Etsy Updates Selling Rules – No More Human Bone For Sale!

Etsy has made some amendments to the list of items that users are forbidden from being sold on the site which now includes human bone, mercury and motorvehicles.

However people who like jewelry or ornaments made from human hair or teeth need not be alarmed, because you can still purchase those on the site!

These changes were explained in a blog post by the sites policy team which they claim to be introducing in order to “maintain Etsy as a marketplace that is safe for both shoppers and sellers.”

Some of the items that the site has decided to ban have been prohibited because they are subject to “complex legal regulations” whereas other things simply “aren’t in the spirit of Etsy.”

Anyone hoping to use the site to tout a kidney, or other sellable organ will have rethink their strategy. Banned human remains include skulls, bones, articulated skeletons, bodily fluids (who would buy those?) organs and preserved tissue.

Etsy Updates Selling Rules – No More Human Bone For Sale!

It makes perfect sense to me, the last thing you’d want to find out was that the stylish bone bracelet jangling on your wrist was actually made from parts of someone’s grave-robbed grandmother, you just don’t need it!

Anyone hoping to shift a load of mercury thermometers will have to find an alternative platform for their product – mercury has been added to the list of hazardous materials.

There is also no place for poisons, explosives and flammable material. Strangely though, those wonderfully entertaining sparklers have also got the axe and you won’t be able to get caps for toy guns there either. A tad over the top, but I guess they are going with the ‘better safe than sorry’ ideal here!

Good news though for people who like interesting tobacco alternatives, you can now purchase herbal smoking blends and other smokeable stuff on the site. Drug paraphernalia is out though, so you’ll have to find some other way of getting rid of that bong under the bed!
Previous rules prohibited the sale of alcohol, drugs, live animals, pornography and firearms on the site, if you want to see if Etsy’s new amendments include any of your listings then you can view the entire list in their ‘Dos and Don’ts’ section.