Selling Handmade Toys on Etsy: The ASTM F963 Toy-Safety Testing Rules (2026 Guide)

You sewed a felt play-food set, turned wooden offcuts into a stacking toy, or crocheted an amigurumi bunny, and listed it on Etsy as a sweet handmade gift. The federal government sees something more specific than "handmade": it sees a toy, and toys are governed by a mandatory safety standard with its own testing, certification, and labeling duties that go beyond the general children's-product rules.

That standard is ASTM F963. Most Etsy makers have never read it, and a lot of the ones who have heard of CPSIA assume the chemical bans are the whole story. They aren't. If the item you're selling is intended for a child to play with, ASTM F963 almost certainly applies to you — handmade, one-of-a-kind, or made-to-order, it makes no difference to the law.

This guide is the toy-specific companion to our broader walkthrough of the CPSIA safety-testing rules for handmade baby and kids' products. Here we go deep on one question: what does ASTM F963 actually require if the thing you sell is a toy, and how does a small maker comply without running a factory's compliance department?

This is general information, not legal advice. Toy-safety law is fact-specific, and the right testing path depends on your exact materials, design, and the age you market to. When in doubt, talk to a CPSC-accepted lab or a product-safety attorney before you list.

First question: is your item actually a "toy"?

ASTM F963 applies to toys intended for use by children under 14 years of age. The CPSC defines a toy, broadly, as a product designed or intended for a child to play with. That sweeps in far more than the obvious plastic figures.

Things Etsy sellers routinely don't realize are toys: stuffed animals and amigurumi, felt or wooden play food, busy boards and quiet books, building blocks and stacking rings, peg dolls, play tents, toy cars and trucks, dolls and doll clothes, play jewelry, fabric balls and rattles, puppets, sensory toys, and "Montessori" anything marketed for little hands. If a child is meant to manipulate it in play, treat it as a toy until you've confirmed otherwise.

What is generally not a toy (though it may still be a regulated children's product under other rules): decor that happens to live in a nursery, clothing, jewelry meant only to be worn, books, and collectibles genuinely marketed to and priced for adults. The trap is that how you market the item decides its classification. List a knitted bear as "newborn photography prop / baby's first toy" and it's a toy; the identical bear sold as "shelf decor" is not — but your photos (a baby cuddling it), your tags ("baby toy," "lovey"), and your description will be read as evidence of true intended use. You can't tag for the kids'-toy search traffic and then claim it's adult decor when the CPSC asks.

What ASTM F963-23 actually requires

The current mandatory version is ASTM F963-23, which became the enforceable federal toy standard on April 20, 2024, replacing F963-17. It's incorporated by reference into CPSC regulations, so "comply with ASTM F963-23" is not a suggestion — it's the law for toys sold in the United States.

The standard is long, but its requirements fall into a few buckets a maker can actually reason about:

Mechanical and physical hazards. Sharp points and sharp edges, small parts that pose a choking risk, the strength of seams and joints, hinge-line and scissoring hazards, cords and elastics, and the size and shape of mouth-actuated or rounded parts. For plush and soft toys this is mostly about seam strength and securely attached features.

Small parts and choking. Layered on top of F963 is the small-parts rule (16 CFR 1501): toys intended for children under three must not have parts that fit entirely inside the CPSC's small-parts cylinder. Plastic safety eyes, bells, buttons, pom-poms, beads, and detachable embellishments are the classic failures. A huge share of 2025–2026 toy recalls are plain choking-hazard failures, not exotic chemistry.

Flammability. Toy materials — especially fabrics and fills — must pass flammability requirements so a toy doesn't ignite and burn rapidly.

Toxicology and chemistry. F963 sets limits on soluble heavy metals (such as antimony, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, and selenium) migrating from surface coatings and accessible substrates. This sits alongside the CPSIA bans that apply to all children's products: total lead ≤ 100 ppm in the substrate, lead in paint/coatings ≤ 90 ppm, and the eight banned phthalates capped at 0.1% in toys and child-care articles.

Electrical and thermal. Battery-operated or heated toys have additional requirements — battery-access security, temperature limits, and protection against shorting.

Labeling and instructions. Age grading, choking-hazard warnings where required, and any necessary safety instructions.

The handmade myth, stated plainly: there is no "I made it myself in small quantities" exemption from ASTM F963's safety limits, the lead/phthalate bans, or the small-parts rule. How many you make affects your testing paperwork, never the safety requirements themselves.

Age grading drives everything

Before you can test or certify a toy, you have to decide the age it's for, because the rules flex with age. Toys for children under three face the strictest small-parts limits. Toys for older children may avoid the small-parts rule but still must meet the other F963 requirements.

Age grading isn't a marketing choice you make to dodge testing — the CPSC uses its Age Determination Guidelines, which look at the play pattern, features, and how the product is actually used, not just the number you print on the label. Slapping "ages 3+" on an obvious infant rattle to escape the small-parts rule is exactly the kind of move that gets a listing flagged and a product recalled. Grade honestly, then build and test to that grade.

Third-party testing and the toy certificate

Here's where toys differ sharply from a casual handmade mindset.

Toys for children 12 and under generally require third-party testing at a CPSC-accepted laboratory. You can't simply eyeball your materials and declare them safe. An accredited lab tests representative samples against the applicable F963 sections and the CPSIA chemical limits, and issues a report.

Based on that testing, you must issue a Children's Product Certificate (CPC). For a toy the CPC identifies the product, lists each rule and standard it complies with (ASTM F963-23, 16 CFR 1501 small parts, the lead and phthalate limits, and any others), names you as the manufacturer with contact details, and states where and when the product was made and tested. You don't file the CPC with the government, but you must be able to produce it on request and supply it to any retailer or distributor — and Etsy itself can ask.

(One narrow note: toys marketed genuinely and only to a 13-and-older audience may fall outside the mandatory third-party-testing-and-CPC regime, though F963 requirements can still be relevant. The moment your real audience is 12 or under, you're in the testing world.)

The tracking label every toy needs

Separately from the CPC, Section 14(a)(5) of the Consumer Product Safety Act requires a permanent tracking label on the toy and its packaging. It must let you and the CPSC trace the item: your name, the production location and date, and enough batch or cohort detail to pin down a specific production run in a recall.

For a maker this can be a sewn-in fabric tag, a stamped code, or an engraved mark — but it has to be permanent (not a sticker that peels) and it has to be on both product and packaging. If you ever face a recall, this label is what limits it to one batch instead of your whole shop.

"Small batch" relief — real for toys, but partial

This is the part that genuinely helps small Etsy toy makers, so get it right.

Register with the CPSC as a Small Batch Manufacturer and you can get relief from some third-party testing. To qualify you need no more than $1,480,296 in prior-year gross revenue across all consumer products (the figure is adjusted annually) and you must make no more than 7,500 units of the product in a year. Registration is free through the CPSC business portal.

For the rules it covers, relief means you can rely on supporting evidence — supplier test reports, component certificates, or testing at a non-accredited lab — instead of paying an accredited lab to test finished goods. That can save hundreds or thousands of dollars per toy.

What it does not do, and this matters for toys specifically:

It does not lower the safety limits — your toy still has to actually be lead-safe, phthalate-safe, flammability-safe, and choke-safe. It does not eliminate the CPC; registered small-batch makers still create one, just on the supporting evidence they're allowed to use. And critically, small-batch relief does not waive third-party testing for several high-risk rules — notably lead in paint, ASTM F963 itself, and the small-parts requirement. So the painted wooden truck and the plush with a removable bead are exactly the products that may still need accredited-lab testing even after you register. For many handmade toys, small-batch status reduces the paperwork burden but does not get you all the way to "no lab."

A realistic compliance path for a handmade toy seller

You don't have to operate like Hasbro, but you do have to do real work. A sane order of operations:

First, decide and document the age grade, honestly, using the play pattern. Everything downstream depends on it.

Second, design out the hazards. For under-threes, eliminate small detachable parts entirely — embroider eyes and faces instead of using snap-in plastic eyes, secure bells inside sewn pockets, skip beads and buttons. Choose fills and fabrics you can get flammability and chemical documentation for. The cheapest way to pass a test is to not build the risk in.

Third, collect supplier documentation in writing — certificates or test reports showing fabrics, dyes, paints, fills, and components meet the lead and phthalate limits. Vendors who sell to children's-product makers can usually provide these; keep them on file.

Fourth, register as a small batch manufacturer if you qualify, so you can lean on that evidence for the rules that allow it.

Fifth, third-party test what you must — at minimum ASTM F963, small parts, and lead-in-paint for your specific toy, since small-batch relief doesn't cover those.

Sixth, issue a CPC and apply a permanent tracking label to every toy and its packaging.

Build these costs into your pricing from the start, the same way clearance and compliance costs belong in your margins — we walk through that in our guide to the true cost of compliance for Etsy sellers. And resist overstating safety: marketing a toy as "non-toxic" or "100% safe" without testing to back it is its own material-misrepresentation and false-advertising risk.

One 2026 change for importers and POD toy sellers

If you import any component, or you dropship/print-on-demand finished toys from overseas and rebrand them as handmade, note that starting July 8, 2026, the CPSC requires electronic filing (eFiling) of certificate data for most regulated imported products at the time of entry. That pushes more documentation burden onto whoever is the importer of record. A "handmade" toy listing that's really a rebranded import is squarely affected — it pairs with the broader sourcing and disclosure issues covered in our print-on-demand compliance guide.

The bottom line

Selling handmade toys on Etsy is fully legal and one of the platform's most loved categories — but the law treats you as a toy manufacturer the instant you list. ASTM F963-23 is mandatory, the small-parts rule is non-negotiable for under-threes, and the chemical bans apply to every toy regardless of who made it. Third-party testing and a CPC are expected, a permanent tracking label is required, and the small-batch program lowers your testing costs without ever lowering your safety duty. Grade your toys honestly, design the hazards out, document everything, and bake compliance into your pricing — so a single CPSC recall, or a single hurt child, never becomes the thing that ends your shop.

Want one place to track toy-safety, IP, and policy obligations across all your listings so none of them slip through?

Sources and further reading: ASTM, "Safer Children's Toys — ASTM F963 Toy Safety Standard Required by U.S. Law"; CPSC.gov Business Guidance on Toy Safety, the ASTM F963 requirements chart, the CPC, and small-batch registration; Federal Register, "Safety Standard Mandating ASTM F963 for Toys" (Jan. 18, 2024).