If you use AI to design your Etsy products, one small field in the listing form causes more worry than almost anything else. It sits under the item details, it asks who designed the item, and picking the wrong option is one of the most common reasons AI-assisted listings get flagged. This guide covers exactly what to select, why it matters, and how to write a disclosure that keeps your shop safe, without overthinking it.
What the “Designed by” field actually is
Every Etsy listing asks who made the item. For handmade goods, sellers choose “Made by” and name themselves. For anything where a tool did the creating, Etsy expects “Designed by” instead. The distinction is small on screen but meaningful to Etsy’s systems.
When you use AI image tools to create a planner cover, a wall art print, or a sticker sheet, you are directing the design rather than drawing every line by hand. Etsy treats that as design work, not handmade work. So the accurate choice is “Designed by [your shop name]”, not “Made by”.
Think of it the way a photographer relates to editing software. The photographer still made the creative decisions, but the tool shaped the final image. Etsy simply wants that relationship stated plainly.
Etsy’s 2026 rules in plain terms
Etsy updated its seller policy in January 2026 and made the AI requirements clearer than before. There are three parts, and none of them are difficult.
First, tick the “I used AI-generative technology” checkbox in the listing form. This is a simple yes-or-no field, and it exists specifically for AI-assisted work.
Second, set the attribution to “Designed by” instead of “Made by”. This is the field that trips people up. AI-assisted work marked as “Made by” is one of the most common triggers for a listing review.
Third, mention the AI use in your description. Etsy wants this stated in words, not just implied by the checkbox. A short, honest line is enough.
For the full background on how these rules fit together, our Etsy AI policy guide covers the wider picture. This post stays focused on getting the field itself right.
Why the field matters more than sellers expect
It is easy to treat the “Designed by” field as a formality. It is not. Etsy uses automated checks to flag listings that look inconsistent, and a mismatch between AI-assisted work and a “Made by” attribution is exactly the kind of signal those checks look for.
The consequences are real. Listings have been removed for AI-generated images marked as handmade, for descriptions with no disclosure, and for shops that label some listings one way and some another. Consistency across your whole shop matters as much as any single listing.
The good news is that the fix costs nothing and takes seconds. Choosing “Designed by”, ticking the checkbox, and adding one honest line puts you on the right side of the rules and makes your listings far less likely to be flagged.
PromptlessPress reminds you to handle disclosure before you publish. When you create a listing, the studio shows a short “before you publish” checklist — including the reminder to set “Designed by” and tick the AI checkbox on Etsy — so nothing slips through. Try it free.
How to write a disclosure that actually counts
Etsy is specific about disclosure language, and this is where many sellers get caught out. Vague phrases like “digitally designed” or “modern aesthetic” do not count. Etsy wants the disclosure to mention AI clearly.
Place the line near the top of your description, not buried at the bottom. Etsy’s guidance and its enforcement patterns both favour disclosure that a buyer would actually see. A single sentence in the first few lines is enough.
A clear example reads something like: “This design was created with AI assistance under the creative direction of the seller.” It states what the tool did and what you did, in plain words. You can adjust the wording to match your voice, as long as it names AI directly and stays honest.
Being specific also helps buyers trust your shop. Transparency has become something shoppers expect, and a plain disclosure signals that you run a careful, above-board business.
A quick checklist before you publish
Before you hit publish on any AI-assisted listing, run through the same short list every time. Set the attribution to “Designed by [your shop name]”. Tick the “I used AI-generative technology” checkbox. Add one clear AI disclosure line near the top of your description. Keep the same approach across every listing in your shop so nothing looks inconsistent.
If you sell across several product types, apply the same steps to each one. A planner, a wall art print, and a greeting card all follow the same rules, so a single habit covers your whole catalogue. If you want a fast way to spot listings that need attention, our free listing audit tool can help you review your shop with fresh eyes.
What about listings you have already published
Most sellers reading this have a back catalogue that predates the habit. The fix is the same, and you do not need to relist anything. Editing the attribution field on a live listing is a normal edit, so it keeps its age, its views and its favourites.
Work oldest first. The listings you made when you were still learning are the ones most likely to say “Made by”, and they have had the longest time to accumulate views under the wrong label. Set the field, tick the box, add the disclosure line, and move on to the next one.
Do not change anything else while you are in there. If you edit the title, the tags and the attribution in the same pass and something shifts in your traffic, you will not know which change caused it. One variable at a time is slower and it actually teaches you something.
Keep one disclosure line and reuse it
The most common inconsistency is not a missing disclosure. It is three slightly different disclosures across a shop, because each one was written from scratch at the moment of listing.
Write the sentence once, save it somewhere you can copy from, and paste the same line every time. It takes the decision out of the process, and it means a buyer browsing several of your listings sees the same clear statement rather than wondering why one item mentions AI and another does not.
If your products span very different types, you can keep two or three variants, but keep them deliberate. The aim is that someone auditing your shop, whether a buyer or Etsy, sees one consistent approach rather than a patchwork.
Getting it right from the start
The sellers who never worry about AI disclosure are the ones who built the habit early. They set “Designed by”, tick the box, and add the line as a normal part of listing, not as an afterthought when a listing gets flagged.
That habit is the whole game. Etsy’s rules are not designed to punish AI sellers; they are designed to keep the marketplace transparent. Meeting them takes a couple of minutes and removes a real source of risk. Once it becomes routine, you can spend your energy on the part that actually grows your shop: making products people want to buy. If you want help ranking those products once they are listed, our guide on how to rank on Etsy is a good next read.