TEYING BUYER GUIDE · UPDATED OCTOBER 1, 2026
Etsy Production Partner Rules for China-Made Jewelry: A Seller's Walkthrough
Etsy permits jewelry that a seller designs and a disclosed manufacturing partner produces. This walkthrough covers when partner disclosure applies, what the listing has to show, where the designer boundary actually sits, and what a factory in China can hand over when a shop is reviewed.
The short answer: disclosure and originality are two separate tests
Etsy lets you list jewelry you designed and had manufactured elsewhere, provided the production partner is disclosed and the design is yours rather than a factory catalog item. Disclosure covers the partner's name or a confidentiality request, its location, and the work it does. Get the location line right on every listing, and keep design and production records for appeals.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Etsy revises its policies, so read the Seller Policy version in force before you publish or appeal.
What Etsy regulates, and what it does not
Etsy does not ban overseas manufacturing. Two rules run alongside each other, and shops run into trouble when they satisfy one and not the other.
Originality. A listing has to fit one of Etsy's creativity categories: made by you, designed by you, handpicked by you, or sourced by you. A gold-plated brass ring pulled from a factory catalog and listed as handmade does not fit any of them.
Transparency. If someone outside your shop physically produces the item, that party is a production partner and has to be disclosed in the listing process.
A 925 sterling silver pendant you sketched, refined with a factory, and had cast in Yiwu can be fully compliant. The same pendant with the factory hidden is a violation, even though the object is identical.
| Scenario | Category | Partner disclosure |
|---|---|---|
| You design the piece, a factory produces it to your spec | Designed by you | Required |
| You buy a factory catalog style and list it as handmade | None | Not permitted |
| You rework a catalog style into your own design, factory produces it | Designed by you | Required |
| You set a stone into a casting you made yourself | Made by you | Not required |
Suppliers of raw materials, tools, and shipping carriers are not production partners. The working test is narrower than most sellers assume: did that party touch the product the customer receives?
Etsy's Seller Policy was updated effective July 9, 2026, and seller-side reporting describes an audit window for listings published earlier. Confirm the current text and any deadline directly with Etsy rather than relying on a summary, including this one.
What has to appear in the listing
The policy asks for four things during the listing process: the partner's name, the partner's location, the nature of the partnership and the design process, and a general description of the work the partner performs.
The location and the work description appear publicly on the shop's About section and on the listings. The partner's name and the details of the arrangement can be marked confidential, visible to selected Etsy staff, if you would rather not publish your supplier.
Two practical consequences follow.
First, the country of production becomes public even when the factory name does not. A listing that says "handmade in the USA" while production sits in Zhejiang is a mismatch a reviewer can find in one pass.
Second, the partner record is set once in shop settings and then attached to listings. Confirm that every listing using that factory actually points to the partner record. A partner added to settings but not linked to the listings is still an undisclosed partner.
The same transparency logic now covers AI assistance. Where AI generated or materially altered a listing image or description, Etsy expects a plain statement of that in the listing, and the primary image is expected to show the real finished item rather than a render or an invented scene.
Where the designer boundary sits
The reviewer's question is who made the creative decisions. That is answered with records, not with assertions.
- Design files carrying your name, dates, and revision history
- Your sketches or CAD, or a written brief the factory worked from
- Revision notes showing what you rejected and why
- Tooling that belongs to you rather than to the factory
- Packaging artwork, logo files, and brand assets under your control
A factory that sells only its own catalog makes this evidence trail impossible, which is why those listings fail the originality test before disclosure is even considered. TEYING stays on the production side of the line: designs arrive from the brand, production follows the approved specification, and the mold is owned by the client who paid for it.
The OEM vs ODM comparison explains the difference between adapting an existing style and developing an original one, which is the distinction that decides whether a listing qualifies.
What a factory can hand you
When Etsy reviews a shop, or when a buyer asks where a piece was made, the seller needs facts rather than assurances. This is the set to request from any manufacturing partner.
- Photographs of the real production piece, not only renders. A sample you have in hand photographs better than a digital image, and the photo standard favors real items.
- A specification sheet per SKU: base material (brass or 925 sterling silver), plating route and thickness target in microns, stone or pearl type, dimensions, and finished weight.
- Material and testing documentation where the order and the destination market require it. Applicable testing and documentation are confirmed by material, destination market, and order scope.
- Export documents for the shipment: Certificate of Origin, Commercial Invoice, and Packing List, discussed per shipment.
A factory should never issue paperwork it did not test for. Five fields make a report usable: the report number, the issue date, the named laboratory, the test method, and the SKU or batch the report covers. Check all five against the goods in the carton. A report that does not name your SKU proves nothing about your order. The same applies to plating claims, which is why independent thickness verification is worth arranging on a first order.
What happens when disclosure is skipped
Etsy's enforcement can include listing deactivation, warnings, and shop suspension. Seller-side legal analyses of Etsy suspensions describe funds being held for up to 180 days after deactivation while buyer claims are settled, with an appeal path that requires a written plan identifying the exact policy trigger.
An undisclosed production partner is among the most frequently cited triggers in those analyses, and it sits in the same category as misrepresenting resale as handmade. The cost of getting it right is one settings entry and one line per listing.
Setting it up once
- Add the partner in shop settings so it can be attached to listings.
- Decide whether the partner name is public or confidential. Location goes public either way.
- Confirm each listing that uses the factory points to the correct partner record.
- Check that the primary image shows the real finished item.
- Disclose AI assistance where the listing uses it.
- Keep design files, spec sheets, and reports in one folder per SKU.
- Re-read the Seller Policy in force before a large listing push.
None of this is difficult. It is a one-time setup plus a habit of keeping documents, and both are cheaper than an appeal.
If you are preparing a listing and need the production side documented, send the reference and target quantity through the TEYING quote form. We can confirm material, finish, and which documents the project supports, and we will not describe you as anything other than the designer.
FAQ
Do I have to disclose my jewelry factory on Etsy?
Yes, if that factory physically produces the item you sell. Etsy treats it as a production partner and asks you to identify it during the listing process. You can request that the name stay confidential, but the partner's location and a description of the work performed will appear on your shop's About section and on the listings.
Can I sell factory catalog jewelry on Etsy as handmade?
No. A style bought from a catalog and listed as handmade is resale, which Etsy prohibits. The compliant route is to design the piece yourself, or to rework it into a genuinely new design, and then disclose the factory that produces it. A small color change does not turn a catalog item into your original design.
What documents should my factory provide for an Etsy listing?
Photographs of the real production piece, a spec sheet per SKU with base material, plating route, stone type and dimensions, and material or testing reports where the order and market require them. Check any report for the report number, issue date, laboratory, test method, and the SKU or batch it covers. Reports that do not name your SKU do not apply to your order.
What happens if I do not disclose a production partner?
Etsy's enforcement can include listing deactivation and shop suspension, and seller-side legal analyses describe funds held for up to 180 days while buyer claims are settled. Undisclosed partners are among the most commonly cited triggers. Confirm the current consequences in Etsy's Seller Policy, because the wording is revised and the version that applies is the one in force on the date of the decision.
Preparing a listing and need production facts?
Send the reference and quantity; material, finish and document support are confirmed for the listing.
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