How to Start Selling on Etsy With a China Factory (2026 Rules)
Quick answer: You can sell products made by a factory in China on Etsy, but only if they are your own original designs (or items the buyer personalizes), and only if you disclose that factory as a production partner on every listing it makes. Etsy states that white-label manufacturers, OEMs and ODMs are not production partners: buying their standard products, even with your logo on them, counts as reselling and can lead to account suspension. Since July 9, 2026, Etsy also expects orders shipped to US buyers to go out duties paid (DDP). Get those three things right and a China factory is a normal, allowed way to scale an Etsy shop.
Etsy's four categories, and where factory-made items fit
Under Etsy's Creativity Standards, every item has to fit one of four categories:
- Made by a seller: physical items you make by hand or with your own tools, including computerized ones such as a laser cutter.
- Designed by a seller: your original designs, sold as a digital file or produced by a third party.
- Sourced by a seller: items that enable buyer creativity, such as craft and party supplies, and items personalized with the buyer's own text or image.
- Handpicked by a seller: vintage items, items from nature and certain curated collections.
A product made for you in a Chinese factory almost always belongs in Designed by a seller. If the buyer customizes it with their own text or photo, it can also sit under Sourced by a seller. It does not belong in Made by a seller: that category is for things you or your shop members physically make.
Who counts as a production partner
Etsy's help center defines a production partner as a company or individual outside your shop that physically produces items based on your own original designs, from start to finish. Its examples are a printing service, an apparel producer or an engraver. A factory that sews your pattern, molds your shape or prints your artwork qualifies.
Etsy lists several kinds of businesses that do not qualify:
- White-label manufacturers, which make standard products you can brand with little design input.
- OEMs, which make products other companies sell under their own brand.
- ODMs, which design and make products that other companies rebrand.
- Materials suppliers, such as where you buy raw craft materials (these are not partners, and they do not need disclosing).
The test, in other words, is whose design it is, not what kind of company makes it. The same factory can be a valid production partner for your original design and a "white-label manufacturer" for its own catalog item.
Allowed or not? Common China-sourcing setups
| Setup | Etsy category | Allowed? |
|---|---|---|
| Factory produces your original design from your drawings, pattern or 3D file | Designed by a seller | Yes, with the factory disclosed as production partner |
| Factory prints or engraves each buyer's own name, photo or text on a blank you chose | Sourced by a seller | Yes, with the producer disclosed |
| You buy craft supplies (beads, fabric, findings) from China and resell them as supplies | Sourced by a seller | Yes |
| You buy a factory's existing catalog product and add your logo or custom box | None | No: Etsy treats this as reselling |
| You pick a ready-made item on 1688 or AliExpress and list it as yours | None | No: reselling a commercially available item |
| You buy a commercial item and add one small touch, such as a sticker | None | No: Etsy uses a stock facemask with a sticker as an example that does not qualify |
Custom packaging, nice photos or your brand name do not change the answer. If you are building a private label brand from catalog products, Etsy is the wrong channel; your own Shopify or WooCommerce store is the right one, and our guide to private label vs white label explains that route.
How to start selling on Etsy with a factory, step by step
- Finish the design first. Drawings, measurements, materials, colors and a reference sample if you have one. This is the evidence that the product is yours.
- Find a factory that makes to your spec. You want a maker that works from your files, not one that offers you its catalog. If the product does not exist yet, it has to be developed.
- Approve a pre-production sample against your design before any batch is made, and keep the files, sample photos and messages.
- Open your shop and create a production partner profile on Etsy.com (Etsy says new partners have to be added on the website, not the Seller app). You enter the partner's location and describe how you work with them in the "About production partner" field.
- Link the partner to every listing it produces. Adding the partner to shop settings alone is not enough; each relevant listing has to show it.
- State the real ship-from location. Etsy's Seller Policy requires listings to represent how the item was made, by whom and where it ships from. If orders leave from a warehouse in China, say so.
- Use photos of the real product. Shoot finished units from the batch, not factory renders.
- Price US orders duties paid (next section).
US orders must ship duties paid
Etsy announced in June 2026 that, starting July 9, sellers must account for duties and import fees to US buyers upfront by using a Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) shipping option, so the buyer pays the full cost at checkout. Etsy's announcement spells out what happens otherwise:
- Orders shipped without duties prepaid no longer qualify for Etsy Purchase Protection.
- If the carrier charges the buyer tariffs or collection fees, the buyer can be refunded and Etsy deducts those charges from the seller.
The background is the end of US duty-free treatment for low-value parcels: it ended for China and Hong Kong in May 2025, for all countries in August 2025, and is repealed by law from July 1, 2027. Every parcel from China to a US buyer pays duties, so your listing price has to carry them. Work from landed cost per order (product, shipping, duties and fulfilment) rather than unit cost. Our international shipping guide shows how to build that number.
Compliance checklist before you list
- Is the design mine, and can I show the files and sample history?
- Does the item fit Designed by or Sourced by a seller, and is it in the right category?
- Is the factory set up as a production partner on Etsy.com, with an accurate location?
- Is that partner linked on every listing it produces?
- Does the ship-from location match where orders actually leave from?
- Are the listing photos of real finished units?
- Does every US shipping option prepay duties?
- Have the units been inspected before they ship, so "not as described" claims stay rare?
Where PackQuay fits
We are not the factory, so we are not your production partner; the maker of your design is. Our part is around it: we find factories that produce to your spec through our sourcing service (new product development and product photos are quoted separately), check samples and 20% of every batch free, hold the stock in our own warehouse in Xinxiang and ship each Etsy order with tracking. We will not develop anything that copies someone else's trademark or design. Tell us about your design on WhatsApp and we will come back with factory options and a landed-cost quote for US orders.
FAQ
Can I sell products made in China on Etsy?
Yes, if they are your own original designs or are personalized by the buyer, and you disclose the factory as a production partner on each listing. Etsy does not allow reselling commercially available items made by someone else.
Is a white-label or OEM factory a production partner on Etsy?
No. Etsy's help center says white-label manufacturers, OEMs and ODMs are not production partners, and using them to source products for your shop breaks its reselling rules.
Can I put my logo on a factory product and sell it on Etsy?
Not if the product is the factory's own design. Adding a logo, packaging or photos does not make it your design, so Etsy treats it as reselling. Sell private label products through your own store instead.
Do I have to ship Etsy orders to the US duties paid?
Yes. Since July 9, 2026 Etsy expects US-bound orders to use a DDP shipping option. Orders shipped without duties prepaid lose Etsy Purchase Protection, and carrier charges billed to the buyer can be deducted from you.
Where do I add a production partner on Etsy?
On Etsy.com, in your shop's production partner settings, where you enter the partner's location and a description of how you work together. Then link that partner to each listing it produces.