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Etsy’s 2023 Trust & Safety highlights and our plans for 2024
Hi everyone,
I’m Alice Wu and I lead Etsy’s Trust & Safety team. Today, I’m excited to share some insight into the progress we made in 2023 to keep Etsy safe and special—and a look ahead at how we plan to build on and expand this work.
We just published our 2023 Transparency Report, which gives a detailed overview of our policy enforcement efforts. I’m proud to say that improvements we’ve made to both our human and automated detection systems are helping to more accurately identify items that don’t belong on Etsy so we can remove them more quickly. In 2023, we removed two times as many listings for any policy violations and four times as many listings for violating our Handmade Policy compared to the prior year (more details below!).
In the report, we also share a look at our plans to build on this momentum. This year, we’re focused on elevating the best of Etsy–the quality items and shops that embody our mission to Keep Commerce Human. We’re more committed than ever to suppressing and removing listings that violate our policies so that your unique items can shine. In addition to continuing to expand enforcement, here are a few of our key focus areas for 2024:
- Protecting you from spam and scams: Human connection is what makes Etsy so special, and we want to make sure that connecting and communicating with buyers is a safe and productive experience. We’re already in the process of significantly increasing our efforts to minimize spam and scam attempts on Etsy, including via Messages. We're also providing more education and resources to help you protect your shops on and off Etsy.
- Enhancing seller verification: We’ve enhanced and expanded our seller verification processes for new and existing sellers, including strengthening new-shop onboarding to protect our community.
- Evolving marketplace policies: We’re constantly evaluating our policies to protect our community from harm, to ensure they’re aligned with industry standards, and to increase clarity around what you can and cannot sell on Etsy. This year, we plan to review and update our marketplace policies in Adult Content, Hate, Violence, and Off-Platform Transactions.
- Further expansion of non-handmade enforcement: Removing and reducing the visibility of items that don’t belong on Etsy continues to be a top priority—and we know it’s important to you too. In 2024, we plan to further expand enforcement of our Handmade Policy including categorizing the policy so it’s more clear what can and can’t be sold on Etsy. We also know it’s frustrating for both buyers and sellers when they see listings on Etsy that may not follow our Handmade Policy, so we’re holding ourselves accountable by tracking and reducing how often a buyer comes across those items.
All of these efforts help ensure that you can feel safe and secure on Etsy, so you can focus on what matters most—managing your shop, connecting with buyers, and growing your business.
You can read the full 2023 report here, but I’ve pulled out a few highlights below:
- We made our automated detection systems more precise, meaning we can more accurately identify problematic listings on Etsy. Because of this improvement, as well as other enhancements, we removed more than double the total number of listings that violated our policies compared to the year prior.
- We focused on enforcing our Handmade Policy to ensure Etsy is a place where your special, one of a kind, and handcrafted items can shine. As a result of our investments in improving our technology and expanding our detection capabilities, we removed more than four times as many listings and suspended two times more sellers for violating our Handmade Policy than the previous year.
- In addition to removing listings, we’re getting better at keeping items that violate our Handmade Policy from being seen or listed in the first place. We've reduced the number of policy-violating listings that shoppers see by 60%, have more clearly highlighted our policies during the listing process, and are ensuring badges like Star Seller and Etsy’s Picks are reserved for items that comply with our policies.
- We reduced the time it takes for cases to be resolved to an average of just two hours, a significant improvement from the year before. This means buyers and sellers are getting the help they need even faster—so you can get back to business.
I look forward to sharing more updates soon on our progress in these areas, and continuing to work with you to keep Etsy a safe and trusted marketplace.
