The new policy, announced by Etsy on Thursday and reported by Mashable on Friday, is the company’s attempt to “continue to keep our users safe,” Alice Wu, Etsy’s head of trust and safety, wrote in an open letter. The company declined to comment further.
Not all sexual products are banned. Accessories like handcuffs and harnesses are still allowed, as are paintings or sculptures that show “visible breasts and buttocks.” But the “stricter guidelines” mentioned in Ms. Wu’s letter mean some Etsy sellers will have to leave the platform entirely or make significant changes to their offerings.
Twisted Fantasies, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., company, is one of the sellers that will be “hit hard,” said owner Avi Goldstein. The business specializes in colorful silicone sex toys designed and manufactured in the U.S. Among its other products are phallic objects carved into the shapes of cannoli, tulips and Christmas trees.
Twisted Fantasies has had more than 4,800 sales on Etsy since it launched in 2022. (In its first year, about 65% of the company’s total sales came from Etsy.) But in 2023, Goldstein said Etsy began reviewing and delisting some of his listings, citing inconsistent or nonspecific violations. For example, he said some listings appeared to be flagged for mentioning animals, even when the reference was simply to the product’s color, such as “canary yellow.”
Even before the ban, Mr. Goldstein said it was becoming increasingly difficult to run a business. So he thought, “Why not create our own marketplace?” This year, he launched the website Spicerack as an independent alternative to Etsy.