Last week we let the Etsy community in on a "sneak peek" preview of the proposed updates to our site policies in the DOs & DON'Ts of Etsy. During this preview week, we received lots of feedback and discussed the policies in the Forums, by Conversations and email with members of the Etsy community. After a rather positive reception and a few tweaks, we're ready to put the updated DOs & DONTs into effect today. In addition, we have updated the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy to complement the revised DOs & DON'Ts. These are important changes that every Etsy member should review, so we're sending out an email notification to all members (with millions of members in our community, it may take a few weeks for the emails to reach everyone).

For the most part, the core of the policies are still the same. Our aim was to address concerns expressed by members over the past year, and we made several clarifications and a few additions to the policies. For your convenience, we've summarized the highlights below, but we expect every member to read through the updated DOs & DON'Ts and Terms of Use in their entirety.

 The updates below will look familiar to those who participated in the preview last week. Please follow the links to see the specific sections where these policies are defined.

Membership: A few notable policies that apply to all members have been moved up to the Membership section, like our policy for linking from a shop or profile to another selling venue. Collectives (seller accounts involving multiple people) have been further defined with the categories of Collaboration, Sharing a Shop and Shop Management Help. We clarified our rules for younger Etsians; collectives that include minors under the age of 18 may not utilize community features unless otherwise stated by Etsy.

Conversations: You may not use Conversations to interfere with a transaction (with details on this in the Transactions section, too). We've also elaborated on the definition of "spam" as it relates to Etsy Convos.

Transactions: We’ve added information to the Transactions section, describing the roles of the seller, the buyer and Etsy in a transaction. Keep in mind that in addition to these basic expectations for a transaction, each seller has their own Shop Policies and the policies of third-party services (for example: PayPal, shipping services) may be a factor. Additionally, we’ve outlined in detail various concerns or scenarios in which a transaction may be disputed, including: non-payment, non-delivery, refusal of service, dissatisfaction and interference. We’ve clarified the circumstances in which a transaction may be canceled. In general, the additions to this section outline in greater detail the processes and policies already in place for transactions.

Feedback:  To better accommodate custom orders and international transactions, we will be increasing the time frame for submitting feedback from 90 days to 120 days. Additionally, we’ve clarified the circumstances in which Etsy will review feedback for removal, and we've lifted the 30-day limitation to requesting review of feedback for a policy violation.

Shops and listings: Formerly called “Selling,” this section has been expanded to include detailed policies about shop set-up, listing items, tagging and specific rules for handmade items, vintage goods and supplies. The section on Tagging is entirely new to the DOs & DON’Ts, but most of this information was available on Etsy’s Help site or through guides posted on Etsy’s blog, The Storque. Expanded sections of rules for handmade, vintage and supplies items should help sellers understand what can be sold on Etsy and how to list items for sale.

Charitable shops and listings: Etsy appreciates the spirit of giving back. Due to some laws and the existence of unsavory individuals who may try to take advantage of this spirit, we have added some policies for shops and listings that use charitable fundraising as a promotional tool. Etsy does not intend to limit your ability to donate to the charity of your choice; these rules merely apply to members who wish to promote or advertise charitable giving as a reason to purchase from their Etsy shops.

Prohibited Items: In response to a variety of community concerns, we have clarified our prohibited items list. These items — though they may be handmade, vintage or a crafting supply — are not allowed to be listed for sale on Etsy.

Showcase and Treasury: Making a first time appearance in the DOs & DON'Ts are specific sections for participation in the Showcase and the Treasury. We have gathered information from other areas of the site about these interactive features to formalize as policies in the DOs & DON'Ts.

Terms of Use: In general, the Terms of Use and DOs & DON'Ts complement one another. Notably, we added an arbitration clause and an idea submission clause. To explain the idea submission clause in plain language: if you submit an idea to improve Etsy, Etsy may use the suggestion to better the site. If you have a secret idea to improve Etsy, simply do not share it with Etsy, on the community spaces or via email.  We truly appreciate all members and your feedback to improve the site. Both Etsy and the community benefit from these ideas.

The policies are live and in effect as of today, October 27, 2009; therefore, all your activities or content on Etsy from today forward must be in line with these new policies. As we mentioned in the post about the sneak peek, we are allowing all members a grace period to bring their existing content (for example: account information, shops, listings) up to speed with any changes in the policies. We also wanted to take into account the timing with the busy holiday season. All members have until the end of the day on December 31, 2009 to edit their content created prior to today's date (October 27, 2009).

Thank you for your input over the past year and during the policy preview week. By keeping our policies clear and up-to-date, we help preserve the integrity of Etsy.

If you have questions or comments about Etsy's updated policies, please join the discussion in this Forum thread or email support@etsy.com.