This article is more than 1 year old

Hipster craft site bans sales of blood and skulls

Human teeth and hair still are okay though

Etsy, the crafty hipster’s version of eBay, has issued an edict curbing its contributor’s creativity with raw materials such as drugs and human body parts.

The online shopping site prides itself on being the purveyor of the offbeat and eclectic when it comes to self-made objects but has had to draw the line on some or its seller’s choice of creative inspiration.

The Policy Team at Etsy issued a statement to the community outlining a “prohibited list” which includes items that may be subject to complex legal regulations or restrictions that vary greatly by location, but also includes things that “just aren’t in the spirit of Etsy.”

The team said that it had devoted the past several months to extensively researching some “offbeat and fascinating topics, from issues surrounding the sale of human bones to the corrosive and toxic properties of mercury.” Subsequently its terms and conditions of trade have now altered.

Now strictly off the list is the sale of human remains or body parts but human hair and teeth are still tradable commodities.

The Etsy team detailed that members can no longer buy or sell skulls, bones, articulated skeletons, bodily fluids, preserved tissues or organs, and other similar human products.

Meanwhile, the category of drugs, medical drug claims about an item and drug paraphernalia has been straightened up. “We have clarified the previous language from “drug-like substances” to now be “medical drug claims about an item.” It is also reinforcing its standards on drug paraphernalia. This includes, banning items such as pipes with carburettors, water pipes, bubblers, oil domes, hash skillets, vaporizers, and ash catchers.

Tobacco and other smokeable products which includes herbal smoking blends, tobacco-alternatives, and other products that one might commonly smoke in a pipe or cigarette form are also off the shopping list.

Things that might be deemed flammable, explosive, corrosive, poisonous- hazardous materials – have also been banned.

The platform has also summoned a ‘Marketplace Integrity Team’ which will assist sellers understand the new rules and comply with listings. ®

More about

More about

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like