Does Etsy enforce rules on inflated prices and “always on” sales discounts?

Hi! Seeing that Seller Handbook “truthful advertising and discounts” article in your dashboard is usually more of a nudge/education moment than a guaranteed sign that Etsy’s about to flip a new “crackdown” switch—but it does reflect something Etsy already expects sellers to follow: your “original” price and any sale/strikethrough pricing should be real, and discounts shouldn’t be set up in a way that misleads buyers (or games Etsy’s sale signals).

What Etsy is getting at (and what you should do)

• Don’t raise the price right before a sale. If you increase a listing price just to mark it down and create a bigger “% off,” that’s exactly the kind of “false discounting” Etsy warns against.
• Avoid “always-on” sales. If an item is discounted all or most of the time, the “sale” price can effectively become the real price (and the higher “original” price may be considered misleading).
• Only show an “original”/strikethrough price that’s genuinely your usual price. The safest approach is: you actually offer the item at the non-sale price for a meaningful stretch of time and make real sales at that price before you advertise a discount from it.
• Don’t try to trigger Etsy’s automated sale signals. Anything that looks like it’s designed to manipulate pricing history, countdown timers, or strikethrough pricing is risky.

Practical “keep it compliant” habits (simple and safe)

• Build in full-price periods. If you like running promotions often, rotate them with clear breaks at your regular price (instead of back-to-back sales).
• Keep pricing notes/records for yourself. A basic spreadsheet or notes showing when an item was at full price and when it was discounted can help you stay consistent (and is helpful if you ever need to sanity-check your own pricing).
• Be careful with variations. If one variation is almost never sold at the higher price, discount claims across the whole listing can get messy—try to keep your “regular price” and “sale price” logic consistent per variation.
• Don’t advertise “Up to X% off” unless it’s truly representative. Make sure a meaningful portion of items actually hit that top discount, not just one oddball listing.

If you tell me how you currently run sales (e.g., “20% off everything year-round,” or “I raise prices in Q4 then discount,” or “I do monthly sales”), I can suggest a cleaner Etsy sale schedule that still hits your revenue goals without putting your shop in a gray area.