Etsy loses its ‘handmade’ and ‘vintage’ labels as it takes on Temu and Amazon
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Etsy has long sold items that fall into one of two categories: handmade or vintage. Now, that fairly narrow categorization is changing.
A policy update announced today creates four new classifications for items for sale on Etsy: “made by,” “designed by,” “handpicked by,” and “sourced by.” All products need to fall into one of the four to be eligible for the platform.
Vintage items — a backbone of Etsy’s offerings — will fall under “handpicked by.” Craft supplies like beads or clay are considered “sourced by.” A vase handmade by a ceramics artist would be in the “made by” category, whereas a digital illustration would be considered “designed by” the seller. These categories will be visible on Etsy product listings.
The company says that...