What Etsy and Other Marketplaces Verify (and What They Don’t)

Loch Ness · HANDMADE, CHECKED · Marketplaces

Part of: How Jewelry Makers Can Prove Their Work Is Handmade, in the guide Is Handmade Jewelry Really Handmade? What It Guarantees

By Camille G., founder of Loch Ness · Published September 29, 2026 · Last updated September 29, 2026

Short answer: most marketplaces check what you declare, not how you work. Etsy asks you to label your role in each item. Amazon Handmade reviews an application before you can sell. Your own website checks nothing at all. None of them sends anyone to look at your bench.

Human Origin Label · For jewelry makers Marketplaces check your listing. We check your process. A short video review, nothing kept, and a public page your customers can open from any shop you sell on. Get verified, it’s free → Not ready for a review? Get the free self-declared badge →

Etsy: labels you declare

Since July 2024, Etsy’s Creativity Standards require every item to be labeled as made, designed, sourced or handpicked by the seller, to show the level of human involvement (TechCrunch). The “Designed by” label covers items produced with an outside production partner, generative AI or other digital tools.

Etsy does enforce these rules: it said it removed four times as many listings breaking its handmade policy as the year before (TechCrunch). And its seller guidance recommends that the first image or video shows the actual item the buyer will receive, not a rendering or stock photo (Etsy Seller Handbook).

What it doesn’t do: verify, before you list, that you actually made what you label “Made by”. The label is your statement.

Amazon Handmade: an application first

Amazon Handmade works differently. You can’t list right away: you apply as an artisan and wait for approval, and the marketplace is meant for people who make everything themselves or with a small team of twenty people or fewer (eComEngine). Guides for applicants stress that Amazon reviews each application by hand and expects a specific description of how you make your products, with workspace photos helping (The Craft Map).

That’s a real gate at the door. It is still a one-time review of your application, not an ongoing, public record buyers can check.

Your own website: nothing, unless you add it

On Shopify, WordPress or any independent shop, there is no label and no review. Whatever proof exists is the proof you publish yourself: your process photos, your story, your answers to questions.

Side by side

	Etsy	Amazon Handmade	Your own site
Before you can sell	Nothing to prove	Artisan application, reviewed	Nothing
On each item	Made / Designed / Sourced / Handpicked label	Handmade category rules	Nothing
Photos	First image should show the actual item	Standard listing rules	Up to you
What buyers can check	Your declared label	That you were accepted	Whatever you show

What this means for you

• Label honestly on every platform. A “Designed by” item described as handmade is the fastest way to lose a buyer’s trust.
• Don’t let the platform carry your credibility. Your process photos and material records travel with you from one shop to another.
• If you sell in several places, give buyers one link that works everywhere: a page showing your process, reviewed by someone independent.

That last point is why Human Origin exists: one review of your process, and a badge that links to the same public verification page whether it sits on your Etsy shop, your website or your Instagram bio.

One verification page for every shop you sell on. Apply for a free review →

The two things that make any review go smoothly are good process photos and a clean record of your materials.

Full disclosure: Human Origin, the label mentioned on this page, is something I created. I’m flagging it so you can weigh what I say about it. The facts above rest on the sources below.

Sources

• TechCrunch — Etsy adds AI-generated item guidelines in new seller policy (July 2024)
• Etsy Seller Handbook — Policy best practices when listing items
• eComEngine — How it works: selling on Amazon Handmade
• The Craft Map — Amazon Handmade application: how to get approved as an artisan

Update log

September 29, 2026 — First publication.