For Buyers

What you're buying when you buy on Hobbsy

Hobbsy is a marketplace for handmade goods made by humans. When you buy something here, you can expect that a real person designed it, made it, photographed it, and shipped it. That's not just a marketing line — it's the policy we enforce.

We know other handmade marketplaces have struggled with this. Hobbsy exists because we think buyers deserve a place where the answer to "did a human make this?" is reliably yes.

What is and isn't allowed

The full policy is on the seller page, but here's the buyer-facing summary:

How to recognize a legitimate listing

Most listings on Hobbsy are exactly what they claim to be. But if you want to be more confident, here are some signs that suggest a listing is genuine:

• In-progress photos. Many makers post shots of the work on the bench, tools in frame, materials staged. Hard to fake convincingly.
• Variation between listings. Real handmade items have small differences — wood grain, glaze pooling, knit tension. Identical "handmade" items across many listings is a warning sign.
• A consistent maker story. Sellers who have been making the same kind of thing for a while tend to have a coherent shop, not a random catalog of unrelated styles.
• The "About the maker" section is filled in. Optional, but most real makers want to talk about their process.
• Reasonable production times. Items that ship the same day from a "handmade-to-order" shop deserve a closer look.

Disclosure labels

A small number of listings carry a disclosure badge. These are allowed on Hobbsy but use AI in a way that buyers should know about so they can make informed choices:

• AI-narrated audiobook — the words are the author's, but the voice is synthetic. Some buyers prefer this; some prefer human narration. The label lets you choose.
• Generative / procedural art — the artist wrote code that produces the image. This is a 60+ year old art form that predates modern AI by decades, but the production method matters to some buyers.
• AI-assisted identification (vintage / collectibles) — when a seller has used AI tools to help identify or research an item, they may disclose this so you understand the basis for their claims.

Disclosure is not stigma. Disclosed items are fully welcome on Hobbsy — the label is information, not warning.

If you see a listing that seems wrong

If a listing looks like AI-generated art being sold as handmade, or like mass-produced goods being passed off as one-of-a-kind, you can report it. Reports are reviewed by humans — not AI — and the seller has a right to respond.

What happens after you report

Reports trigger a review by a human moderator. The seller is notified and given a chance to respond — usually with evidence that the work is theirs (process photos, video of them making it, raw files, sketches, in-progress shots). If the evidence is convincing, the listing stays. If not, the listing is removed and the seller may face further consequences depending on history.

The full process is published on the moderation standards page so everyone — buyers, sellers, and the curious public — can see how decisions get made.

What we can and can't promise

We can promise that every listing on Hobbsy is subject to a clear policy, that reports are reviewed by humans, and that we will act on credible evidence of policy violations.

We cannot promise that no AI-generated work will ever slip past us. Detection is imperfect and AI image quality is improving. What we can promise is that when you tell us about a problem, we will take it seriously, and that the platform's incentives are aligned with protecting human-made work — not with maximizing listing volume.

Other places to look