Etsy's Handmade Blog
Vegan Tagging: A How-To for Sellers
Story by bookworms
Published on July 8, 2008 in How-To 		Photo by bookworms

Samantha Sauvé aka bookworms helps clear things up in the ongoing debate over what should or should not be tagged as "vegan" on Etsy.  A vegan is defined by Vegan.org as "someone who, for various reasons, chooses to avoid using or consuming animal products.  While vegetarians choose not to use flesh foods, vegans also avoid dairy and eggs, as well as fur, leather, wool, down, and cosmetics or chemical products tested on animals."  Samantha kindly elaborates...

Dear Sellers: 

Lately, there's been a lot of discussion in the Forums about tagging items as "vegan."  A lot of sellers are confused about what does and does not constitute a vegan item — some don't use the tag at all, for fear of being mistaken.
 
I'm here to say, "Fear not!"  Utilizing the "vegan" tag (when appropriate!) can open up your store to a new audience, and may very well direct more business your way — and more sales are never a bad thing! However, abusing the tag can really turn off some customers who care passionately about the types of products they buy.

The nuts-and-bolts idea of veganism is a life free from consumption of animal products.  Vegans aim to not use anything that comes from an animal or is tested on an animal.

 
[Vegan Yarn by hobbledehoy]

The aim of this article is to provide a basic list of materials that are not vegan.  Proper tagging helps both the buyer (for ease of finding truly vegan products) and the seller (adds a popular search term to your items, helping to direct more traffic your way).
 
The following are NOT considered vegan, and should not be tagged as such.  Bear in mind that even if these products are organic, they are still not vegan!
 
Animal fibers:
Alpaca, angora, cashmere, merino, mohair, qiviut, silk, wool, yak, wool felt, velvet made from silk
Bee products:
Beeswax, bee pollen, honey, royal jelly
Foodstuffs:
Butter, casein, cheese, eggs, cow's milk, goat's milk, animal rennet, whey, white sugar*
Other products:
Bone, coral, feathers, animal gelatin, animal glycerin, ivory, lard, leather, shell, pearl, lanolin

*Many brands of white sugar are produced with bone char, which is not vegan.  Check out the link at the bottom of this article for more information.

(Fragrance oils are almost always vegan, so if you're selling an "Oatmeal, Honey, & Milk Soap" that is made from vegetable glycerin and uses an oatmeal, honey, and milk fragrance (and no actual milk or honey), you could accurately tag it vegan. You might want to explain that to your customers in the listing's description.)


[Faux Leather Clutch by CrystalynKae]

Etsy is home to several vegan-friendly Teams.  Check out Cruelty Free Etsy (tag is CFE Team), EtsyVeg, and VeganEtsy.

Trying to decide if something is vegan can be confusing.  Please keep in mind that this list is rudimentary — hopefully, enough to clear up common concerns.  If you have any specific questions, please don't hesitate to comment here or contact me — I'm happy to help!
 
Further Resources:
Vegan Resource Library (Especially helpful for bath and beauty products)
Is it Vegan?
The Vegan Wolf (Food-oriented list)
Veg Family Mmore about white sugar)

Cruelty Free Etsy | EtsyVeg | EFA Etsy for Animals | Handmade4Hounds | VeganEtsy

 
Looking for more vegan friendly info? Check out our past articles on the subject. Stay tuned for an upcoming article from the VeganEtsy Team.

Tags animals, bookworms, CFE, EtsyVeg, niche marketing, Seller Handbook, selling, tagging, tags, vegan, VeganEtsy, veganism
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22 comments     Login to add your own!

July 8, 2008 at 4 p.m. phydeaux

Great article! I'm so glad you pointed out that silk is NOT vegan -- I see it listed as vegan quite a bit.

July 8, 2008 at 4:13 p.m. mando2

Very helpful, I have thought about trying some vegan things....but it seems like just about everything touches an animal!

July 8, 2008 at 5:18 p.m. mizusugi

Great information! Vegan is very serious about their rules! Anything from animals is a big no no.
:)

July 8, 2008 at 6:16 p.m. hobbledehoy

thanks for flashing my vegan spin! And the article was greatly needed, thank you so much for your explicit explanations of Veganism. I'm not one, but mis-tagging makes it tough for me to shop for my vegan buddies.

July 8, 2008 at 6:25 p.m. thebeadingtree

Thank you very much for this much needed and well written article!!

July 8, 2008 at 10:04 p.m. VeganEtsy

If anyone needs help going vegan or wants more in-depth information about vegan, feel free to contact Vegan Etsy! Also, if you're looking for vegan items, our team tag is "veganetsy team". All of our items are definitely vegan!

July 8, 2008 at 11:12 p.m. MooneysMarket

Thank you so much for featuring my soap in this article... very good information!!
♥

July 9, 2008 at 12:18 a.m. bookworms

Oops! Left this one out...for ceramic artists, take a look at your bone ash. If it's not synthetic, it's not vegan.

Thanks to ThePudgyLadybug for the reminder :]

July 9, 2008 at 7:57 a.m. amberalexander

great, informative article.
thank you

July 9, 2008 at 3:08 p.m. XOHandworks

At what point does tagging items 'vegan' become too much? Should it only be for items that are sometimes made with animal products?

My soldered map pendants are technically vegan (glass, metal, paper) but I wouldn't tag them as vegan because most people would assume they are no animal products in that type of item.

July 9, 2008 at 3:48 p.m. bookworms

XOHandworks, my opinion on the subject is that if you've got room for an extra tag, and don't object to using "vegan" as one, then go for it. I see it as just another search term. Personally, I don't think that it's exploiting it or taking it too far -- rather, it's opening your product up to more traffic.

July 9, 2008 at 5:02 p.m. XOHandworks

Thanks bookworms :)

I'm never used the tag because I thought people might think it's tag abuse. I usually think of vegan when talking about B&B or textile/fiber products.

I think everything in my shop is vegan, except the wool & leather in the felted bags and the couple of feather pendants.

July 9, 2008 at 6:33 p.m. magichands

Thanks so much for the article, bookworms, and thanks for including my soap in the pics. I recall the thread that started this, and you were endlessly patient and helpful. Well done!

July 11, 2008 at 5:56 a.m. mvegan5

Thank you for posting this! My shop is all vegan! I'm so happy to find truly vegan items through a search of vegan tags, and especially through the great team I'm in, Vegan Etsy: Creating Without Cruelty http://veganetsy.blogspot.com ;0) Michele

July 17, 2008 at 6:53 p.m. ThisIsBexx

I'm so glad you did this article!

July 17, 2008 at 7:11 p.m. AuntMartha

I never understood what vegan meant. Thank you for explaining it so well.

July 17, 2008 at 8:45 p.m. modflo

thank you very much for taking the time to write this informative article.

July 17, 2008 at 8:45 p.m. modflo

oops...

July 20, 2008 at 5:50 p.m. CCrafters

Thank you!

March 25, 2009 at 3:03 p.m. acousticdragonfly

Thanks much for the article. I appreciate your time, and your talent.
Have a great day,
Lisa

March 25, 2009 at 4:01 p.m. TheMysticCircleArt

Thanks for the Great article.Alot of people do not know that so many other items (other than food )are Not vegan-Thanks for letting them know.
Awesome items listed. I love the vegan mug and tree tshirt ;)

June 2, 2009 at 1:39 a.m. stephaniek

Thank you for this information! Many people do get confused by the terms.

Some mistakenly think vegan includes cruelty-free animal products, such as ethically harvested animal products. Often people also forget to consider items that do not contain animal parts but are produced by animals, such as silk, milk and beeswax.

It takes extra effort to research it, but I love creating items that meet the standards of vegans.

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