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Simply Elegant Glass has been selling hand-crafted sex toys on Etsy for nearly a decade. In that time, the shop has made over 7,000 sales and racked up more than 1,500 mostly five-star reviews. The Etsy shop \u2014 which offers glass dildos, anal plugs and other insertable items \u2014 drives the majority of the small business\u2019 overall sales. But as of Monday July 29, the bulk of the shop\u2019s catalog won’t be allowed on the marketplace anymore under Etsy\u2019s new restrictions around sex toys.<\/p>\n
The Adult Nudity and Sexual Content policy<\/a>, which was quietly published at the end of June to the platform\u2019s \u201cHouse Rules,\u201d states that \u201cEtsy prohibits the sale of adult toys that are: inserted into the body; applied to the genitalia; designed for genitals to be inserted into them.\u201d Among other things, it specifically forbids vendors from selling \u201cdildos, vibrators, anal plugs, sex dolls and fleshlights.\u201d The policy update, spotted first by Mashable<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> came in tandem with a community forum<\/a> post by Etsy\u2019s head of Trust & Safety, Alice Wu Paulus, who wrote that it was designed to reflect \u201cevolving industry standards and best practices so that we can continue to keep our users safe.\u201d<\/p>\n The note about the impending change said Etsy would, in the coming weeks, \u201ccommunicate directly with sellers who may need to update their listing images to be compliant.\u201d Enforcement would begin on July 29, it said, and non-compliant listings would be removed. But up to three weeks after the new policy was published online, sellers that spoke to Engadget said they were never contacted directly by Etsy. All of them found out about the ban through social media or other means.<\/p>\n Etsy did not answer specific questions about the reasons behind its decision when contacted by Engadget, but a spokesperson said the change will only affect a very small percentage of the platform\u2019s overall seller community. The only explanation stated in the policy change itself notes that the site wants to ensure \u201ccontent is appropriate for a wide audience.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s been received as the final nail in the coffin for many adult-oriented businesses on Etsy. Multiple sellers described the preceding years to Engadget as a fight to exist and succeed on the platform. And with no alternative marketplace for handmade products currently operating at Etsy\u2019s scale, it feels as though the only venue for finding such items has been \u201cessentially deleted off the internet,\u201d said Andy, a glassblower for Simply Elegant Glass who chose to share only their first name.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I want to find products that are handmade \u2014 unless I knew of their existence beforehand through Etsy \u2014 finding them is incredibly difficult,\u201d Andy said. They said they found advertising on Google to be \u201cprohibitively expensive,\u201d and products from small businesses are often buried in search results. If a person were just searching by product type, \u201cI don\u2019t think you would be able to find [Simply Elegant Glass] on Google,\u201d Andy said.<\/p>\n Simply Elegant Glass<\/a> launched its own website a few years ago and recently migrated to Shopify in an effort to shift away from its reliance on Etsy, but said in a recent post on X<\/a> that even still, \u201cmost of our traffic originates from Etsy searches.\u201d<\/p>\n As they see it, Andy said the platform has trended toward \u201callowing more dubious sellers, people who do not actually make the toys, dropshippers\u201d and shops that would otherwise seem to \u201cfly in the face of [Etsy\u2019s] policies.\u201d Dropshipping is an increasingly common practice in which businesses sell products they don\u2019t actually make or even keep in stock themselves \u2014 instead, they source these items from a third-party supplier once they\u2019ve received the orders, and the suppliers will ship them to the customers. Etsy<\/a> has said that dropshipping is not allowed on the platform under most circumstances, but dropshippers have still found a way<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition to sex toys, Etsy\u2019s new policy prohibits the sale of all pornography, including vintage Playboy<\/em> magazines and any photographs or photo-realistic depictions of sex acts and genitalia. Non-realistic artworks featuring sex acts or genitalia may be permitted, but only under certain conditions: if sex acts are shown, there can be no visible genitalia; if genitalia are shown, there can\u2019t be any \u201csexual context.\u201d Any materials that feature a combination of familial and sexual terms, e.g., \u201cslogans such as \u2018Daddy\u2019s slut\u2019 or \u2018Choke me Mommy,\u2019\u201d are out, too. Etsy will, however, continue to allow certain sexual accessories, like some BDSM gear and sex furniture.<\/p>\n Sellers that spoke to Engadget questioned why Etsy couldn\u2019t solve issues of safety with methods other than a ban, like creating a designated adult-only section to keep these materials from popping up in inappropriate places.<\/p>\n The marketplace is one that sellers and shoppers alike have come to rely on for bespoke sex products. Etsy \u201cis really the only place you can go that I know of to support small business\/makers in the alternative product world,\u201d Alissa Milano, an Etsy patron who has purchased sex and kink products on the platform, told Engadget in a DM.<\/p>\n On top of discoverability, the intuitive user interface makes it easy for shops to create listings and offer customization options, and it gives potential buyers a way to get in touch with a seller if they have any questions before placing an order. \u201cI talk to most of the customers,\u201d said Daniel Tyler, who runs the UK-based adult site Secret Kink<\/a>, and sells on Etsy under the name of SecretLatex. Often, he says, \u201cthey want little changes here and there. If you’re buying on Amazon, you won’t get that.\u201d And because it costs so little to list products on Etsy \u2014 $.20 per listing \u2014 it\u2019s \u201cprobably the most accessible place to sell something,\u201d said Chelsea Downs, founder of New York Toy Collective<\/a>. Emerging indie marketplaces like Spicerack<\/a> that are trying to provide a better option for sellers in the adult space are a promising development, but they don\u2019t yet have the reach or name recognition of Etsy.<\/p>\n Even before the ban, though, adult product sellers say they\u2019ve grappled with account suspensions and seemingly arbitrary listings removals, despite their best efforts to comply with Etsy\u2019s existing rules around mature items. Or, their shops would plummet in the search ranks and be unable to climb back up. \u201cIt just gets worse and worse and worse,\u201d said Downs, who notes that her shop\u2019s sales on the platform are not nearly what they once were.<\/p>\n Tyler says his Etsy shop was banned about six or seven years back for unknown reasons. \u201cI couldn\u2019t get the shop open, no one would respond,\u201d he said. He rebranded and returned to the platform a few years later, and has so far been \u201csafe,\u201d but says, \u201cI get various warnings about policy violations every other week.\u201d The current Etsy shop sells latex and rubber kinkwear as well as dildos, silicone penis sleeves and gender expression products such as packers \u2014 prosthetics meant to mimic the bulge of a penis and testicles that can be worn under clothing. Some of his listings won\u2019t be allowed under the new rules.<\/p>\n Etsy sales accounted for 50 percent of Secret Kink\u2019s turnover last year, and 30 percent the year before that, Tyler said. \u201cI always said to my partner that I’m worried that any day\u2026 they\u2019re just going to close my store down,\u201d he said. Amid the economic struggles small businesses are already dealing with, Tyler says the platform\u2019s latest move is \u201cjust another kick in the teeth.\u201d<\/p>\n Both Tyler and Downs also expressed concerns about how the changes could affect shoppers\u2019 access to gender affirming products. Downs\u2019 shop, which has made over 12,000 sales in its seven years on Etsy, also sells a mix of pleasure and gender expression products. According to an Etsy spokesperson, items like packers that would be classified as prosthetics and not toys (i.e. not intended for sexual acts) are still permitted, along with some sexual wellness products.<\/p>\n The overhaul at Etsy comes on the heels of age verification laws that have begun to gain traction in the US, with the stated intent of shielding minors from adult content on the internet. In recent weeks, Pornhub has pulled out of several states<\/a> that have enacted or are trying to push forward with such legislation, rather than comply with verification methods that could pose a privacy risk to the site\u2019s users. And sex was already a tough sell for online businesses prior to this movement. Payment processors, like PayPal<\/a> and Stripe<\/a>, have historically taken a harsh stance<\/a> on the sale of sex-related products and sexual content (remember when OnlyFans tried to ban porn to appease the banks<\/a>?).<\/p>\n Whatever Etsy\u2019s reasoning, affected sellers say they\u2019re bracing for industry-wide impacts. Matt Rowe, one of the owners of the fantasy sex toy shop Odyssey Toys<\/a> said in an email that it\u2019s going to be a \u201cdevastating blow for so many\u201d artisan makers. \u201cThere’s some extremely talented people driving innovation and creating some incredible work through their designs, and for many of them their business may have the rug pulled out from underneath them almost overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n Rowe said he considers Odyssey \u201cone of the lucky ones\u201d because Etsy currently accounts for only about 20-25 percent of the business\u2019 sales \u2014 but the potential impact on the team of owners and workers, plus their families, is still \u201creally worrying.\u201d Odyssey moved into a bigger office earlier this year, and brought on new staff members, Rowe said.<\/p>\n With no word from Etsy in the aftermath of its decision, many sellers said their future right now feels uncertain. \u201cWe’re left wondering if our account will be deactivated? Restricted? Or will they just remove our products? Who knows!\u201d Rowe said.<\/p>\n Selling sex toys may have put a target on their backs, but the affected sellers warned that there are broader issues plaguing Etsy that will continue to affect even the small businesses that don’t carry mature products. Their gripes include being \u201cdinged\u201d in search rankings for not offering free shipping, and having to navigate a playing field that\u2019s changed immensely with an influx of dropshippers, mass-produced products and AI art. \u201cThis idea of a handmade marketplace no longer exists,\u201d said Downs.<\/p>\n