When listing an item, you choose what category it falls under. Buyers can sort by these categories when searching for an item.

Your goal as a seller is to:

• Describe your item as accurately as possible. 

• Be straightforward and base your category on what the item is. For example:

  • Is it a dress?
  • Is it a houseware?
  • Is it a toy?

View our Categories page.

How categories are organized

The categories are organized as much as possible by what an item is, as opposed to what it’s for or what it’s made of.

For example, let’s take a vintage Christmas mug: 

• Even though it’s a Christmas item, it's still a mug, so it goes in Home & Living > Kitchen & Dining > Drink & Barware > Drinkware > Mugs.

Here's how it would look while adding or editing a listing:

When adding or editing a listing, as you type in what the item is, we’ll show you lists of categories to choose from.

If you’d like  to see all of the available categories, we’re keeping a text version up to date here.

If you’re having issues finding things on this page:

• You can always use Ctrl + F and type in the type of thing you are trying to list.
• If you’re not finding it, try synonyms or a more general term for your item.
• You can also browse the section you think best fits your item to get some ideas.

How this works for buyers

On the seller side, we try to get as specific as possible about what an item is. On the buyer side, we don’t want buyers to have to narrow down to extremely specific subcategories with very few items in them.

That may mean the sub-category your item falls in doesn’t yet have enough items in it to show up on the buyer side. Don’t worry—your item still shows up automatically on the buyer side in the main category of the section you chose.

For example, if you make kites, you would categorize your item in:

• Toys & Games > Sports & Outdoor Games > Kites & Pinwheels > Kites

Right now, there are only a few kites on the site, so a whole section isn't needed for them. So, on the buyer side categories only go as deep as Kites & Pinwheels.

But maybe next season more people will start making kites and selling them on Etsy since they tend to be a seasonal item. At that point, this category would go live on the buyer side.

In a case where buyers might look in more than one category for an item, we’ll show it anywhere it is relevant.

When you list an item and choose a category, we will show you all of the categories where we’re showing it to buyers.

Search results

Categories mostly affect how users narrow down their search rather than the Search results themselves. 

Keep in mind that the category you choose for your item is only part of where buyers will see it when exploring Etsy. Your item’s title and tags are also very important.

Providing feedback about categories

We’ll update these categories every three months or so based on your feedback and evolving needs for categories. You can provide feedback directly here.