Capsule-Filling Machines Banned from Etsy
Any and all capsule-filling machines were permanently banned from being sold on Etsy as of May 26th, 2023. All listings for these devices were removed and each seller was warned that offering prohibited items again could lead to being banned from the online marketplace.
Etsy’s warning to sellers after removing their capsule-filling machine listings
The above screenshot comes directly from our BlateCo Etsy seller account after this occurred. This decision included all machines, even simple manual capsule presses.
The Etsy Content Moderation Team also sent out the email you see pictured below.
This is actually not as surprising as it may seem, as capsule fillers have been prohibited from being sold on most online marketplaces since early 2017. This came after new legislation from the DEA regulating any tableting or encapsulating devices, manual or automatic.
Up until last week, one might have thought Etsy allowed the sale of these machines and left it up to the seller to report the sales. But being that they were removed, that's likely not the case.
Email from Etsy
This law isn't really common knowledge, so Etsy may not have been aware that regulations for these types of machines existed. If that’s the case, Etsy was likely informed of this and then acted to protect themselves moving forward.
Marketplaces like Etsy have their own policies and guidelines to ensure compliance with relevant laws. So they often choose to restrict the sale of items that are associated with illegal activities or could be misused.
Historically, capsule filling machines have been used for legitimate purposes such as pharmaceutical manufacturing, supplement production, and herbal remedies.
They allow for the efficient filling of capsules with precise quantities of substances. However, due to the potential misuse of these machines in illegal activities, they have drawn some attention from regulatory bodies.
“It makes sense for large machines that can make a ton of capsules or tablets at a time, but it’s sad the law includes small manual capsule presses too,” said Hannah Barrett, BlateCo CoCEO.
Informed consumers typically use such machines for making their own supplements without the harmful artificial fillers companies put in. Doing it this way can save more than half the cost of regular supplements while being healthier at the same time.
BlateCo sold these capsule fillers on the Etsy marketplace for the last 6 months. That’s because our main product, Blate Papes, serves the same purpose as filling your own capsules; they help you make and take your own supplements.
“With each pill filling machine, we always included free samples of Blate Papes for the customer to try. We thought it was the perfect way to reach our end consumer, and they really seemed to love it,” says Hannah.
However, now that capsule machines are no longer sold on Etsy or other online marketplaces, they can only be bought directly from the company’s website.
“Our goal has always been to help consumers take the healthiest supplements they can. To us, this means buying single-ingredient powders and either using gel films or filling your own capsules. That’s why soon we’re going to be offering capsules in all sizes and varieties. And unlike most capsule companies out there, ours won’t contain artificial colors, fillers, SLS, or anything like that.”
In addition to the core models, BlateCo now offers an entire “Acrylic Pro Series” line of capsule filling machines with hole counts from 100 to 800 holes in all capsule sizes (#000-#5).
These capsule-filling machines are available exclusively from BlateCo. See them in BlateCo’s online store.
If you have any questions about who and what capsule machines are reported to the DEA, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly via call, text or email.