Etiquetas de Etsy y traducciones: 13 tags, títulos, GPSR

Tags: 13 slots, 20 characters each

Each tag is a chance to match a buyer’s search. Etsy’s limits:

Number

up to 13 tags per listing

Length

up to 20 characters per tag, spaces included

Characters

letters, numbers and spaces; apostrophe and hyphen only inside a tag, not at the start

Accents

allowed, e.g. ä, ö, ü, ß, é, è, ç, œ

Use short phrases rather than single words — “linen apron”, “apron with pockets” — and vary them: thirteen tags that all contain “apron” waste slots that could cover style, material, use and recipient. Etsy recommends “a diverse array of tags” and accurate, relevant words only. Leave out your shop name and brand: buyers rarely search for a brand they do not know yet.

Attributes do part of the tags’ job

After you choose a category, Etsy offers attributes such as colour, material, size or occasion. They describe the item and help buyers find it in search. Etsy’s help says tags are most useful where there is no matching attribute and for buyer-minded phrases like “gift for her”. So don’t spend a tag on “yellow” if you already set the colour attribute to yellow — use it for “lemon scarf” if that shade is what buyers type.

Material and material-feature attributes are claims. Etsy says “Organic cotton” or “Recycled” may only be selected when that material makes up the whole fibre composition and you can prove it, and “Plastic-free”, “Reusable”, “Upcycled” or “Vegan” only when the item meets Etsy’s definition. Under the EU rules that apply from 27 September 2026 (in Germany and Italy already; check other countries), generic claims such as “eco-friendly” or “sustainable” are banned — see green claims ban.

Titles: 140 characters, but short is better

The title field takes up to 140 characters. Etsy’s current guidance is to consider fewer than 15 words: say clearly what the item is, put key traits such as colour, material and size first, avoid repetition and subjective words (“perfect”), leave out price and shipping, and mention holidays, occasions or recipients only when they are essential to the item (“Halloween costume”). Search engines show only the first 50–60 characters of the title.

The listing URL is built from the title when you first publish and does not change afterwards. Check titles with the title checker.

How Etsy translations work

Etsy translates listings automatically, so a buyer in Germany or France sees your English listing in their language. Any manual translation you add overrides the automatic one. Categories and attributes translate automatically; title, description and tags you translate yourself.

• Add languages: Shop Manager → Settings → Languages and translations → Manage languages, then switch on the languages you are fluent in.
• Translate a listing: Shop Manager → Listings → choose the listing → Translations section. Put German text only in the German fields and French only in the French ones.
• Translate the shop too: tagline, announcement, message to buyers, sections, About and shop policies.
• Switch off automatic translation: Shop Manager → Settings → Options → Automatic Listing Translation → Disabled.

Tags are optional in a translation, but they are the part machine translation handles worst: a literal translation of “boho wall hanging” is not what a German buyer types. Etsy recommends adding only languages you are fluent in — a buyer who reads your listing in German or French may well message you in that language.

What to write for German and French buyers

Write tags and titles the way buyers in that country search, not word for word from English. German combines nouns into compounds, so cover the forms buyers use; French puts the material after the noun with “en” or “de”.

• Count again after translating: “cadeau fête des mères” has 21 characters and does not fit; “Muttertagsgeschenk” has 18.
• Fibre composition with the legal fibre names: “100 % Leinen”, “100 % lin” — see textile fibre names.
• Sizes in centimetres and EU sizes, weights in grams.
• Warnings in the buyer’s language, e.g. for toys: “Achtung! Nicht für Kinder unter 36 Monaten geeignet.” — see toy warnings online.

Machine translations produce typical errors — false friends, wrong gender, English word order. Our guide on machine-translated listings lists them.

GPSR on Etsy

Since 13 December 2024, traders selling online to buyers in the EU must show the manufacturer, an EU responsible person where the manufacturer is outside the EU, product identifiers and safety information (Regulation (EU) 2023/988, Article 19). Etsy applies these requirements to sales into the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Northern Ireland and provides these fields:

Trader status

Shop Manager → Sales channels → your shop → Seller details: trader or private individual

Economic operator

Shop Manager → Settings → Partners you work with → Add economic operator

Manufacturers

field in the listing form

Product safety info

field in the listing form, for warnings and safety information

Opt-out

Settings → Options → “Choose how you sell to GPSR states” — then EEA and Northern Ireland buyers cannot buy

If you make the item yourself, you are usually its manufacturer; if you are based outside the EU, you need an EU‑based responsible person. The GPSR generator writes the safety text, and GPSR in online listings explains who counts as manufacturer. For traders, Etsy also shows the EU harmonised notice on the legal guarantee automatically on listings for EEA buyers.

Check your listing

Paste your title, description and tags into the free listing check: it counts the 13 tags and 20 characters, flags tags that repeat the same word, contain numbers or your brand, and finds banned environmental claims in all six languages. Nordova writes Etsy listings with 13 tags in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish and Polish — written for each language, not translated word for word.