Recently, Etsy, our favorite online marketplace to buy and sell handcrafted and vintage goods, released a statement confirming that the company has updated its prohibited items list, adding new things that can longer be sold to ensure the safety of its community.
New additions to the list? Tobacco and other smokeable products, human bones or body parts (which excludes hair and teeth), hazardous materials (anything flammable, poisonous or explosive), motor vehicles, and drugs, including medical drug claims about an item and drug paraphernalia. These seemingly obvious do-not-sell items are added to the already existing list which includes alcohol, real estate, live animals and pornography, among other things.
Maybe it's just us, but when we think of Etsy, we picture cute handmade mittens and intricate jewelry, not weaponry and body parts. But, regardless, we thank the minds behind this policy for ensuring that during our almost daily perusing on Etsy we will not stumble upon a random human hand or eyeball. And we can now surf safely knowing there isn't a used car salesmen on the site somewhere waiting to rip off innocent vehicle buyers. Phew.
The updates to the prohibited items list went into effect as of August 8th, 2012. The company reminds its community that each person is responsible for making the right moral and ethical decisions regarding what they buy and sell on the site. For more information about this updated policy, visit Etsy.
Correction: A previous version of this story indicated that Etsy's new policy bans the sale of bones. To clarify, the ban is on human bones--apparently animal bones are still allowed.
