What should I keep in mind when selling on Etsy?

Written by

Sabrina Barnes

Etsy is a marketplace, which means that it operates a bit differently than a stand-alone store. There are certain marketplace policies that all Etsy sellers are expected to comply with, in the interest of buyers. Etsy’s Creativity Standards policy requires full disclosure about how your products are made.

All products sold on Etsy must fall into one of the following categories:

Made by a seller: Items crafted, altered, or assembled by a seller, either by hand or using tools.
Designed by a seller: Original designs created by a seller (or seller-prompted AI art) and produced/printed by a third party.
Sourced by a seller: Items that enable buyer creativity, such as craft supplies or party decorations.
Handpicked by a seller: Vintage items curated by a seller.

Note

If you’re using Printify, be sure to indicate that your products are “Designed by a seller” by following the steps below. This will automatically add a “Designed by ShopName” note to the listing, informing buyers that the product is made with the help of a production partner. Learn more about Etsy’s new policy here.

Due to a technical limitation, Printify is unable to provide this product information automatically during the publishing process. However, this information can be added by manually editing the published product in Etsy.

Step 1: Create and publish a product

To start off, create a product on Printify and publish it to your Etsy store. Then, in Etsy, navigate to Shop Manager and click on Listings. Next, select an individual product listing to edit it.

Step 2: Change information in the Core details section

Scroll down to the Details section and click Change next to the Core details field. Then, in the Who made it? section, select Another company or person.

Next, click Select production partners, followed by Create a new production partner.

To create a new production partner, enter the following details about Printify:

- Production partner – Printify
- Location – United States of America
- About production partner – A production partner
- About your partnership:
  - Select – I don't have the technical ability to make it entirely by myself
  - Select – I design everything myself
  - Select – They do everything for me

It's not mandatory to display the full information about the production partner in your store. If you prefer to keep the full production partner details hidden from your customers, use the toggle as shown below and add “A print shop” in the “Descriptive title” field.

Step 3: Save the added production partner

The system will automatically mark the checkbox for the newly added production partner, indicating that it is the partner you will be using. Once added, this production partner will be available in your list of production partners for every product, and you will only need to check the box.

Step 4: Save the changes

Make sure to save all the changes you’ve made by clicking the Publish changes button.

All set! When adding more products to your Etsy store selection, ensure you adjust these settings for each product.

Tip

If you’re interested in learning how to open and run a successful Etsy store, consider joining our Etsy POD Bootcamp Course.