Simply Elegant Glass has been selling handmade sex toys on Etsy for almost 10 years. During that time, the shop has made more than 7,000 sales and received more than 1,500 reviews, most of them five stars. The Etsy shop, which sells glass dildos, anal plugs, and other insertable items, accounts for the majority of the small business's revenue. But as of Monday, July 29, new Etsy restrictions on sex toys mean that the majority of the shop's catalog will no longer be available for sale on the marketplace.
The adult nudity and sexual content policy, quietly published to the platform's “house rules” at the end of June, states that “Etsy prohibits the sale of adult toys that are inserted into the body, applied to the genitals, or designed for penetration by the genitals.” Among other things, it prohibits vendors from selling “dildos, vibrators, anal plugs, sex dolls, and fleshlights.” Mashable, The changes come alongside a community forum post by Etsy's head of Trust & Safety, Alice Wu Paulus, who wrote that the changes were designed to “reflect evolving industry standards and best practices to continue keeping our users safe.”
A notice about the impending changes said that Etsy would be “contacting sellers directly who may need to update their listing images to comply” in the coming weeks. Enforcement would begin on July 29, it said, and non-compliant listings would be removed. But three weeks after the new policy was published online, sellers who spoke to Engadget said they had never heard from Etsy directly. All of the sellers said they found out about the ban through social media or other means.
Etsy didn't respond to specific questions about the reasons for the decision when contacted by Engadget, but a spokesperson said the change only affects a small portion of the platform's overall seller community. The only explanation given in the policy change itself is that the site wants to ensure “content is appropriate for a broad audience.”
This is seen as the final nail in the coffin for many adult-oriented businesses on Etsy. Several sellers told Engadget that the past few years have been a battle to survive and succeed on the platform, and with no alternative marketplace for handmade products currently operating on the same scale as Etsy, it feels like the only place to find such items has “essentially been removed from the internet,” said Andy, a glassmaker at Simply Elegant Glass who gave only his first name.
“If you're looking for something handmade, it's very hard to find it on Etsy unless you know about it beforehand,” Andy says. They also feel that advertising on Google is “prohibitively expensive” and that small business products are often buried in search results. When searching just for product type, ” [Simply Elegant Glass] “Google it,” Andy said.
Simply Elegant Glass launched its own website a few years ago and recently moved to Shopify to move away from its reliance on Etsy, though X noted in a recent post that “most of our traffic still comes from Etsy search.”
Andy said the platform was attracting “more shady sellers, people who don't actually make toys, drop shippers,” and ” [Etsy’s] “Drop shipping is an increasingly common practice where businesses sell products that they don't actually manufacture or stock. Instead, businesses source these products from third-party suppliers when they receive an order, who then ship them to the customer. Etsy says that in most cases, drop shipping isn't allowed on its platform, but drop shippers have still found a way.
Etsy's new policy now bans the sale of all pornography, including vintage items, in addition to sex toys. Playboy Magazines and photographs or realistic depictions of sexual acts or genitalia are prohibited. Non-realistic artwork depicting sexual acts or genitalia may be allowed, but only under certain conditions. If sexual acts are depicted, genitalia must not be visible. If genitalia are depicted, there must be no “sexual context.” Material combining family and sexual language, such as slogans like “Daddy's Slut” or “Mommy, choke me,” is also prohibited. However, certain sexual accessories, such as BDSM equipment and sex furniture, are still allowed on Etsy.
Sellers who spoke to Engadget questioned why Etsy couldn't address the safety issue in other ways than banning it, such as by creating an adults-only section to ensure this material doesn't appear in inappropriate places.
The marketplace is the go-to place for buyers and sellers looking for custom sex products. “As far as I know, Etsy is the only place in the alternative goods world that supports small businesses and makers,” Alisa Milano, a frequent Etsy customer who has purchased sex and kinky products on the platform, told Engadget in a direct message.
In addition to discoverability, the intuitive user interface makes it easy for shops to create product listings and offer customization options, and potential buyers can get in touch with sellers if they have questions before placing an order. “We talk to most of our customers,” says Daniel Tyler, who runs the UK-based adult site Secret Kink and sells on Etsy under the name SecretLatex. He says, “Often they want to make little changes here and there, which you can't do if you're buying on Amazon.” And because it costs so little to list your items on Etsy ($0.20 per listing), it's “probably the most accessible place to sell,” says Chelsea Downs, founder of New York Toy Collective. Emerging indie marketplaces like Spicerack are looking to offer better options for sellers in the adult space, a promising development, but they don't yet have the reach or name recognition of Etsy.
But even before the ban, sellers of adult products say they've suffered account suspensions and seemingly arbitrary removals of their listings, despite their best efforts to comply with Etsy's existing rules about adult products. Or their shops' search rankings have plummeted, with no way to regain their footing. “It's just gotten worse and worse,” says Downs, who adds that his shop isn't making as much money on the platform as it once did.
Tyler says his Etsy shop was banned six or seven years ago for unknown reasons. “I couldn't set up a shop, no one responded,” he says. A few years later, he rebranded and returned to the platform, and says he's “safe” so far, but “I get policy violation warnings every two weeks.” His current Etsy shop sells latex and rubber kinkwear, as well as sexual expression products like dildos, silicone penis sleeves and packers — prostheses that mimic the bulging penis and testicles and can be worn under clothing. Some of his listings would not be allowed under the new rules.
Tyler said 50% of Secret Kink's sales came from Etsy last year, compared with 30% the year before. “I've always told my partners that I was worried about the store closing down at any moment,” Tyler said. In the economic woes that small businesses are already facing, the platform's latest move “is like another blow,” Tyler said.
Tyler and Downs also expressed concerns about how the changes would affect shoppers' access to gender-affirming products. Downs' shop, which has made more than 12,000 sales in seven years on Etsy, sells a mix of pleasure and gender-expression products. An Etsy spokesperson said that products classified as prosthetics rather than toys (i.e. products that are not intended for sexual activity) and some sexual health products are still allowed.
Etsy's reforms come on the heels of widespread age verification laws in the US aimed at protecting minors from adult content on the internet. Pornhub has in recent weeks withdrawn from several states that have enacted or are pushing for such laws, rather than submit to verification methods that could jeopardize users' privacy. And even before this move, sex has been a hard sell for online businesses; payment processors like PayPal and Stripe have historically taken a tough stance against the sale of sex-related products and sexual content (remember when OnlyFans tried to ban porn to appease banks?).
Whatever Etsy's reasons, affected sellers say they're preparing for an industry-wide impact. Matt Rowe, one of the owners of fantasy sex toy shop Odyssey Toys, said in an email that this will be a devastating blow to “so many” artisan makers. “There are so many incredibly talented people driving innovation and creating amazing work through design, many of whom could see their businesses collapse almost overnight.”
Rowe considers Odyssey “one of the lucky ones” because Etsy sales currently account for only about 20% to 25% of Odyssey's revenue, but he said the potential impact on owners, employees and their families remains “very worrying.” Rowe said Odyssey moved to larger offices and hired new staff earlier this year.
With no communication from Etsy following the decision, many sellers say their future is now uncertain. “No one knows if their accounts will be suspended, if they will be restricted or if they will just have their items removed,” Lowe said.
While selling sex toys may have made them a target, affected sellers warn that broader issues plague Etsy that continue to affect smaller businesses that don't sell adult products. Their complaints include being “pushed down” in search rankings for not offering free shipping, and having to navigate a playing field that has been significantly altered by the influx of drop shippers, mass-produced goods and AI art. “The idea of a handmade marketplace just doesn't exist anymore,” Downs said.
In July, Etsy updated its Seller Handbook, adding new categories to reflect what it considers appropriate for the platform and loosening restrictions on the once-required “handmade,” “vintage,” and “crafts” categories. Shops can now label their products as “made by me,” “designed by me,” “sourced by me,” or “curated by me.”
