Selling AI-Made Products Honestly: Copyright, AI Disclosure and What You Can’t Sell (Module 6, Lesson 4)

Module 6 · Lesson 4 of 5 · About 15 minutes

Selling things made with AI is allowed and common. Doing it honestly protects your buyers, your shop and your name. Here are the rules that matter most, in plain words.

1. Who owns what you made

In the US, the Copyright Office says work produced purely by AI from a prompt generally can’t be copyrighted. Your own creative contribution can be: your writing, your edits, and how you choose and arrange things. Two practical results:

• Add real human work to every product (Module 5, Lesson 3). It makes the product better and more yours.
• Expect that others may copy purely AI-made pictures. Your edge is your style, your know-how and your customers, not one image.

2. Say when AI helped

Some marketplaces require it. Etsy’s Creativity Standards, for example, say sellers must disclose in the listing description when an item is created with the use of AI, and they count AI creations made from a seller’s own original prompts as “designed by a seller.” A simple, honest line works: “Designed by me, with help from AI tools.” Buyers mostly care that it’s useful and honest.

3. Never use what isn’t yours

• No cartoon characters, movie or game names, sports teams or toy brands
• No copying another seller’s designs, layouts or wording, even with AI “changing it a little”
• No reselling files, clip art or templates you bought, unless the license clearly allows it, and even then, transform them into your own design
• No selling prompt lists on their own on marketplaces that don’t allow it (Etsy’s Creativity Standards say AI prompt bundles don’t count as designed by a seller)

4. Honest reviews and ads

• Never write fake reviews or testimonials, or have AI write them. In the US the FTC bans fake reviews.
• Only quote real customers, and only with their permission.
• If someone promotes your product because you paid them or gave it free, they need to say so clearly.

5. Products that need extra care

• Health, medical, nutrition or mental health advice: avoid selling it unless you’re qualified. A meal planner is fine; a “cure your child’s allergies” guide is not.
• Money or legal templates: say clearly they’re not professional advice.
• Apps or forms that collect children’s information: don’t, without a professional. US law (COPPA) has strict rules about collecting data from kids under 13.
• Anything with safety claims (car seats, sleep, choking): leave it to the experts.

Your pre-listing checklist

Check my product and listing against common marketplace rules for AI-made digital products: [paste listing, and describe what's in the product and how AI was used]. Flag anything that might use someone else's characters, brands or designs, any missing AI disclosure, any claims that overpromise, and any health, money or safety advice that could be a problem. Tell me where I should read the platform's own rules to be sure.

Then read your platform’s own seller rules yourself. AI can miss things, and the platform’s word is the one that counts.

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