Prohibited items

Our handmade standard answers one question: was this made by the person selling it? However some things can’t be sold on Luma however they were made, because the law forbids it, because they could hurt someone, or because they have no place on a marketplace built around a maker’s own work.

The list below is what we remove on sight. It isn’t every law that applies to selling in the UK, and it doesn’t replace reading up on your own craft. If you’re not sure whether something you make is covered, ask us through the contact form before you list it.

Never allowed

Things that aren’t handmade goods

Digital downloads, services, photography, books, music and film, second-hand and vintage items, and resold retail stock sit outside what Luma sells, so they can’t be listed here either. Our handmade standard says where that line falls.

Counterfeits, fan art and other people’s designs

Anything carrying a trademark, character, logo or slogan you don’t own the rights to, and any copy of someone else’s design you don’t hold a licence to sell. Making it by hand doesn’t make it yours. Nor does calling it “inspired by” the original, or changing part of the name: a Spider-Person mug is still selling Spider-Man. What counts as handmade has the detail.

Hate, violence and harm

Anything that promotes hatred of people for their race, religion, disability, sex, sexuality, gender identity or age, that glorifies violence, or that celebrates an atrocity. Symbols and insignia of hate groups and proscribed organisations, in any form. Anything promoting self-harm or suicide. An account run by or for a proscribed organisation is closed.

Weapons, knives and blades

Anything designed as a weapon or capable of being used as one, and replicas of any of them. That covers knives and blades of every kind (including kitchen knives, letter openers, hand-forged blades and blade blanks) along with knuckledusters, batons, crossbows, air weapons and their parts. If something could be used or presented as a weapon, assume we won’t allow it.

Drugs and anything psychoactive

Illegal drugs, anything sold for a similar effect, and the kit for using either. CBD products sit here too. The rules on what a CBD product may contain and claim are strict and we can’t check them from a listing, so we don’t host them.

Alcohol, tobacco and nicotine

Anything containing alcohol for drinking, tobacco, vapes, e-liquids or nicotine pouches. Selling any of them needs licences and age checks that a marketplace like ours can’t run at checkout. A hand-turned bottle stopper is fine. A hand-infused gin isn’t.

Food, drink and anything perishable

No food or drink of any kind, including pet food and treats, and nothing that spoils. Edible goods carry hygiene registration, allergen labelling and shelf-life rules that we can’t support at this time.

Plants, seeds and living things

No live plants, seeds, cuttings or bulbs, and no living creatures of any kind. Dried and pressed flowers are fine, as long as nothing could grow from them.

Animal products from protected species

Ivory of any age. Tortoiseshell, coral, and the feathers, shells, skins, bone or fur of any protected species. Taxidermy.

Hazardous and age-restricted goods

Fireworks, flares, solvents, aerosols, spray paint, lighters, corrosive substances, and anything sold with a legal minimum age. We have no age check at checkout, so nothing that needs one can be sold here.

Mains electrical goods

Anything that plugs into the mains, and anything you’ve wired yourself, lamps included. A sealed battery unit you bought in, like a clock movement or an LED tealight, is fine, as long as it doesn’t take a button battery. A lampshade on its own is fine too.

Small, strong magnets

Loose sets of small, strong magnets, like the balls and cubes sold as desk toys. Magnetic fake piercings for the nose, ear or tongue. Anything for a child with a magnet that could come loose. A fridge magnet or a magnetic clasp is fine, as long as the magnet is fixed into something too big to swallow.

Baby sleep and teething products

Cot bumpers, baby pillows, sleep positioners, nests and pods, inclined sleepers, weighted blankets for babies, and sleeping bags that can cover a baby’s head.

Teething necklaces, amber of any kind, and dummy clips or teething toys with beads or small parts.

Toys for under-3s

Toys made for children under 3 aren’t allowed, rattles and teethers included. The choking rules for that age are stricter than anything we can check from a listing. Soft toys are the one exception, with the duties below.

Unsafe and recalled goods

Anything under a product recall or safety notice, and anything not made safe for the use you’re selling it for. Baby sleep products and toys for the very young have their own sections above.

Medical and health claims

A product that claims to treat, cure, prevent or relieve a medical condition. We’ll ask you to remove the claim, and if it stays we remove the listing. Describe what something is and what it’s made from. Leave out what it does to the body.

Sexual content and adult goods

Pornographic or sexually explicit images and text, and anything sold for sexual use. Artistic nudity in the life-drawing tradition is fine. Anything explicit isn’t.

Anything that enables illegal activity

Lock-picking kits, devices for getting round security or payment systems, number-plate covers, signal jammers, stolen goods, and anything that contains or reveals someone’s personal information without their consent.

Allowed, with duties on you

Nothing in this group fails the handmade standard. Each carries safety rules the rest of the catalogue doesn’t, and as the manufacturer those rules are yours. If a shopper or Trading Standards raises a concern, we’ll ask you for the paperwork the rules say you keep, so keep it to hand.

• Toys for children aged 3 to 14. UKCA marking, a technical file, and age marking. Anything a child under 14 might play with counts, whatever you call it, and so does a child’s dressing-up costume, wherever you list it. Toys for under-3s can’t be sold on Luma, soft toys aside.
• Soft toys. This one catches people out: the rules judge a soft, stuffed toy as one a baby will get hold of, whatever age you label it for. So it has to pass the under-3s tests, with eyes and noses that can’t be pulled off, seams that hold, and nothing small inside that could come loose.
• Pieces with a bought-in battery unit. A clock movement or an LED tealight, for example. Keep the unit sealed as it came, and never a button battery. Anything mains-powered, or that you’ve wired yourself, can’t be sold on Luma.
• Soap and cosmetics. A safety assessment from a qualified assessor, a Product Information File, labelling with the INCI ingredients and a named responsible person, and a notification on the government’s SCPN portal, all before anything goes on sale.
• Candles, wax melts and diffusers. Not regulated the way cosmetics are, but there are labelling conventions, and CLP hazard labelling wherever there’s fragrance.
• Filled cushions and upholstered furniture. Fire-resistant filling and covers, and the permanent label the furniture fire safety rules ask for. A cushion cover sold on its own isn’t caught.
• Children’s nightwear. The nightwear flammability rules, and the “keep away from fire” label where they apply.
• Anything that touches food. Food-safe glazes, finishes and resins. Glazed ceramics carry lead and cadmium limits, and a painted rim on a glass or mug is where they usually fail.
• Jewellery worn against the skin. Limits on the nickel it releases, stricter for piercing jewellery, and on lead and cadmium.
• Jewellery in precious metal. UK hallmarking is required above certain weights, and it’s the Assay Office you’d talk to.

Listing any of these without meeting the duty is a safety concern, and we treat it as one.

If you list one

We remove the listing and tell you why in writing. Listing a prohibited item is a ground for suspending or closing a shop under section 13 of our Terms. An honest mistake on a borderline item usually ends with the listing gone and a note from us. A pattern, or anything in the weapons, hate or illegal categories, can end the shop. You can put your side through the contact form, and a person reads it.

If you see one

Use Report this listing on the listing and choose Prohibited or illegal item. Reporting a listing explains what happens next. If you don’t have an account, use the contact form.