The Restricted Words List Every Handmade Seller Should Know

Ask most sellers why listings get suspended and they'll guess something dramatic — counterfeit goods, fake reviews, stolen photos. In practice, a huge share of takedowns and suppressions are much more mundane: a seller used a word that's either a genericized trademark, a regulated health or safety claim, or a phrase the platform has explicitly banned from titles and bullets. None of it is intentional. Almost none of it is common knowledge.

Genericized trademarks: words that stopped being brand names in everyday speech, but not legally

These are words that became so common as a category description that most people forget they're still registered trademarks belonging to a specific company:

• Velcro — the brand name for hook-and-loop fastener. The generic term is "hook and loop."
• Onesie — trademarked by Gerber. The generic term is "bodysuit" or "infant bodysuit."
• Teflon — a Chemours brand for PTFE coating. The generic term is "non-stick coating."
• Kevlar — a DuPont brand for aramid fiber. Use "aramid fiber" or "ballistic fiber" instead.
• Styrofoam — a Dow brand for extruded polystyrene foam. Most "styrofoam" cups are actually expanded polystyrene, which isn't Styrofoam at all — using the brand name is both a trademark risk and, often, factually wrong.

None of these words are illegal to use in casual conversation. Using them in a commercial listing to describe a product that isn't actually made by that brand is a trademark issue, and it's one of the most common reasons a listing gets flagged even when the seller had zero intent to mislead anyone.

Brand names in handmade and print-on-demand listings

Disney characters, sports team logos, band names, celebrity likenesses — using them in a title, even with "inspired by" attached, is a common cause of takedowns for print-on-demand and handmade sellers specifically. "Inspired by" does not create a legal safe harbor; it's a myth that persists because enforcement is inconsistent, not because it's actually permitted.

Regulated claims that need more than confidence to make

Certain phrases imply a regulatory approval or certification that most small sellers don't actually have:

• "FDA approved" — the FDA doesn't "approve" most consumer products in the way this phrase implies; using it without the specific clearance it refers to is a real regulatory problem, not just a marketplace policy one.
• "Antibacterial" / "antimicrobial" — these are regulated claims in most jurisdictions and require substantiation you likely don't have for a handmade product.
• "Non-toxic" — a specific, testable claim, not a synonym for "made with natural ingredients."
• "Eco-friendly" — increasingly scrutinized as an unsubstantiated environmental claim (sometimes called "greenwashing") in several countries' advertising standards.

If your product genuinely has a relevant certification, say what it is specifically rather than reaching for the vague version. "Certified by [specific body]" is defensible. "Non-toxic" on its own, without a certification behind it, usually isn't.

Banned promotional phrases

Separately from trademark and regulatory issues, most platforms explicitly ban certain sales language from titles and bullet points because it's considered manipulative or unverifiable: "best seller" (unless the platform itself awarded that badge), "free shipping" (when shipping is priced into the item, this is considered misleading), "100% guaranteed," and superlative claims like "#1" or "top rated" without a specific, verifiable source for the ranking.

What to do instead

Describe the function, not the brand. "Hook-and-loop closure," not "velcro closure." Describe the material honestly, not the aspirational category it belongs to. And when in doubt about a health, safety, or environmental claim, either drop it or make it specific enough to be checkable — "made with organic cotton (GOTS certified)" survives scrutiny in a way "eco-friendly" doesn't.