Etsy AI and listing photos: which rules apply to your item?

Does this affect my business?

Etsy sellers of physical items, original digital downloads, personalised goods and print-on-demand designs.

What do we know?

Start with what you sell. Etsy requires at least one unedited photograph of the actual item against a real background for most products. Other images can be edited if they still represent what the buyer receives. Adding one real photo does not excuse a misleading main image.

The exceptions matter. An authorised stock mockup can be used when a production partner prints your original design on a standard base product. Visual digital downloads need a preview of the actual content. Craft patterns and recipes need a real, unedited example of the result; AI imagery cannot be the only evidence of that result.

AI use and product eligibility are separate checks. Etsy permits creations based on a seller’s original AI prompts, with AI use disclosed in the listing description. Original designs made by a production partner need that partner disclosed. AI prompt bundles do not qualify as designed-by-seller items. Check the product’s creative contribution rather than treating all AI-assisted work as banned.

Start with these checks. You may already have what you need.

You can use this checklist yourself or with your existing adviser. To ask OCW, describe the missing facts in your own words. This article is available for reading and manual follow-up; it does not enable an automatic answer for this topic.