Help! Etsy is removing my fantasy sex toy listings, what should I do?

Stunned and shook, though not surprised. That’s what the Konfettie team felt like after reading what various indie sex toy creators are expressing about Etsy in the last couple of days.

Apparently, it’s justified to remove listings and purge sellers from the marketplace. And apparently, actions like these are not even worthy of a warning to the sellers in advance. We offer resistance. After all, when a marketplace succeeds, sellers should also succeed. That’s called justice.

So what is going on? 
More and more sellers of artisan adult items are receiving messages from Etsy informing them that their listings have been removed. The online marketplace Etsy recently made changes that, deservedly, sparked resistance from lots of artisan adult businesses on the platform. The marketplace has started purging many fantasy toy makers by changing policies, without informing the shop owners and giving them time to correct or change anything. How’s that for fairness? 

 
Screw Etsy
Tentickle Toys, an adult toy maker from the UK, says: screw Etsy for their sudden change of heart. Unlike other adult toymakers, Tentickle Toys does not solely rely on Etsy. But what about the adult toy makers that rely on Etsy? The listings that Etsy removed from Tentickle Toys were a tentacle toy and a werewolf finger toy, which are both fantasy sex toys.

We spoke to Fantasticocks from Ohio (USA). “We seem to have been fairly lucky and had about 12 of our 57 listings removed, while some shops who had way fewer listings had all their listings removed. We hope this is a fluke but are currently preparing for the worst.”

Fantasticocks also mentioned that their sales have drastically gone down due to the unexpected behavior of Etsy. 
On Twitter, you can find numerous posts like the one below from Jack O’Toy, a fantasy sex toymaker from France who has also been under attack by Etsy. His listing, my little porny, got banned. 

If you change your policies, let people know
Don’t get us wrong. Any marketplace is allowed to change its policies, to set or sharpen its rules, or to choose whether sellers are welcome on the platform. Though, Etsy never informed any of the sellers that suddenly lost listings about the fact that they were changing policies and therefore removing (products in) their shops. You simply can’t leave indie toy makers that created beautiful artisan products in the dark like that. 

The Indie Sellers Guild 
Earlier, in April, thousands of Etsy sellers went on strike in protest of the company's policies that made it harder for small business owners to turn a profit. That was the beginning of actions against the platform. Now, merchants have formed the Indie Sellers Guild.

The guild officially launched on September 5th, 2022. According to its mission statement, the guild is working to "advocate against the 'Amazonification' of online marketplaces", hoping to preserve the space for creators of handmade and artisanal goods and for the more significant appreciation of "art and creativity".

Issues that indie sex toy sellers encountered included weeks-long wait times for servicing help tickets, automated shop shutdowns, removal of listings, and a lack of enforcement of the company’s own policy against resellers. The strike’s organizers have cemented the fact that something should be changed, by creating the Indie Sellers Guild. Kristi Cassidy from the Etsy Guild elaborated: "It's a complicated situation at the moment. We do welcome indie makers of adult products in the guild".

Hello new wishlist
Black fang labs did point out something very unfortunate via Twitter. Did you put fantasy sex toys on your wishlist, but lost them? Don’t worry! You can create and share a new wishlist at Konfettie. 

Join our safe and open place
We believe that artisan creators dealing in handmade, curated, and craft adult goods, should always be able to sell in a safe environment and positive manner. This is one of the main reasons that we started Konfettie in the first place. We will welcome you with arms as open as our communication and as clean as our intentions. We support the support.

How do things differently
The reason why we want to do things a lot different than Etsy, is because of what we mentioned above. Hard, artisan workers deserve the best place to sell their goods in the best circumstances. This is why we have one fixed fee, no mandatory extra costs, and an unlimited amount of listings for free. Furthermore, our platform is only welcome for curated sellers. We keep re-sellers out.

In addition, we develop our marketplace according to the feedback of our sellers. What do we, as a group, think is acceptable? What do and what don’t we want to see on the platform? This is a new kind of marketplace. Together we set the rules. Together we become successful. 

Will you be kicked out for no reason? If your listings are body-safe: never. 

In case you have any questions, contact our Founder directly: emilie@konfettie.eu

Sign up via this link and become a curated seller (EU only). Join our wait list for the USA and Canada (the more this list grows, the faster we can expand).