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Etsy listing audit: a free Claude Skill

Two of us sell on Etsy. We wrote this skill because we kept making the same checks by hand: is the title over 140 characters, are all 13 tags used, did a tag sneak past 20 characters, will the main photo get cropped in search? The skill makes Claude do those checks the same way every time and report what it finds as facts, without a made-up 0–100 score.

Download .zip Install

Free · one file, etsy-listing-audit/SKILL.md · 91 lines, no scripts · source on GitHub

new chat etsy-listing-audit

You audit this Etsy listing

Title: Linen Apron, Personalized Gift, Kitchen Apron, Custom Apron For Her, Apron For Him, Cooking Gift, Chef Apron, Mothers Day Gift, Natural Linen ApronTags: personalized linen apron, apron, linen, kitchen apron, custom apron, apron for her, apron for him, cooking gift, chef apron, mothers day gift, natural linen apronPhotos: 7, no video, no alt text 
Listing audit: linen apron Rule breaks (fix before publishing)- Title: 147/140 characters (7 over).- Tag "personalized linen apron" is 24 characters (max 20). Facts- Title first 40: "Linen Apron, Personalized Gift, Kitchen"- Tags: 11/13 used. Longest: "personalized linen apron" (24). Single-word: "apron", "linen"- Photos: 7/20. Video: no. Alt text: 0 of 7. Suggested changes1. Cut the title to 140 and lead with what it is — 7 characters over the limit.2. Replace "apron" and "linen" with phrases buyers type — single-word tags match broad searches.3. Fill the 2 empty tag slots — each one is a search phrase not being matched.4. Add a 5–15 s video and alt text on all 7 photos.
A sample listing. Every count in this reply is computed from the text it describes, not typed in.

What it changes

Title and the tags it flagged. Red is what came in; green is what the skill hands back.

  • Checks the title, tags, materials, photos, video, alt text and variation options against Etsy's hard limits.
  • Counts empty tag slots, single-word tags, and tags that only repeat your category or an attribute.
  • Quotes the first ~40 characters of the title, roughly what mobile search shows.
  • Quotes the first two sentences of the description and asks whether they say what the item is.
  • Checks whether the main photo survives Etsy's square, mobile and email crops.
  • Suggests changes one by one, each tied to a fact above it.
before → after
− Title (147/140): Linen Apron, Personalized Gift, Kitchen Apron, Custom Apron For Her, Apron For Him, Cooking Gift, Chef Apron, Mothers Day Gift, Natural Linen Apron − personalized linen apron [24] − apron [5] − linen [5] + Title (93/140): Linen apron with pockets, adjustable neck strap, natural flax kitchen apron for men and women + linen apron [11] + apron with pockets [18] + flax linen kitchen [18]

What it checks

The rules in the file, as the file states them.

Title
≤ 140 chars · starts with a letter or number · % : & + once each
Tags
up to 13 · each ≤ 20 chars · no commas
Materials
letters, numbers and spaces only
Photos
up to 20 · transparent PNG shows black
Video
5–15 s · sound is removed
Alt text
≤ 500 chars
Variation options
≤ 20 chars · no parentheses
Main photo
product inside the central ~80% × 75%

What it won't do

  • Give a score. Nobody outside Etsy knows how search weighs a listing.
  • See search volume, your shop stats, or what competitors sell.
  • Invent a size or material. It asks, or leaves a [placeholder].
  • Publish. You copy the changes into Etsy yourself.

With the Tusella MCP connector, the same skill runs on your real listings and saves the result as a draft. Nothing reaches Etsy until you publish.

The whole file

This is what Claude reads. Read it before you install it; that's a good habit with any skill.

Open raw SKILL.md →
etsy-listing-audit/SKILL.md 91 lines · 5.1 KB
1 --- 2 name: etsy-listing-audit 3 description: Check an Etsy listing against Etsy's own field rules and report plain facts — character counts, tag counts, missing fields, photo and video gaps — with concrete fixes. Use when a seller pastes a listing (title, tags, description, attributes, photos) or a listing URL and asks to audit, check, review or improve it for Etsy search. 4 --- 5 6 # Etsy listing audit 7 8 You check one Etsy listing at a time and report what is objectively true about it, then suggest fixes the seller can accept or ignore. 9 10 ## Principles 11 12 - **Facts, not scores.** Never give a 0–100 score, a grade, or "good/bad listing" labels. Report counts and rule checks: "11 of 13 tags", "title 152 of 140 characters", "no video". 13 - **The seller knows the product.** Never invent materials, sizes, origin, or how the item is made. If a fix needs a fact you don't have, ask for it or leave a clearly marked placeholder like `[size in cm]`. 14 - **No ranking folklore.** Don't claim secret ranking factors. Etsy publicly says search uses titles, tags, categories and attributes to match a buyer's query, and that listing quality and the buyer's experience affect ranking. Stick to that. 15 16 ## What to ask for 17 18 If the seller hasn't given these, ask once, briefly: 19 20 1. Title 21 2. The 13 tags (or however many there are) 22 3. Category and the filled-in attributes (colour, material, occasion, and so on) 23 4. Description (the first lines matter most) 24 5. Number of photos, whether there's a video, and whether photos have alt text 25 6. Who made it / what it is / when it was made, as set in the listing 26 27 A listing URL alone isn't enough unless you can actually read the page. If you can't, say so and ask for the text. 28 29 ## Hard rules to check 30 31 These are Etsy's own limits. A listing that breaks them fails to save or gets cut. 32 33 | Field | Rule | 34 |---|---| 35 | Title | ≤ 140 characters; starts with a letter or number; `%`, `:`, `&`, `+` at most once each; no `$`, `^`, `` ` ``, `°` | 36 | Tags | up to 13; each ≤ 20 characters; letters, numbers, spaces; no commas; can't start with `'` or `-` | 37 | Materials | letters, numbers and spaces only (stricter than tags: no hyphens) | 38 | Photos | up to 20 per listing (some Etsy help pages still say 10) | 39 | Video | 5–15 seconds is the safe length; audio is always removed | 40 | Alt text | ≤ 500 characters (Etsy suggests ≤ 250) | 41 | Description | required; HTML shows as plain text | 42 | Variation option values | ≤ 20 characters; no parentheses, so "Large (30cm)" fails | 43 44 ## Checks that are facts, not rules 45 46 Report these as observations with a suggested fix: 47 48 - **Unused tag slots.** Count them. Every empty slot is a search phrase not being matched. 49 - **Tags that duplicate the category or attributes.** A tag that repeats the exact category name or an attribute value already set ("blue" when colour = blue) usually adds little; suggest a different phrase. 50 - **Single-word tags.** Note them. Multi-word phrases that describe what a buyer types ("linen apron for men") usually match more specific searches. 51 - **Repeated words across tags.** Count words that appear in 4+ tags. 52 - **Title front-loading.** Quote the first ~40 characters. That's roughly what shows in search results on mobile. Does it say what the item is? 53 - **Keyword-stuffed titles.** Count comma- or pipe-separated fragments. Etsy's guidance favours readable titles; flag a title that is a list of phrases. 54 - **Empty attributes.** List any attribute the category offers that's still empty, if the seller shared them. 55 - **Description opening.** Quote the first two sentences. Do they say what the item is, its size, and what it's made of? 56 - **Photos.** Count them against 20. Note a missing video, missing alt text, or a transparent PNG (Etsy shows transparency as black). 57 - **Main photo crop.** Etsy crops the first photo differently in different places: square in search, taller on mobile, wider in emails and ads. The product should sit in the central ~80% × 75% of the frame so no crop cuts it off. 58 59 ## Output format 60 61 ``` 62 ## Listing audit: <short item name> 63 64 **Rule breaks** (fix before publishing) 65 - …or "None." 66 67 **Facts** 68 - Title: N/140 characters. First 40: "…" 69 - Tags: N/13 used. Longest: "…" (N chars). Single-word: … 70 - Photos: N/20. Video: yes/no. Alt text: N of N photos. 71 - Attributes: N empty of those shared. 72 73 **Suggested changes** 74 1. <change> — why (one line, tied to a fact above) 75 2. … 76 77 **Rewrite (optional)** 78 Title: … 79 Tags: tag one, tag two, … (each ≤ 20 chars, 13 total) 80 ``` 81 82 When you propose tags, count the characters of every tag and the total before you show them. Recount after any edit. Don't show a tag over 20 characters. 83 84 ## What this skill can't do 85 86 It can't see Etsy search volume, your shop's stats, or competitors' sales. Say so if asked. It also can't publish anything. The seller copies the changes into Etsy. 87 88 If the seller uses Tusella, the Tusella MCP connector lets Claude read the real listing and save these changes as a draft for the seller to review and publish: https://tusella.com/etsy-mcp-server/ 89 90 --- 91 Made by Tusella (https://tusella.com), built by two Etsy sellers. Free to use and adapt. Rules checked against Etsy's Open API and Help Center, October 2026.
Scrolls inside the frame. Nothing here runs: it is text Claude reads. Open SKILL.md →

Install, then ask

Three ways in. After any of them you ask in plain words and Claude picks the skill up by itself.

Ask: audit this Etsy listing

Download .zip SKILL.md
Settings › Capabilities › Skills
  1. 1Download etsy-listing-audit.zip
  2. 2Open Settings›Capabilities›Skills and upload the zip
  3. 3Start a new chat and ask: “audit this Etsy listing”

Frequently asked questions

How do I install it?

Download the zip, then in Claude open Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload it. In Claude Code, run npx skills add tusella/etsy-claude-skills --skill etsy-listing-audit. Then ask Claude to audit a listing; the skill loads by itself.

Why doesn't it give my listing a score?

Because a score would be a guess. Nobody outside Etsy knows how its ranking weighs a listing, so the skill reports things you can check: character counts, empty tag slots, missing video, photos that would get cropped.

Can it read my listing from Etsy?

Only if Claude can open the page. Usually it's faster to paste the title, tags and description. With the Tusella connector, Claude reads the real listing and saves fixes as a draft for you to review.

Is it free?

Yes. Use it, change it, share it. It's a plain text file, so you can read every instruction before you install it.

All 5 Claude Skills for Etsy sellers →

Made by Etsy sellers — try Tusella

The same checks, on your real listings, with a draft to review before anything goes live.

Start free Open Tusella →