Etsy Policy Update : Labeling Your Items
11. Aug, 2011 
18 Comments
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Bunting GIft Tags in Rainbow Bright
Etsy moving the default search to the most relevant caused a few concerns in the community. The main concerns were with the tagging polices. This week Etsy took notice and revised the tagging and labeling polices.
Here is the revised labeling polices:
There are several key pieces of information about your item that Etsy uses to help shoppers find what they are seeking, such as: titles, tags, attributes, materials, categories and subcategories. It’s very important to accurately label your items. Providing high-quality, accurate info helps shoppers find your items. Inaccurate info can create a frustrating shopping experience for everyone in the marketplace.
Here are the basic rules for labeling your listings:
- Only use accurate and relevant terms that describe the specific item for sale in your listing.
- Answers to “Who made it?”, “What is it?” and “When was it made?” must be accurate; this information determines the categories available for your listing.
- You may use relevant synonyms (for example: a purse may be described as a “handbag”). You must not label a listing with related, but inaccurate words (for example: mittens should not be described as “scarf,” earrings should not be described as “necklace”).
- If your items are one-of-a-kind or unique, you may describe your listing as “original,” “OOAK,” “one of a kind,” or other synonyms. However, if your item is a reproduction or in an edition of multiples, you must not describe it with these terms.
- You may use a short descriptive phrase as a tag if it accurately describes your item (for example: “sterling silver,” “messenger bag,” “steampunk cufflinks”).
- You may not stuff multiple words into a single tag that do not comprise a descriptive phrase (for example: “beach water sunset,” “handbag purse clutch,” “green red blue black.”)
- You should only state what the item is, not what the item may become or potential uses for the item (for example: yarn should not be labeled as “sweater,” beads should not be labeled as “bracelet,” small gift items should not be labeled as “stocking stuffer”).
- Tags or attributes that describe the craft or process used to create an item should only refer to the processes that you personally used to create the item (for example: note cards should only be described as “papermaking” if you made the paper by hand from pulp, a wooden shelf should only be described as “woodworking” if you built the shelf).
- If your listing contains mature content, then you must comply with Etsy’s mature content policies. This includes tagging and titling your listing with the word “mature.”
You can read the rest of the policy here: www.etsy.com/policy/dosdonts#tagging
Also here is the official announcement: HERE 
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This brings up a question. If I have an item that is blue-green, would it be better to tag it “blue-green”, “blue green” or “blue” “green”?
you would tag it as blue green or green blue. People usually don’t hyphenate when searching for colors
I think all of them
you have no idea which one will type your future client 
My views have dropped dramatically! Im very frustrated about this.
I’m having a love-hate relationship with Etsy listing procedures, but I’m hopeful that the new policies pay off! So glad Etsy listened to what people were saying, too.
my wiew also dropped to half.
i already changed all the title and followed etsy guide, but still…..very frustrated too
I could be wrong, but I feel like this is mainly causing problems for sellers that relied heavily on renewals or updates to generate traffic. My shop views have been pretty consistent and I’m not one who renewed or updated super often…I also haven’t updated with the new policies but I think I pretty much was following these guidelines anyway.
“You may not stuff multiple words into a single tag that do not comprise a descriptive phrase (for example: “beach water sunset,” “handbag purse clutch,” “green red blue black.”)”
Back then I was told by the Etsy Admins in the Community chatrooms that sellers are able to put multiple descriptive words in one tag even if it’s not a descriptive phrase. Since when has that changed? Or it’s always been like that?
Yesterday was the first day in a loooong time that i had no likes or favorites on my shop. It was absolutely stunning to me. I thought something was dramatically wrong.
Renewing items to get to the top of the search has become such an “Etsy mindset” that it’s hard to rethink our approach.
But I honestly think this change will make it much easier for buyers to find what they’re looking. And keeping Etsy buyers happy, and returning again and again, is a good thing for Etsy sellers.
oops! What they’re looking FOR.
So-with this change does help to “renew” or not?
Since changing my listings around to comply with the new policies, my views have increased a lot!! I’m much happier with things this way. The “recency” thing never made sense to me – and I don’t understand why so many people are upset. I’d rather learn all I could about the new policy, adjust my listings accordingly, and watch the views roll in instead of having to constantly renew (and PAY to renew) items just to be seen amongst the throngs of items in Etsy.
i have noticed that many people buy items,such as corsets, that are obviously purchased new and then add fancy lace or leather. can this be allowed? who decides whether or not an item is really vintage? does a person get any prior notice if they are violating etsy policy so they can remove the items?
“You should only state what the item is, not what the item may become or potential uses for the item (for example: yarn should not be labeled as “sweater,” beads should not be labeled as “bracelet,” small gift items should not be labeled as “stocking stuffer”).”
Disagree- sort of. While I see where it’s weird and useless to use the tag “sweater” when selling yarn, I think it’s a great idea to tag relevant small items with “stocking stuffer”. Seriously! I think I search for stocking stuffers every holiday season, on Google and on Etsy… You should most definitely include tags describing the use of the item when it’s relevant.