Etsy’s New AI Title Tool: A Seller’s Guide to the Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Etsy just rolled out new guidelines for writing your listing titles. But here’s the real news: some sellers never had a choice. Their listing titles were changed automatically, sometimes hundreds at a time.
So, before you even think about touching your titles—or worse, before Etsy changes them for you—it’s crucial to understand what’s really happening. Let’s walk through the full story so you can protect your shop and make smart decisions.
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What Are Etsy’s New Title Guidelines?
Basically, Etsy now suggests that titles should be shorter and more concise. They want us to move away from titles stuffed with every keyword we can imagine.
In fact, they published a new article detailing these fresh guidelines. You can find it linked in the description below if you haven’t read it yourself yet.
Now, this idea isn’t completely new. Etsy has hinted at preferring shorter titles for a while. However, this is the first time they’ve introduced an official AI tool to help you rewrite them. Many sellers are now seeing notifications on their dashboards about “visibility issues,” suggesting they make changes. This naturally makes people think they must use this new tool.
But for most sellers, this is just a suggestion.
The Good: When the AI Tool Actually Works
In the first few weeks since the tool launched, we’ve seen a real mix of results. Let’s start with the positive news.
Believe it or not, some sellers who used the AI tool saw a real increase in sales. By making titles shorter and more concise, their listings gained new traction. It’s possible Etsy is giving a small ranking boost to listings that adopt this new, cleaner format.
Importantly, most of these success stories involve listings that weren’t selling at all before. This makes the AI tool a fascinating experiment for your “dead” listings. It might just be the thing that brings them back to life.
The Bad: When Changing Titles Hurts Your Sales
On the other hand, many sellers who used the AI tool saw their sales and views flatten completely. This is where the real danger lies.
Think about it this way: if you have a listing that is already selling, its title and tags are a huge part of its success. They tell Etsy exactly what shoppers are searching for and clicking on. Etsy, wanting to make money, shows your listing more for those specific terms.
But if you change that winning title, you force Etsy to start from scratch. The platform has to relearn when and where to show your listing. For that reason, I strongly advise against using this tool on any of your currently successful listings. Just leave those titles alone.
The Worse: Trademarks and Takedowns
Now, let’s talk about a more serious problem. Some sellers tried the tool only to find the AI used trademarked terms in their new titles. Unfortunately, this led to their listings being flagged and taken down.
That definitely doesn’t seem fair, does it?
The lesson here is clear: even if you let an AI rewrite your titles, you are still responsible for the content. Always do your due diligence. Check for trademarks and understand every word the AI suggests before you hit save.
The Ugly: When Etsy Changes Your Titles Without Permission
Finally, we have the ugliest part of this situation. One of my students in our private community discovered Etsy had automatically changed the titles on over 400 of her listings. She received no warning and certainly didn’t give permission.
But it gets worse. For some reason, Etsy didn’t just alter her titles—they also deleted all of her tags. This left her listings with almost no chance of being found. They changed everything, from her best-sellers to her slow-movers, which is absolutely crazy.
While this hasn’t been super widespread, it’s a wake-up call. You need a backup plan.
How to Protect Your Etsy Shop Right Now
So, what should you do with all this information? Here are three actionable steps to take control.
- Download Your Shop Data Immediately.This is your number one priority. I recommend downloading your shop’s data every quarter. If a catastrophe strikes, you’ll have all your original titles, tags, and sales information saved. To do this, go to your Shop Manager, navigate to Settings > Options, and click “Download Data.” You’ll get a CSV file with all your listing details. Schedule this task quarterly to stay protected.
- Don’t Fix What Isn’t Broken.Resist the urge to change titles or tags on listings that are already selling for you. Let them be. If you’re curious about A/B testing, which is always a smart move, simply duplicate a successful listing and test the new title on the copy. This way, your original winner remains untouched.
- Experiment on Dead Listings.If you want to test Etsy’s new tool, use it on your dead listings—the ones with no sales or views. There’s no risk, and you might discover a hidden opportunity, especially if Etsy is subtly promoting listings that use their new system.
Final Thoughts: Stay Smart and Confident
If Etsy has already changed your titles and you didn’t have a backup, don’t panic. If you use a service like Printify, your original titles might be saved there. You can copy and paste them back into your Etsy listings. Honestly, I’d only bother doing this for your previously best-selling items. Updating hundreds of listings is a huge pain, so triage and focus on what mattered most.
At the end of the day, remember that something like this seems to happen once or twice a year in the world of Etsy and print-on-demand. It feels scary, like a really big deal. But the market always evens out.
Stay smart, test strategically, back up your data, and most importantly, don’t let anything shake your confidence. Building your own business, whether on Etsy or anywhere else, will always have bumps in the road. You should be incredibly proud of yourself for having the courage to try something new and start your own venture. You’ve got this.
We’d love to hear from you! Have you tried Etsy’s AI title changer yet? What were your results—good or bad? Share your experience in the comments below. As a community, we can learn what’s working for others and navigate these changes together.
P.S. Want to stay ahead of the curve? If you’re curious about which niches are selling well on Etsy right now and what you should be designing for the upcoming holidays, check out my monthly trend reports. I’ll link them below. Every month, I release a full report detailing what’s hot, what design styles are trending, and how to prepare for a strong holiday season without a sales drop-off in January. This way, you can list with confidence in proven, profitable niches.