How to sell on Etsy in 2026: photos, listing words and the rules that remove listings

To sell on Etsy, open a shop at Etsy.com/sell: set the shop's language, country and currency, choose a shop name of 4 to 20 characters, connect a bank account, add a billing card, verify your identity, turn on two-factor authentication, add a first listing, and pay Etsy's one-time shop set-up fee. Etsy then charges $0.20 per listing, which renews every 4 months, a 6.5% transaction fee on each order's total, and, for US bank accounts, payment processing of 3% plus $0.25 per order. What a seller lists must fit Etsy's Creativity Standards: items made, designed, handpicked or sourced by the seller, with any AI use and any production partner disclosed in the listing.

How do you open an Etsy shop?

An Etsy shop opens from Etsy.com/sell with an Etsy account, and Etsy's help page sets out the steps in order:

1. Set the shop preferences: the shop's language, country and currency. Etsy says the shop language cannot change later.
2. Choose a shop name of 4 to 20 characters, with no spaces, special characters or profanity, not already in use, and not infringing another's trademark.
3. Connect how you get paid. Choose the bank's country and whether you are an individual or sole proprietor or an incorporated business; US sellers connect a bank account through Plaid.
4. Set up billing with a debit or credit card for Etsy's bills. A non-reloadable prepaid card cannot be the only or primary card.
5. Verify your identity with a photo of a government ID that has not expired and matches the name on the bank account, plus a selfie, through Etsy's provider, Persona.
6. Turn on two-factor authentication, which Etsy requires.
7. Add the first listing, pay the one-time shop set-up fee and open the shop. Etsy says "a one-time, non-refundable shop set-up fee must be paid", and the shop opens only after the first listing is added.

Have the ID, the bank details and the photos and words for one listing ready before starting, and the shop can open in one sitting.

How much does it cost to sell on Etsy?

Etsy's main fees for a US seller, as Etsy's help pages give them on 29 October 2026:

On a $40 order with $5 shipping, a US seller pays 6.5% of $45 ($2.93) in transaction fee and 3% of $45 plus $0.25 ($1.60) in payment processing, plus the $0.20 listing fee; sales tax collected on the order raises the processing base a little. Etsy enrols every shop in Offsite Ads. A shop that has always made less than $10,000 in any consecutive 365 days may opt out, while a shop past that figure must take part for the life of the shop.

What can you sell on Etsy?

Etsy's Creativity Standards allow four kinds of item, each tied to what the seller did:

Good items to sell on Etsy are items that fit one of these four kinds and that the seller can photograph as the actual item a buyer receives. A product bought in and resold unchanged, outside craft supplies, party items and vintage, does not fit Etsy's standards.

Do Etsy sellers have to disclose AI and production partners?

Yes. Etsy says "Sellers must disclose within their listing description if an item is created with the use of AI", and seller-prompted AI creations sit under "Designed by a seller" with the AI use disclosed. Etsy does not allow content made by bots, AI-generated functional instructions such as patterns or recipes, or AI prompt bundles.

A seller who works with a production partner, such as a printer or a workshop, "must disclose that production partner in your relevant listings", and Etsy asks sellers to name everyone who makes items or runs the shop in the shop's About section. If AI tools helped make a listing's images, the same disclosure in the description applies.

How do you make your first Etsy listing?

Etsy's listing form has seven tabs to complete before a listing can publish, and each listing needs its shipping details: a domestic shipping service, a cross-border shipping service, an origin postal code and a processing time.

Photos. Etsy allows up to 20 photos and 2 videos of 5 to 15 seconds on each listing. Etsy asks for original photos of the actual item, not renderings or stock photos, with mockups allowed for personalised and print-on-demand items, and suggests images about 2,000 pixels on the shortest side. Show the item clearly first, then in use, at scale, in each variation and up close. The guide to Etsy listing photo size covers sizes and crops.

Title. An Etsy title can be up to 140 characters. Etsy's title guidance, dated 27 April 2026, asks sellers to say clearly what the item is and its most important traits, moving other details to tags, descriptions and attributes.

Tags. Each Etsy listing can carry up to 13 tags of up to 20 characters each, and short phrases such as "silver earrings" work, because spaces count as characters. The guide to Etsy tags covers choosing them.

Attributes and description. Choose the category, then fill every attribute that is true, such as colour, material and occasion, because buyers filter by attributes. Open the description with a plain sentence on what the item is and who it is for. The guide to Etsy SEO covers titles, tags and attributes together.

Which Etsy rules remove listings?

Etsy removes listings that break its policies, and four rules catch new sellers most often:

• Items outside the Creativity Standards, such as products resold unchanged outside craft supplies and vintage.
• Undisclosed AI use or production partners, which Etsy asks sellers to state in the listing.
• Photos that are not of the actual item, outside the mockups Etsy allows for personalised and print-on-demand items.
• Children's and baby products that break Etsy's Children and Baby Products policy, in force from 2 June 2026, which prohibits several product types for young children; Etsy's Seller Handbook sets out what sellers of children's products must do.

Products with rules of their type carry further requirements on Etsy as on every marketplace: the toy rules cover choking warnings and age grades, and the cosmetics and skincare rules cover ingredient lists and claims.

How should a new Etsy seller spend the first month?

A first month on Etsy works best as a steady build rather than a rush:

1. Week one: open the shop with a few strong listings. Five to ten listings with complete photos, titles, tags and attributes teach the listing form better than fifty rushed ones.
2. Week two: fill the shop's About section and policies, naming the people who make the items and any production partner, as Etsy asks.
3. Week three: read the shop's stats. Views show which titles and first photos earn clicks; views without sales point to the photos, the price or the description.
4. Week four: decide on Offsite Ads and renewals. Check whether the shop may opt out of Offsite Ads, and set renewal to manual on listings that should not renew automatically.

The guide to Etsy views but no sales covers what to change when listings get seen but not bought.

What mistakes do new Etsy sellers make?

• Underpricing, by leaving the 6.5% transaction fee, the processing fee and any Offsite Ads fee out of the price.
• Letting listings renew unnoticed, at $0.20 each renewal, on items that no longer sell.
• Thirteen tags that repeat one phrase, when Etsy suggests a diverse set of tags.
• A first photo that leaves the item unclear, when the first photo and the title are what a buyer reads first.
• Forgetting to disclose AI or a production partner.

An Etsy launch checklist

1. Shop opened: preferences, name, bank, billing, identity and two-factor authentication.
2. Every item fits one of the four kinds in Etsy's Creativity Standards.
3. Prices cover the listing, transaction and processing fees.
4. Up to 20 photos of the actual item, the first one clear.
5. A title of up to 140 characters that says what the item is first.
6. 13 tags of up to 20 characters, and every true attribute.
7. AI use and production partners disclosed.
8. Product rules checked for toys, baby products, cosmetics and others.

How Commicorn helps

• Your Etsy images, finished. Commicorn makes the listing images for Etsy from your photos of the actual item: the item shown clearly, lifestyle scenes, size and what's in the set, with the item unchanged on the Untouched product route.
• A title, 13 tags and a description written to Etsy's limits, from your facts.
• The same facts for every channel, if you also sell on Amazon, eBay or your Shopify store.

Make your first Etsy listing from your photos. Start free.

Questions sellers ask

How much does it cost to start selling on Etsy?

Etsy charges a one-time, non-refundable shop set-up fee when the shop opens, shown at sign-up, then $0.20 per listing, a 6.5% transaction fee on each order and, for US bank accounts, 3% plus $0.25 per order in payment processing.

Can I sell AI-made items on Etsy?

Yes, as "Designed by a seller" items with the seller's creative input, and Etsy requires sellers to disclose AI use in the listing description. Etsy does not allow AI prompt bundles or AI-generated functional instructions such as patterns or recipes.

Can I resell products on Etsy?

Only as craft supplies, party decorations and similar "Sourced by a seller" items, or as vintage items at least 20 years old; reselling is not allowed under "Made by a seller".

How many photos can an Etsy listing have?

An Etsy listing can have up to 20 photos and 2 videos of 5 to 15 seconds each.

How long does an Etsy listing last?

A renewed Etsy listing gets a new expiry date 4 months from the renewal date, and new listings renew automatically by default at $0.20 each renewal.