Selling Straw Bags on Amazon, Etsy and Faire: What You Need From a Supplier

Selling on a marketplace puts requirements on your supplier that a boutique never has to
think about. Get them wrong and your listing does not go live, or worse, goes live and then
gets suppressed.

This is a checklist of what to ask for, organised by platform.

What every platform needs

Product identifiers

Amazon requires a GTIN for most listings. Your supplier cannot issue one for your brand
— GTINs are assigned to the brand owner by GS1. Register directly with GS1 and get your own
company prefix. Numbers bought cheaply from resellers are frequently recycled and will fail
verification.

If you own the brand, you own the GTINs. Your supplier prints and applies the labels.
That division is worth understanding before you start, and it is covered further in our
retail-ready
guide.

Images

Amazon wants a pure white background main image with the product filling most of the
frame, and no props, text or watermarks on that main image. Etsy and Faire are far more
permissive and actually reward lifestyle photography.

Ask your supplier what image rights come with the product. We supply white-background
product photography for the catalogue range and license it for marketplace use. For a
custom product you will usually need your own shoot, and you should budget for it.

Compliance documentation

Keep these on file before you list, not after a compliance request arrives:

• Country of origin declaration
• Material composition statement
• Commercial invoice showing the supply chain
• Any applicable product safety documentation for your market

If the bag is marketed to or usable by children, or contains small detachable
components, additional child safety requirements may apply in the US and EU. Check before
you list — this catches sellers out on decorative pompoms and beads.

Packaging that survives a parcel network

Marketplace goods travel as individual parcels, not on a pallet. Individual polybagging
plus a shipping carton is the minimum. For sea-freighted natural fibre, a silica sachet is
worth the negligible cost — container humidity is the main cause of in-transit marking.

Amazon specifically

FBA prep. If you use Fulfilment by Amazon, goods must arrive at the
fulfilment centre prepped to Amazon’s standard: FNSKU labels applied, poly bagged with
suffocation warning where required, and cartons labelled and within weight limits.

You can pay Amazon to do this, or have your supplier do it at origin, which is almost
always cheaper. Ask directly whether your supplier will apply FNSKU labels. We do.

Brand Registry. Requires a registered trademark. Worth doing early — it
unlocks A+ content and gives you meaningful protection against hijacked listings, which is
a real risk in this category.

Replenishment speed is your main constraint. Running out of stock on
Amazon damages your ranking, and ranking recovery is slower than the stockout was. This
makes supplier lead time a ranking factor in practice. Sourcing from Morocco into Europe
gives a materially shorter reorder cycle than sourcing from Asia — see the
sourcing
comparison.

Etsy specifically

Etsy’s handmade policy permits selling through a production partner, but you must
declare the partnership and you must be genuinely involved in designing
the item. Selling an unmodified catalogue item as your own handmade design is against
policy and gets shops closed.

Where this works well: you design the bag, we produce it, you declare us as your
production partner. That is exactly what the policy is built for.

Etsy buyers also respond strongly to provenance. The artisan story, the material, the
region — these are conversion drivers on Etsy in a way they are not on Amazon. Ask your
supplier for real detail about how and where the product is made, and use it.

Faire and wholesale marketplaces

Faire is a wholesale marketplace, so you are the brand selling to retailers. What you
need is different again:

• Consistent stock, because retailers reorder and expect availability
• A coherent range rather than single products — retailers buy assortments
• Line sheets with wholesale and suggested retail pricing
• Low minimums, since Faire retailers order small

The low-minimum requirement is where many sellers get stuck. If your supplier’s MOQ is
500 per style, you are carrying all the inventory risk. A supplier who opens at 50–100 per
style lets you list a broad range without financing it all. Our
MOQ guide
explains what is genuinely flexible.

Questions to ask before you commit

1. Will you apply FNSKU or barcode labels we provide?
2. Can you polybag individually to a specified standard?
3. What image rights come with the product?
4. What is your reorder lead time, door to door?
5. What is your minimum on a repeat order of an existing style?
6. Can you ship directly into a fulfilment centre or 3PL?
7. What documentation do you provide for customs and compliance?

A supplier who answers all seven clearly is set up for marketplace work. One who is
vague on labelling and lead time is not, whatever the product looks like.

We answer all seven in writing before anyone places an order. Ask through the
contact page, or browse the
wholesale catalogue for current minimums.