Etsy Sellers Have until Next Month to Comply with Its New ‘Imagery of Minors’ Policy

Etsy is instituting an “Imagery of Minors” policy next month that will impact sellers who feature children in their product photos. The company said it was making the changes to strengthen its commitment to child safety.

“Effective September 8, 2023, we are clarifying and expanding our policy to prohibit content that features minors in undergarments, images of minors in form-fitting clothes that are cropped to focus on private areas, or poses that could be interpreted as age inappropriate. While we know that most Etsy sellers have the best of intentions, we also recognize that images are subjective and can sometimes be perceived differently by various audiences. These updates provide clear and consistent guidelines across our marketplace and minimize the risk that content featuring minors could be misused or misconstrued.”

The company said, “Child safety is a responsibility we all share,” and it offered some tips and referred sellers to its Imagery of Minors policy page, where it stated:

“If we detect or are alerted to sexually explicit content involving minors, we will report all relevant information to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC),” it said, and linked to instructions on how to report an item or shop.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.