Etsy to Ban Sex Toys and Other ‘Mature’ Products in New Policy

The new policy, released by Etsy on Thursday and reported by Mashable on Friday, is the company’s attempt to “continue to keep our users safe,” Alice Wu, the head of Etsy’s trust and safety team, wrote in a public letter. The company declined to comment further.

Not all sex-related products will be banned. Accessories like handcuffs and harnesses will still be allowed, along with paintings or sculptures that show “visible breasts and buttocks.” But the “more rigorous guidelines,” as Ms. Wu’s letter referred to them, mean that some Etsy sellers will have to leave the platform entirely or substantially shift their offerings.

Twisted Fantasies, a company in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is one of the sellers set to take “a big hit,” Avi Goldstein, its owner, said. The business specializes in colorful silicone sex toys designed and produced in the United States. Among other offerings, it has phallic items carved in the shape of cannoli, tulips and Christmas trees.

Since it was founded in 2022, Twisted Fantasies has made more than 4,800 sales on Etsy. (In its first year, about 65 percent of the company’s total sales came from Etsy.) But in 2023, Mr. Goldstein said, Etsy began reviewing and delisting some of his products, citing violations without much specificity or consistency. For example, he said, some products were seemingly flagged for referring to animals, even if the reference was just to the product’s color, like “canary yellow.”

Even before the ban, it was getting harder to run his business, Mr. Goldstein said. So, he thought, “Why don’t we just make our own marketplace?” This year, he started the website Spicerack as an independent alternative to Etsy.