Etsy & eBay Listing Policy & Banned Item Checker

Etsy & eBay Listing Policy Checker scans your listing titles, descriptions and tags for possible policy problems before you publish: prohibited and restricted items, counterfeit and "inspired by" wording, character and celebrity IP, medical claims, off-platform contact and keyword spam. For each issue you get its severity on Etsy and on eBay separately, the exact words that triggered it, a link to the marketplace's public policy page, and a plain-English fix. Click Start with the prefilled example to see a result in a few seconds.

A pre-check, not a marketplace decision. This is a fixed, rule-based text checker built from Etsy's and eBay's public policy pages. A flag means "review this"; a clean result does not guarantee a listing stays up. Photos, category, item specifics, your location and local laws also matter. Not legal advice, and not affiliated with Etsy or eBay.

What does Etsy & eBay Listing Policy Checker do?

• ✅ Checks listings against 30 policy rules, each with its own Etsy and eBay severity and policy link
• ✅ Catches counterfeit and IP risk: "Gucci inspired", "dupe", "replica", "not Adidas", "fits Pandora", plus a curated list of 59 brands and 53 characters (character IP is raised when sold as SVG, PNG, cut or print files)
• ✅ Flags off-platform contact and payment: emails, "message me on Instagram", Venmo or Zelle, outside links
• ✅ Flags medical and health claims: "cures anxiety", "heals eczema", "FDA approved", "EMF protection"
• ✅ Flags prohibited and restricted items: drugs and CBD, alcohol, vapes, weapons and knives, hazardous materials, recalled children's products, animal products, human remains, hate symbols, falsified documents, raffles and gift cards
• ✅ Runs format checks: eBay titles over 80 characters, Etsy titles over 140, more than 13 Etsy tags or tags over 20 characters, "L@@K", repeated keywords
• ✅ Avoids common false-positive traps: ivory as a color, faux fur, chef knives, spent shell casings, ammo-can decor, officially licensed items, hemp twine, wine glasses
• ✅ Returns riskLevel, riskByMarketplace, categoriesFlagged, and per issue category, severity, field, quote, context, per-marketplace policyUrl and rewriteHint

Who is it for?

• 🛍️ Etsy and eBay sellers who want to avoid removed listings, strikes and suspensions
• 👩‍💻 VAs, listing services and AI listing generators that write many listings and need a policy gate
• 🔁 Cross-listers: the two marketplaces treat the same words differently (real fur is prohibited on Etsy but not on eBay)
• 🔍 Marketplace consultants auditing a shop before an account review

How to check Etsy and eBay listings for policy issues

1. Click Try for free or Start. The input is prefilled with two example listings.
2. Replace them with your own listings in Listings (title, description, tags, marketplace), or paste titles into Titles.
3. Pick the Marketplaces to check (Etsy, eBay or both).
4. Click Start. Each listing becomes one row in the results table.
5. Download the results or fetch them through the API.

Input example

This is the prefilled input:

{
  "listings": [
    {
      "id": "l1",
      "title": "Lavender Soap Bar, Gucci inspired gift box",
      "description": "Cures anxiety and eczema. Message me on Instagram for 10% off.",
      "tags": [
        "lavender soap",
        "designer dupe"
      ],
      "marketplace": [
        "etsy",
        "ebay"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "l2",
      "title": "Ivory lace wedding veil, cathedral length",
      "description": "Soft ivory tulle with faux fur trim. Ships in 3 days.",
      "tags": [
        "ivory veil",
        "boho wedding"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Quick title check, Etsy only:

{
  "titles": [
    "OTF automatic knife, black",
    "Mickey Mouse SVG bundle for Cricut",
    "Handmade ceramic coffee mug"
  ],
  "marketplaces": [
    "etsy"
  ]
}

From the dataset of an Etsy or eBay scraper or your own export (title, description and tags are detected automatically; fieldMap is optional):

{
  "datasetId": "YOUR_ETSY_OR_EBAY_SCRAPER_DATASET_ID",
  "fieldMap": {
    "title": "listingTitle",
    "tags": "keywords"
  },
  "marketplaces": [
    "etsy",
    "ebay"
  ]
}

Output example

This is real output from the prefilled input above (run on 2026-10-21), not trimmed:

[
  {
    "listingId": "l1",
    "url": null,
    "title": "Lavender Soap Bar, Gucci inspired gift box",
    "marketplacesChecked": [
      "etsy",
      "ebay"
    ],
    "riskLevel": "high",
    "riskByMarketplace": {
      "etsy": "high",
      "ebay": "high"
    },
    "issueCount": 3,
    "categoriesFlagged": [
      "Counterfeit, brand comparison & IP",
      "Medical / health claims",
      "Off-platform contact, payment or links"
    ],
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "counterfeit_or_inspired",
        "category": "Counterfeit, brand comparison & IP",
        "severity": "high",
        "field": "title",
        "quote": "Gucci inspired",
        "context": "Lavender Soap Bar, Gucci inspired gift box",
        "marketplaces": [
          {
            "marketplace": "etsy",
            "severity": "high",
            "policyUrl": "https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/unauthorized-or-counterfeit-goods-policy/1500218520260"
          },
          {
            "marketplace": "ebay",
            "severity": "high",
            "policyUrl": "https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/counterfeit-item-policy?id=4276"
          }
        ],
        "rewriteHint": "Replica/dupe/'inspired by'/'style' wording next to a brand or character is treated as counterfeit or infringing. Remove the brand name and describe your design in your own words (materials, shape, color)."
      },
      {
        "ruleId": "off_platform_contact",
        "category": "Off-platform contact, payment or links",
        "severity": "high",
        "field": "description",
        "quote": "Message me on Instagram",
        "context": "Cures anxiety and eczema. Message me on Instagram for 10% off.",
        "marketplaces": [
          {
            "marketplace": "etsy",
            "severity": "high",
            "policyUrl": "https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/off-platform-transactions-policy/1254654515806"
          },
          {
            "marketplace": "ebay",
            "severity": "high",
            "policyUrl": "https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/payment-policies/offers-buy-sell-outside-ebay-policy?id=4272"
          }
        ],
        "rewriteHint": "Remove emails, phone numbers, outside payment methods, social handles and 'buy on my website' wording. Both marketplaces prohibit taking a sale off-platform, and buyers lose purchase protection."
      },
      {
        "ruleId": "medical_claims",
        "category": "Medical / health claims",
        "severity": "high",
        "field": "description",
        "quote": "Cures anxiety",
        "context": "Cures anxiety and eczema. Message me on Instagram for 10% ...",
        "marketplaces": [
          {
            "marketplace": "etsy",
            "severity": "high",
            "policyUrl": "https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/medical-claims/239976157654"
          },
          {
            "marketplace": "ebay",
            "severity": "medium",
            "policyUrl": "https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/prohibited-restricted-items/medical-devices-policy?id=4322"
          }
        ],
        "rewriteHint": "Etsy prohibits items that claim to treat, prevent, cure or diagnose a condition; eBay restricts medical devices and unsubstantiated health claims. Describe materials and use ('soothing scent', 'for relaxation') without disease or cure claims."
      }
    ],
    "disclaimer": "Automated text pre-check based on Etsy's and eBay's public policies. Flags are possible issues, not marketplace decisions; a clean result does not guarantee a listing stays up. Photos, item specifics, category, your location and local law also matter. Not legal advice."
  },
  {
    "listingId": "l2",
    "url": null,
    "title": "Ivory lace wedding veil, cathedral length",
    "marketplacesChecked": [
      "etsy",
      "ebay"
    ],
    "riskLevel": "none found",
    "riskByMarketplace": {
      "etsy": "none found",
      "ebay": "none found"
    },
    "issueCount": 0,
    "categoriesFlagged": [],
    "issues": [],
    "disclaimer": "Automated text pre-check based on Etsy's and eBay's public policies. Flags are possible issues, not marketplace decisions; a clean result does not guarantee a listing stays up. Photos, item specifics, category, your location and local law also matter. Not legal advice."
  }
]

Severity: high = commonly prohibited, so the listing is likely to be removed and the account put at risk. medium = restricted or depends on context (conditions, licensing, category or wording). low = a weak signal or a format issue. riskLevel is the highest severity found.

How much does it cost to check listings?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing:

• $0.01 per listing (one result row per listing)
• a tiny Actor start fee of $0.00005 per run
• plus the small Apify platform usage of the run, paid by you. For the prefilled 2-listing example this was about $0.0001 (256 MB, about 2 seconds).

So 100 listings cost about $1.00 and 1,000 listings about $10, plus a few cents or less of platform usage. You pay only for listings actually checked. Apify lets you set a maximum cost per run so a large batch can never exceed your budget.

Use it through the API, integrations or AI agents

• API: run it and get results in one call: POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ultimatemc~etsy-ebay-listing-policy-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items with your Apify token and the input JSON as the body. Client libraries for JavaScript and Python are on the API tab.
• AI agents (MCP): add https://mcp.apify.com?tools=ultimatemc/etsy-ebay-listing-policy-checker to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT or any MCP client, and your agent can check a listing for policy problems before posting it as a tool. See Apify MCP server.
• Chain it after a scraper: pass the datasetId of another Actor's run, or trigger this Actor with a webhook when the scraper finishes.
• Automation: schedule runs, trigger webhooks, or connect Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets and other integrations from Apify Console.

FAQ

Does a clean result guarantee my listing won't be removed?

No. It means none of the rules matched the text. Etsy and eBay also review photos, category, item specifics and reports, and make the final decision.

Can it tell whether my item is genuine or licensed?

No. It reads wording only. It can't verify authenticity, licenses or permissions. "Officially licensed" wording lowers character flags, but you still need the license.

Does it use AI?

No. It's rule-based (keywords and patterns), so results are repeatable and every flag links to a policy page. No text is sent to any outside service.

Which languages and countries are supported?

English text. Rules follow the public U.S. versions of Etsy's and eBay's policies; local rules differ.

How current are the rules?

They are our own paraphrased patterns written from the marketplaces' public policy pages, checked on 2026-10-21. Policies change, so always confirm on the linked page.

Limitations

• Text only. It doesn't see photos, item specifics, category or price.
• English only, keyword-based. It can misread unusual wording, and the brand and character lists are curated, not complete: a brand that isn't on the list won't be flagged.
• Policies differ by country and change often.

Data and privacy

The checker makes no network calls. Listing text is processed only during the run and saved only to your own Apify dataset.

Other tools by Ultimate Foresight

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• Product Recall Checker for Brands, UPCs & Products: matches your brands, products, UPCs or model numbers against CPSC, FDA and NHTSA recalls.
• App Store & Google Play Listing Policy Checker: pre-checks app names, subtitles and descriptions against Apple and Google Play metadata rules.

Found a false positive or a missed phrase? Open an issue on the Issues tab with the listing text, and we'll review the rule.