• adding or removing personalization fields,
• adding, removing, or reordering dropdown options,
• changing the number of image upload slots,
• changing a field type,
• reordering fields of the same type.

Broken mapping leads to orders with exceptions: missing or extra inputs, or personalization applied to the wrong layers. If that happens, follow these steps to restore the mapping. Making these same changes in Printify is safe, just republish the product afterwards.

How to manage orders with exceptions

Some orders may require additional manual review before production.

Handling unsupported image formats or size

Printify does not support certain file formats that buyers may upload through Etsy. If a buyer uploads an HEIC or PDF, or a file exceeding size limits, the order will hit an exception.

File requirements:

• Accepted formats: PNG, JPEG (under 100MB), or SVG (under 20MB).
• Resolution limit: Maximum resolution is 30000x3000px.

If a buyer uploads an unsupported file:

• Download the image to convert or resize it.
• Convert and re-upload the image to match the requirements.

Missing personalization information

By default, all personalization fields for products published from Printify are mandatory. However, if the fields were edited in Etsy they could be set to optional.

If required personalization details are missing:

• Contact the buyer through Etsy.
• Confirm the missing text or upload.
• Update the order manually if needed.

If optional personalization details are missing, you can review the design and submit the order to production with placeholder layers.

Unmapped personalization instructions

Orders may import with unmapped personalization instructions if Etsy personalization inputs no longer match the personalization layers configured in Printify.

This can happen if you:

• add additional personalization fields in Etsy,
• reorder personalization fields,
• remove existing fields,
• or make other unsupported changes to the Etsy personalization setup.

For example, adding an extra field such as “Enter any other custom instructions” will not map to any Printify design layers.

If the additional instructions are intentional, you can proceed with personalizing the order manually during order review.

If this outcome isn’t expected, review the personalization setup in Printify and republish the product to Etsy. Republishing will overwrite the Etsy personalization setup and help restore correct layer and field mapping for future orders.

Restore Etsy personalization mapping

If personalized orders aren't importing correctly, the connection between your Etsy personalization fields and Printify personalization layers may have become out of sync. You can restore it without updating other details of the listing by using selective publishing.

To restore the mapping:

1. Open the product in My Products.
2. Under Sync product details, select only the Personalization checkbox.
3. Click Publish.

This republishes only the personalization configuration, restoring the mapping between Etsy personalization fields and your Printify personalization layers without changing other listing details such as the title, description, mockups, pricing, or variants.

FAQs

Is the new Etsy personalization replacing Personalization Hub?
Yes. Etsy personalization is the new automated personalization experience for Etsy products. Existing Personalization Hub products will continue to work until their migration is complete — there's nothing you need to do right now.

Is the new Etsy personalization replacing legacy automated text personalization on Etsy?
Yes. Products with a single personalizable text layer that don't use Personalization Hub will also transition automatically to the new Etsy personalization.

Are there limitations to the new Etsy personalization compared to Personalization Hub?
There are some, and our team is working on bringing missing capabilities to the new Etsy personalization to make the migration as seamless as possible. We welcome any feedback during this time, you can share it by contacting our Support team.

Will Personalization Hub products migrate automatically?
Yes. Migration is now rolling out, and compatible Personalization Hub products will be migrated automatically and gradually. No action is needed on your end, and your listings will keep working throughout.

Most products should be eligible. Some may need manual adjustments if they exceed Etsy personalization limits, for example:

• more than 5 personalizable layers, or
• text, instruction, or dropdown option lengths that exceed Etsy's limits.

What if my product can’t be migrated automatically?
No action is needed right now. If a product isn't eligible for automatic migration, it will keep working as is. When manual migration becomes available or relevant for your products, we'll reach out with details and next steps by email.

Can I migrate products using manual personalization?
Support for migrating products using manual personalization is planned for a later phase.

Will migration affect my Etsy listing SEO?
No. Etsy has confirmed that migrating compatible listings to the new Etsy personalization will not affect listing SEO. Descriptions, mockups, shipping profiles, and any other changes you've made on Etsy are unaffected.