Etsy built its reputation around handmade goods, but longtime sellers now say AI-generated listings are making that promise harder to recognize. Many are leaving the platform as cheap AI products flood searches and undercut human creators.
Why are handmade sellers leaving Etsy?
Emily Olson started selling puppy portraits on Etsy in 2017 and earned over $40,000 through the platform in 2021. According to Wired, her sales then fell 30% in 2022 and 50% the next year. AI-made pet portraits were outranking her listings and selling for a fraction of her price. She told NBC News she spent hours on listings nobody saw. Olson has now moved to Shopify, where sales are slower. Still, she believes you’ll always want things made by real people.
After she posted about quitting on YouTube, other sellers shared similar stories. UK illustrator Viktor says his sales dropped 98% in a single year. Knitwear designer Chantal Miyagishima told CBC News her pattern sales fell at least 50% in six months. AI copycats are mimicking her designs, and many AI patterns don’t work. In her Instagram poll of 2,000 followers, 70% said they no longer buy patterns on Etsy.
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Is Etsy doing anything about AI slop?
Etsy has allowed AI-made products since 2024, as long as sellers disclose it. Sellers say it’s rarely enforced. James Ossman, Etsy’s vice president of customer operations, says sellers can use AI as a tool but can’t deceive buyers or copy others’ work. He admits enforcement at Etsy’s scale is complex and says the company is improving how it removes listings.
Etsy itself is doing fine. It earned $2.8 billion in revenue last year, up 2.7%, and plenty of shoppers happily buy cute AI prints. Meanwhile rivals are using this opportunity to come up with new platforms. Fybe, a new crafts marketplace, bans AI-generated goods and drop-shipping while using human moderators to check listings. Etsy isn’t the only platform dealing with AI-generated knockoffs. Apple Books has faced a similar problem with fake AI-written books appearing under real authors’ names.
