Unless you have been living under a rock and don't belong to any etsy communities on any social media platforms, you probably heard about the new Etsy updates yesterday from the CEO Josh Silverman.
And I will tell you there is certainly a lot of uproar on the Internet about this update. So I want to address today what the update said, what sellers are mad about, and why you shouldn’t be freaking out right.
If you'd rather get this update in video form click here. Prefer a podcast? Listen here.
What's being updated:
If you did not watch the video part of this update (find that here), here is what you need to know:
- Etsy is doubling down on its mission to promote unique products. They understand this is what makes them special and are working on enforcing and promoting this.
- They know buyers want more clarity around what they’re purchasing and they’re making it easier for buyers to understand how a product is made.
- Nothing has changed about what is allowed on Etsy at this time.
- Etsy removed 4x the number of listings that violated policies last year than then they did the previous year. They hear you as a community and are working on ensuring non-compliant listings are being removed.
Etsy Category Updates
The way that they are making it easier for buyers to see how the item that they are purchasing has been made is by giving each listing a different category from the normal “handmade,” “vintage,” and “supply” categories
So these are going to be:
- Made by…
- Designed by…
- Sourced by…
- Handpicked by…
Made by is for products that we all consider traditionally handmade. Designed by is going to be the category for digital products and print-on-demand products. Sourced by is going to be for supplies. Picked by is vintage. Etsy is also including gift baskets in the picked by category.
AI Policy
Etsy also clarified its stance on AI art. So just to be super clear on this, AI art has always been allowed on Etsy because there's been no policy at all.
Now the policy is that AI designs are allowed on Etsy if the seller has used their own original prompts to create the art. Etsy also clarified that sellers need to disclose in their listings that it was made with AI.
What you should be doing next
I know that anytime the platform changes people are going to mad for a variety of reasons, but let's talk about why you should not be freaking out right now.
First of all, Etsy is coming out, and saying that they hear all of you who want to keep Etsy human. What they can't do though is make sweeping changes across the platform in two seconds. The CEO even said in this video that these are the first steps. They are continuing to develop what they're doing to keep Etsy the special and unique place that it is.
So for those of you who are angry because it doesn't feel like they're doing enough, I'm sorry but it’s always going to be that way for you.
Etsy is a huge company with millions and millions of buyers to keep happy. If they make huge changes to the platform it's going to disrupt the buyer experience so poorly that it would probably tank the whole marketplace.
Big companies are slow. End of story.
For those of you who are upset about Etsy allowing AI artwork. I’m also going to be blunt with you. They have always allowed it. This is a step in the right direction when it comes to this policy, which was previously nonexistent.
And here's the deal, what you create on your own has so much more potential than anything AI. Buyers want something real and something unique, that’s why they’re shopping on Etsy, and that is hard to do with AI generation.
The people who are turning out AI designs without any thought into the artwork process are not actual competition for you. They're making weird things that buyers don't want. You have the advantage on these people who think they can hop onto Etsy, and make a quick buck without doing any work.
And the reality is that AI is not going anywhere. That is true for literally every industry. I cannot tell you how much AI junk that I have seen in the last year In the form of “Etsy experts. Social media posts and blog posts that are clearly generated by AI and so full of misinformation that it really makes my heart hurt because I am just crossing my fingers that the sellers are not out there following this stuff.
Am I out there raging against Google for allowing people to write AI stuff and post it on the blog? No. I am here teaching all of you because I am the real expert on everything Etsy. And the people who use AI are not a problem for me on a large scale.
Now I know artwork is different because it’s so personal, but in this day and age, when there is so much to stress out about, sometimes you need to let things go that are not in your control. And the fact that AI art exists whether you believe it should or not is not in your control.
Last, but not least, the third group of people I have seen being so upset it's about the gift box policy. I will say that this is not a new policy. Etsy has slowly removed a lot of the language around gift boxes and gift baskets from their policies. I don't know if any of you remember when mystery bags were not allowed on Etsy. They've been allowed for quite a while. It was just slowly taken out of the policy kind of quietly.
And for some reason yesterday, my social feed was filled with people pissed off that Etsy was allowing gift baskets with Prime energy drinks. I don't know why so many people are stuck on this. I’ve never seen it on Etsy.
But here's what I want to say. A buyer coming to Etsy to buy a gift basket with a bunch of generic, non-personalized stuff, is not your target market if you are making real handmade, personalized gift baskets.
The same people who purchase gift boxes from Etsy stuff you can buy at the grocery store, or wherever, were never going to buy your product. It wasn't what they were looking for. And that's OK. As Etsy grows, there are more and more buyers looking for more and more things. There are more people looking for exactly what you make too.
So Etsy allowing gift baskets really is not going to affect those of you who are making products for different buyers.
How do you want to feel about your business?
And the last thing that I want to leave you with is a bit of an opportunity for you to think about how you want your business to feel right now.
Because the only thing guaranteed in any business is that changes are going to come and go no matter what type of business you own.
And the only thing that you can control about that is how you respond to those changes when new Etsy updates happen every year or two.
So if you are someone who hears these announcements and you're happy about the steps that Etsy is taking to keep the platform special and unique, or if you're someone who just wants to keep your blinders on and continue to grow your business without diving into the negativity and junk out there then I encourage you all to do just that.
If you need to take a social media break to keep yourself from getting drug into the anxiety and gross feelings that happen when you’re surrounded by negativity then please do that for yourself.
And if you're someone who is upset by all of these changes, I encourage you to do something about it in a way that's productive for your business. Getting onto threads or Instagram and yelling your anger into the void is hurting your business. The best thing you can do right now if you're not happy about these changes for whatever reason, is to decide whether are you going to continue to stay on this platform or not and then do something about it.
I don't love everything that Etsy does, but I recognize that they are the cheapest platform with the highest number of buyers on the platform. And if that’s the case for your business you need to focus on the priorities that are going to help you grow.
I hope that helps all of you process these changes in a way that’s helpful for your business.
If you have questions, I want you to know that I'm here. Drop them in the comments and we can have a chat.
