Etsy can train AI on your listings from 16 December. What it means for your photos

Etsy has new terms. They were published on 26 October 2026 and take effect on 16 December 2026. One change matters to anyone who sells their own work there: Etsy and its partners may use your listing photos and descriptions to train AI.

This page sets out what Etsy's own words say, what you can do about it, and what you cannot. It quotes Etsy's Terms of Use and its UK privacy policy directly.

This page is general information, not legal advice. It covers sellers in the United Kingdom first.

How Bernard helps

Etsy brings you buyers, and for many makers it is worth keeping. A website of your own sits beside your shop. On it, your rules apply, not a marketplace's terms.

• Your name goes inside the file. When you say a photo is yours, Bernard writes your name and copyright line into the file itself, in the fields that cameras, editors and search engines read (your name stays with your photos).
• The hidden data comes out. Every new upload and import has its hidden location and device data removed before it goes on your site (What your photos say about you).
• You keep the proof. Bernard keeps an untouched private original of each new image, so you can show you had it first (prove I made this work).
• You make the AI choice. Your media library has a Protect your work panel. While its images switch is on, the photos you have said are yours carry a "not for AI training" note inside the file (can I stop AI companies training on my photos and video?).
• You can see who comes. The AI traffic report shows which AI companies' crawlers visit your site and ask for your images (is AI reading my site?).
• Later: when the images switch is on, Bernard will tell AI training crawlers to stay out in your site's robots.txt file, and then refuse the training crawlers that say who they are.

No website can stop a person or a dishonest crawler from copying a picture, and Bernard does not say it can. Can you stop AI companies training on your work? explains why.

What Etsy's new terms say

Etsy calls everything you post "Your Content". Section 5 of the Terms of Use lists what that covers: "shop names, profile pictures, listing photos, listing descriptions, reviews, comments, videos, usernames, etc." Etsy says it does not claim ownership of any of it.

Section 5.C sets out the licence you give Etsy when you post. Three parts of it matter here.

• It covers AI training. The licence "includes the right for us and our third party partners and vendors to use Your Content to develop, train, test and improve artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, including to improve the Services and/or help keep them safe, subject to any applicable opt-out rights described in our Privacy Policy."
• It does not end. The licence is "non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, irrevocable, sub-licensable, perpetual".
• It reaches beyond Etsy. It covers Etsy's "third party partners and vendors". The terms do not name them.

The same section also asks you to agree "not to assert any moral rights or rights of publicity against us for using Your Content."

What Etsy says it will use it for

Etsy's UK privacy policy says it may use "listing information, product reviews, and community posts to train and develop artificial intelligence and machine learning models". It gives a reason: "to offer you new features (like AI listing tools or AI review summaries)."

So the stated purpose is Etsy's own tools. The terms do not say that Etsy will sell your photos to an AI company, and this page does not say so either. But the licence itself is wider than the examples, and it includes partners and vendors.

Etsy keeps other AI companies out

There is another side to this. Section 6.E of the new terms says no one may use content from Etsy "for the purpose of developing, training, fine-tuning, evaluating, benchmarking, testing, prompting, distilling, or otherwise contributing to any machine learning model, artificial intelligence system, or related technology, without our express permission."

Some sellers read that as protection: outside AI companies are told to stay away from their listings. Both things are true at once. Etsy keeps the right to train on your work for itself and its partners, and it tells everyone else they may not.

Can you opt out?

The licence says it is "subject to any applicable opt-out rights described in our Privacy Policy". We read Etsy's UK privacy policy. It does not name a switch or a form that turns off AI training for your listings.

What it does have is the general right that UK and EEA privacy law gives you. Etsy lists its AI training under processing "where necessary for our legitimate interests", and says: "In the EEA, UK, and other countries you have the right to object to, and seek the restriction of, this processing."

Section 7 of the policy explains what happens when you object: "we will stop processing your information unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue processing or where it is needed for legal reasons." So an objection is a request that Etsy weighs. It is not a switch.

Two things this page does not cover:

• Sellers outside the UK and EEA. Etsy has a separate US privacy policy, which we have not read for this page.
• Deleting a listing. The terms call the licence perpetual and irrevocable. They do not say what happens to it when you delete a listing.

What you can do

You do not have to leave Etsy to look after your work. These steps help wherever you sell.

• Keep your originals. Keep the full-size file straight from your camera or scanner, with its date. If a copy of your work turns up somewhere, it is the best proof you have (Someone copied my work. How do I prove it is mine?).
• Object, if you want to. If you are in the UK or the EEA, Etsy's privacy policy explains how to use your right to object. Expect Etsy to weigh it, not simply switch it off.
• Think about which images go on Etsy. A listing photo shows the product to a buyer. It does not have to be your best full-size file.
• Have a place of your own. A website sits beside your shop, not instead of it. Your photos there follow your rules, and buyers who find you on Etsy have somewhere to come back to.

Your next step in Bernard

Open your media library and look at Protect your work. Mark the photos that are yours, then turn on the images switch. Or ask your assistant: "Which of my photos have I said are mine, and do they carry my name and the not for AI training note?"

Bernard is an AI-assisted website and marketing platform for small businesses. He builds a new site or moves an existing one, keeps it fast and readable to search and AI tools, and looks after it. Once measuring is on, he reads your numbers each week and suggests what to do next, with a button that does it. On the Nautilus Medium and Nautilus Large plans he also plans your marketing every six weeks and drafts your posts, emails and pages. Everything lands on a draft you approve. One flat price per site.

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See what Bernard would do with your business. Selling on Etsy with no website yet? Tell him about your shop and he shows you a site that sits beside it, before you decide anything.