What belongs on MakerMade

MakerMade exists because “handmade” stopped meaning anything on the big marketplaces. Buyers come here because they trust that the person behind the shop actually made the thing. That trust is the whole product — so we protect it, plainly and in public.

The standard

Everything sold on MakerMade must be made, designed-and-finished, or meaningfully transformed by the seller. In practice:

• Made by you. You threw the mug, sewed the quilt, forged the knife, printed and pulled the screen print. The clearest case.
• Designed by you, produced with help. Your original design, produced with equipment or a small production partner you direct — an enamel pin from your artwork, your pattern printed on fabric you then sew. You did the creative work and you stand behind the physical result.
• Meaningfully transformed. Vintage or found materials reworked into something new — reclaimed wood into furniture, broken china into mosaic. The value comes from what you did to it.
• Supplies for makers. Tools and materials for making are welcome when they’re honestly described — hand-dyed yarn, small-batch glazes, your own patterns.

What doesn’t belong

• Resold mass-produced goods, whether or not the word “handmade” is on the label they arrived with.
• Dropshipped items — anything where your role is forwarding orders to a factory or fulfillment service you don’t direct.
• Unmodified print-on-demand of stock or AI-generated art with no design work of your own.
• Counterfeits and copies of other makers’ work. We act on DMCA reports, and repeat copying ends a shop.

How it’s enforced

We review shops rather than police keywords. If a shop looks like it’s outside the standard, we’ll ask about your process — most questions have good answers, and we’d rather ask than assume. Shops that misrepresent how their goods are made get unpublished, and repeat or bad-faith cases are removed. The details live in the Seller Agreement.

Telling your process story

The standard isn’t just a rule to satisfy — it’s your best marketing. Buyers here want the details: the wheel, the kiln, the third prototype that finally worked. Put your process in your shop’s About section, in listing descriptions, and in photos. On MakerMade, “how it’s made” is why people buy.