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Etsy CEO Josh Silverman thinks he’s found a way to help you sift through thousands of the same “wine o’clock” t-shirts on his site: by going back to its human roots. The site released new standards for its sellers yesterday that it hopes will increase transparency about how items are produced.
Etsy’s products will now be required to fall into one of four categories: “made by” (like a handmade necklace), “designed by” (e.g., a digital illustration), “handpicked by” (items such as vintage clothes), or “sourced by” (like craft supplies).
- Sellers will still be able to tag items as “vintage.”
- Art generated with the help of AI will still be allowed and would likely fall under the “designed by” category.
Big picture: The change is accompanied by a big “human-made” marketing campaign in an attempt to win back some customers and appease sellers who have complained about drop-shippers and low-quality products. Etsy, which has seen sales shrink since its mask-filled boom in 2020, is trying to compete with companies like Temu, Shein, and Amazon, which are battling to make the cheapest and fastest-shipped products.