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Hipster craft site bans sales of blood and skulls

Human teeth and hair still are okay though

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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. ®

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No worries

Etsy's attitude toward its own rules has always been rather lax. They're happy to let resellers and other violators continue unimpeded as long as they're contributing to the Etsy bottom line. In fact, they're much more vigilant about their prohibition on pointing out in the comments that someone's just reselling cheap trinkets from Alibaba than they are about pursuing the fakes.

Not that I've ever bought anything through Etsy either; they're just notorious for acting high and mighty toward customers, small sellers, and critics, while they pander to the mass resellers. Though that's hardly surprising.

So if you want to peddle human organs on Etsy, you just need to keep your sales figures up.

Incidentally, this article was rather lax in failing to mention Regretsy, April Winchell's often-hilarious blog of the overpriced, fake, and just plain crazy wares of Etsy.

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What's wrong with a second website for these items?

Step 1 Gather blood, skulls, bodily fluids, other detritus as desired

Step 2 Launch 'Ewwwwwtsy'

Step 3 $$$!

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Re: Bodily fluids?

If it's dried, does the residue count? Am I over analysing this?

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