News Etsy cracks down on 3D printed products — new rules exclude many 3D printed items from listings

[Admin]

Changes to Etsy's creativity standards may ban selling items you didn’t design yourself.

Etsy cracks down on 3D printed products — new rules exclude many 3D printed items from listings : Read more

 

[Alvar "Miles" Udell]

The irony of banning items you didn't design yourself yet allowing and profiteering from items that feature unlicensed IP...

 

[USAFRet]

The irony of banning items you didn't design yourself yet allowing and profiteering from items that feature unlicensed IP...

Many downloadable files specifically allow commercialization. Print and sell.

 

[HK2K]

It’s about time. The ‘race to the bottom’ is one of the reasons I stopped selling on Etsy. Even when you design your own stuff, you’re lost in the jungle of 500000 listings from subscribers to Patreon and whatnot.

 

[Ladyvip]

I finally reached the point where I was planning to quit my job I hate, because each month I finally had consistently earned enough to get by and then some. I was exclusively selling on Etsy. Even if you do not design your prints, many requires lot of post-processing, and ALL requires some manual labor. It's not like a paper printer. I pay for "merchant licenses" for patreon designers, and I occasionally paint the figures, but because I am alone I can only paint some of them. I get why they want to cut down on it due to many terrible and illegal sellers, but actually messing up people with legal, good quality prints, too, is not the way to go. Etsy is a huge marketplace, and for many countries, like mine, one of the very few viable options. It will be a bit harder to find someone to print for you and I am pretty sure some Patreon 3D designers will also notice at least some drop in the sales of their commercial licenses.

 

[drmischief]

Glad to see Etsy is continuing its downward trajectory to a pile of flames and ash. Ever since the policy changes a couple of years ago that alienate and dissuade actual individual makers, they've been worthless. Etsy will never be Amazon and they need to stop trying to do.

 

[MrDiggie]

Ironic when the admin wants to bring back manufacturing

 

[SyCoREAPER]

That's BS. Those are among the few products that actually end up being exactly as advertised. If it werent for the Etsy seller I wouldnt have a Noctua cooled 4090

 

[radfaraf]

Meanwhile for a long time they seem to have absolutely no problem with mass produced goods from China that are then resold by usa sellers.

 

[HappyGothGal]

Honestly, I love this decision. I've been making jewelry by hand using my own designs. My longest project took 2 years, I work until I'm ecstatic to wear it myself before I sell it, but most projects take a few months.
I pick out all the beads I use, I pick it 6 all the chains I use, I pick out all the elastics I use, I pick out all the feathers I use, I pick out all the fabric I use, I hand sew EVERYTHING, I pick out EVERYTHING I use, I pick out the model trainset trees I want to use for very specific jewelry, and all these people are buying a blueprint and selling someone else's creation.

 

[HappyGothGal]

I wear all my own jewelry and sell independently and everyone tells me to sell on Etsy and I never have because people just buy 3D printed "cool designs" from artists who design things and then just sell it like it's their own. The market has been oversaturated with unoriginal, regurgitated 3D designs, and it makes me sad.

As far as I have known, Etsy has always been for original designers. If your want to buy the rights to 3D print some copy and pasted swill, just sell it on those highly marketed influencer sites

 

[Shralla]

This will be a devastating blow to the foam dart blaster (nerf gun) community. Many creators make their 3D print files available for free with full knowledge and intention that other sellers will print and produce the parts for those who can't do so themselves.

 

[ferdnyc]

Many downloadable files specifically allow commercialization.

They do, but that's not what Miles was referring to. Etsy is awash with legitimately handmade, personally-designed "fan art" products that feature characters and locations from popular entertainment.

As well as lots of other crap. Like the "custom hedgehog hero birthday portrait" one seller is offering, where they just sloppily Photoshop your kid's head onto a Sonic & Knuckles scene. It has a 4.9/5 ⭐ rating and 329 reviews. You think Sega licensed that product?

That's just one example of thousands.

 

[ferdnyc]

the foam dart blaster (nerf gun) community.

All five of you?!?

 

[radfaraf]

I have a 3d printer, don't sell 3d printed items at all, or sell anything at all on etsy, but ocassionally buy things on etsy, and twice bought 3d printed items that the seller supposedly designed themselves.

But wondering how they would even enforce this especially without costing them lots of time/money What kind of easy way could you prove you designed something yourself and print it, vs bought a file? You could easily rat on yourself by admitting you bought a file, but nobody is going to do that unless they leaving in fear they get taken down later.

 

[mazduhz]

Many downloadable files specifically allow commercialization. Print and sell.

yes, on ebay/amazon, the junk juggernaughts of the internet....not etsy, where small one or two person sellers are handmaking everything, and not just pressing print and shipping off, THAT'S not creative OR fair

 

[mazduhz]

This will be a devastating blow to the foam dart blaster (nerf gun) community. Many creators make their 3D print files available for free with full knowledge and intention that other sellers will print and produce the parts for those who can't do so themselves.

perfectly fine, on junk sites like ebay/amazon, NOT etsy......

 

[Setnev]

The only people this is going to affect is the large print farms racing to the bottom and the idiots who think 3D printing is a get rich quick scheme. I do just fine on Etsy with my own designs in a small niche that the majority of my competition will soon fall out of because they're using stolen/licensed/now-prohibited designs. As a designer, I put a lot of work, thought, and raw engineering skills into my designs and mods and it kills me to see someone come onto the platform with some <Mod Edit> poor quality printed designs that were taken from Thingiverse that they put absolutely zero work into and try to undercut me. My works aren't expensive, but they're not the bottom of the barrel and I have the balance of quality and price down right. There's a reason I'm a 5-star seller in my category

 

[xnmv]

I finally reached the point where I was planning to quit my job I hate, because each month I finally had consistently earned enough to get by and then some. I was exclusively selling on Etsy. Even if you do not design your prints, many requires lot of post-processing, and ALL requires some manual labor. It's not like a paper printer. I pay for "merchant licenses" for patreon designers, and I occasionally paint the figures, but because I am alone I can only paint some of them. I get why they want to cut down on it due to many terrible and illegal sellers, but actually messing up people with legal, good quality prints, too, is not the way to go. Etsy is a huge marketplace, and for many countries, like mine, one of the very few viable options. It will be a bit harder to find someone to print for you and I am pretty sure some Patreon 3D designers will also notice at least some drop in the sales of their commercial licenses.

I thought Patreon was a begging platform for live streamers.

 

[dom_sow]

While this will hurt some, it will help in the end. I understand paying for stl and legally being able to sell them but that doesn't mean Etsy or any site has to allow it. Etsy ought to be for people who make things themselves. 3D prints are not like crocheting, and why I am for this change. If you did tge print with one of those 3d pens then you earned the right to sell stl that everyone can buy.

This is a win for actual creators. Not someone who spent $$$ for a printer just sp they can click print. I know, you have to calibrate and crap but that is not the same as handmaking it. Or even designing it in cad or whatever. It takes skill to do that. Doesn't take anything but money to buy an stl and click print.

 

[HK2K]

I’ve been printing for over a decade now. Back in the beginning, calibration was needed. Now, the decent machines print flawlessly out of the box.

If someone’s ‘business’ is being negatively affected by this change, then they don’t deserve to be in business, because it’s not a business… it’s the equivalent of buying something (the file itself) and just reselling at a higher price point.

Etsy is clogged with sellers who sell a print with $2 in filament for $2.50, not worried about overhead, because they believe they’re actually making a profit.

Regarding the Patreon artists… yea, they may lose some subscribers, but the good ones are making 5-6 figures a month… they’ll be ok.

 

[Thomas Friedmann]

What needs to happen is for Etsy to create a marketplace for the 3d printed market. I have no desire at this point to start printing my own stuff. I am happy getting it from someone else. The products I want normally have commercial licensing terms on their download pages. Just a pain to get print for service places to print small amounts of stuff even if you are willing to pay for the license and such.