Should I timestamp every SKU?

Timestamp each distinct design master. Colour swaps that are new export files deserve their own date if you may need to point to them.

Does Etsy's listing date replace a timestamp?

No. The shop date shows when that listing went live on Etsy. A timestamp dates your master file, including drafts you had before publish.

What about a JPEG from my phone of someone else's listing?

Keep it as an exhibit, and timestamp a clean full-page capture if you make one. Your own master file still matters more.

Your first Pooled TimeBind is free, with no credit card required. After that, from US$5; ASAP is US$15. See plans and pricing

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Etsy or print-on-demand copies of your design: what to timestamp

Inna Hall

November 10, 2026

November 12, 2026

Guides

Flat illustration of a camera, a laptop playing a creator video and a phone showing the same clip, with a timestamp badge

When a copy of your Etsy or print-on-demand design appears elsewhere, dated files of what you listed help you show what you had and when. TimeBinder^® makes a fingerprint in your browser. The file stays on your device. You get a checkable Proof of Time Certificate that shows this exact file existed no later than a recorded time. It does not show who designed it, who owns it, or that a marketplace must remove a listing. Free to start.

The routine: timestamp before you publish the design
What to keep when a copy appears
POD partners and factories
What a TimeBind shows, and what it doesn’t
Frequently Asked Questions

The routine: timestamp before you publish the design

Freeze the master file you will sell from (SVG, PNG, PSD, or print PDF).
Optional. Confirm the hash with the free SHA-256 hash checker.
Timestamp the master (and a mockup pack if you will need it). Your first Pooled TimeBind is free, with no credit card required.
Save the Proof of Time Certificate with the master.
Then publish on Etsy, Redbubble, or your POD dashboard.
New colourways or revisions are new files. Timestamp before they go live.

See how to timestamp a file, prove a logo or vector file existed before a date, and protect your design before sending it to a client.

What to keep when a copy appears

The timestamped master and certificate.
Your listing URL, title and first-published date from the shop (export or screenshot of the listing admin page).
Order or production records if the design was already selling.
A capture of the other listing (full page, with URL and date).

Marketplace report forms ask for evidence of your rights and often for dates. A fingerprint date supports “this file existed by then.” It does not decide the takedown.

POD partners and factories

If you send art to a printer or POD partner, timestamp the exact file you send, then send it. That is the same habit as before sending a product design to a manufacturer.

What a TimeBind shows, and what it doesn’t

A TimeBind shows that this exact file existed no later than the recorded time. It does not show authorship, ownership or copyright, and it does not stop copying. Use it next to shop policies and, if needed, legal advice. This is general information, not legal advice.

Etsy’s 22 October 2026 updates also ask most listings for at least one unedited photo of the actual item. The free marketplace listing-photo checklist is a pre-publish list for that photo and the records you can show. It is not an official Etsy tool.

Your file’s fingerprint, anchored to a global network secured by real electricity and cryptography.

Editing a file—including with AI—changes its fingerprint, not its existing network record.

How this works

Your file’s SHA-256 fingerprint, a short code worked out from its exact contents, is made in your browser, and the file itself stays on your device. A cryptographic commitment to that fingerprint, which may be combined with others, is then anchored in a block on the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin is secured by proof of work: computers around the world spend real electricity to add each block, and changing an earlier block would mean redoing that work faster than the rest of the network. Until that block is confirmed, your proof is pending. Once the Bitcoin anchoring is confirmed, you can verify the proof against that recorded commitment. The confirmed record can then be checked; Pooled TimeBinds are checked through TimeBinder, while ASAP TimeBinds can also be checked independently. If you check the file later and its fingerprint still matches, that shows the file existed no later than the recorded time. The record doesn’t show who made the file, whether AI was used, or that its contents are true.

Your filestays on your device
FingerprintSHA-256
Network timestampon Bitcoin

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I timestamp every SKU?

Timestamp each distinct design master. Colour swaps that are new export files deserve their own date if you may need to point to them.
Does Etsy’s listing date replace a timestamp?

No. The shop date shows when that listing went live on Etsy. A timestamp dates your master file, including drafts you had before publish.
What about a JPEG from my phone of someone else’s listing?

Keep it as an exhibit, and timestamp a clean full-page capture if you make one. Your own master file still matters more.
Can mockups share a TimeBind with the master?

Yes, up to 10 files.
What does it cost?

Your first Pooled TimeBind is free, with no credit card required. After that, from US$5; ASAP is US$15. See plans and pricing

More design guides are grouped on the timestamping page for designers and architects.

Timestamp your next design before it goes live

Show that this exact file existed no later than a recorded time. Files stay on your device. Get a checkable Proof of Time Certificate. Free to start. Open TimeBinder

Inna Hall

Inna Hall is an Australian lawyer admitted to the Supreme Court of Queensland and the High Court of Australia in 2013. She has worked across government and private legal practice and is the director of TimeBinder, focusing on document authenticity, evidentiary risk, and blockchain-based proof of existence.