Etsy’s October 2026 AI policy is short on examples and long on consequences — including refund liability for misleading images. This is a plain-language checklist you can run on any listing in a couple of minutes. Nine checks, each tied to an actual Etsy rule, with the honest caveat up front: this is a self-check to catch obvious gaps, not an Etsy approval. Only Etsy decides what complies.
The short version
- Nine quick checks map to Etsy’s real October 2026 rules.
- Most listings fail on just two things: no unedited real photo, or no AI disclosure.
- Digital and pattern/recipe sellers have extra rules — a real result, not a render.
- A free in-browser tool runs the whole check and hands you a disclosure line.
Run these nine checks on each listing. If you can answer “yes” to all of them, you’ve cleared the obvious gaps in Etsy’s October 2026 AI policy. The two that trip up most sellers are the unedited-photo rule and the AI disclosure. The free Etsy AI Policy & Disclosure Checker runs the whole list in your browser and gives you a ready-to-paste disclosure line — no account needed.
→ run the free compliance checker
01The 9 checks
1. Does the listing have at least one unedited photo of the real item on a real background? 2. Do all your photos accurately represent what the buyer receives (no hidden flaws, nothing made to look different)? 3. Is your first photo the clearest, most realistic image — not an AI scene? 4. If you AI-edited any other photos, is the edit cosmetic (lighting, colour, crop, background) rather than something that changes the item? 5. If AI helped create the item, is there a disclosure line in your description? 6. Are you avoiding the word “handmade” for anything AI-generated or made by a production partner? 7. If you sell a pattern, recipe or guide: is the content your own work (not AI-generated)? 8. For those guides, does a photo show a real finished result made from your instructions (not a render)? 9. Did a human — you — review and approve the listing before publishing (not a bot end-to-end)?
02Checks 1–4: your photos
Etsy’s rule is explicit: your listing must include “at least one unedited photo of the actual item against a real background.” The rest of your photos can still be edited — even with AI — for lighting, colour, crop or background, as long as they “accurately represent the item a buyer will receive.”
The risk isn’t just removal: if a buyer’s item arrives materially different from your photos, Etsy says you “may be responsible for refunding the buyer.” So the real, unedited shot isn’t a formality — it’s what protects you in a dispute.
03Checks 5–6: disclosure, and the word “handmade”
If AI played a role in creating the item, Etsy requires that you “disclose when an item is created using AI” and that you “cannot misrepresent AI-generated work as handmade or entirely their own creation.”
So two things: add a short disclosure line to your description, and don’t label AI-assisted or production-partner items “handmade.” You can copy an honest, ready-made disclosure line from the free checker.
Buyers should always be able to understand the role you play in every item you sell on Etsy. — Etsy Seller Handbook
04Checks 7–8: patterns, recipes and guides
This is where digital sellers get caught. Etsy now says “AI-generated functional guides are no longer allowed” — the instructions buyers rely on must be your own work. And for these listings you must “show an actual result made using your instructions, not an AI-generated or simulated result.”
If you sell crochet patterns, recipes, printables with how-to content or lesson files, the method has to be yours and your preview has to be a real make, not a mockup.
05Check 9: a human has to approve it
Etsy’s line is blunt: “Bot-generated listings without any human involvement aren’t allowed” — and those can get the whole shop removed. The fix is simple: whatever tools you use to draft a listing, you review and approve it before it goes live.
That’s how ListifyAI works by design — it writes the listing from your photo, you approve it, and the extension fills Etsy’s form, so a person is always in the loop.
06Run it in 10 seconds
You can do this by hand with the list above, or let the free Etsy AI Policy & Disclosure Checker run it for you — pick physical or digital, and it returns the checks plus a copy-ready disclosure line, entirely in your browser.
When a listing fails on the photo or the copy, the quickest fix is to rewrite it properly: the full generator turns your photo into a title, description and 13 tags with a built-in compliance read. For the full policy in Etsy’s own words, see Etsy’s October 2026 AI rules, explained.