How To Sell Sex Toys Online: The Complete Guide (2026)

Sex toys aren’t taboo anymore—they’re trending, with 37% of Americans saying they own at least one. The global market now tops $34 billion, and a new wave of body-positive brands is helping pleasure go mainstream. 

If you’ve ever wondered how to sell sex toys online, the answer starts with trust. Building a business in this space means crafting a bold brand identity, keeping privacy sacred, and delivering the kind of seamless shopping experience that turns first-time buyers into loyal fans.

From sourcing products to shipping them discreetly, every detail matters. In this guide, you’ll learn how to build, launch, and grow a sex toys business—from product sourcing and payment processing to marketing, packaging, and customer satisfaction.

The sex toy industry: current landscape

The sex toy market is experiencing significant growth, with projections indicating a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.9% to13.8% through 2034, depending on the source. 

Ecommerce now accounts for well over half of all sex toy sales, making online retail the dominant channel for this category.

In recent decades, body and sex positivity movements have helped elevate adult brands from fringe to celebrated. This shift coincided with the rise of ecommerce, allowing niche communities to connect and entrepreneurs to sell sex toys online from the privacy of their homes. It’s now a thriving industry.

Still, challenges persist. The adult industry remains politicized, and founders must go the extra mile to protect customer privacy and comply with payment and advertising restrictions. And, while technology has made it easier to reach buyers, it’s also introduced new hurdles with financial institutions and social media platforms.

With the right tools, a unique product idea, and plenty of research, however, it’s possible—even for first-time entrepreneurs—to build a successful brand in adult ecommerce. 

2026 industry trends

Several trends are shaping the sex toy market in 2026:

• Technology integration. App-enabled and Bluetooth-connected toys represent one of the fastest-growing segments. Remote-controlled devices, AI-powered personalization, and smart toys that sync with content are attracting tech-savvy consumers.
• Wellness positioning. Brands framing products as self-care and sexual wellness tools rather than purely pleasure items are reaching mainstream retail channels and new demographics.
• Customization. Personalized products—from custom colors to made-to-order items—command premium prices and build customer loyalty.
• Inclusive design. Products designed for diverse bodies, abilities, and gender expressions are expanding market reach.

How to sell sex toys online

1. Find an idea—and a market for it
2. Build a brand
3. Choose your business model: make, manufacture, or resell sex toys
4. Create an online store to sell sex toys
5. Invest in sex education
6. Consider additional sales channels
7. Get familiar with safety and privacy practices for adult stores
8. Market your sex toys and adult products
9. Prioritize customer satisfaction

Learn what it takes to go from an idea to a compliant, thriving adult brand. Plus, discover advice from the folks behind brands Emojibator, Strange Bedfellas, Clone-A-Willy, and Little Jane to help you start your own sex toy business.

1. Find an idea—and a market for it

To get started learning how to sell sex toys online, home in on a specific niche or product that you want to sell. What corner of the sex toy market will you conquer? Maybe you’ll even carve out your own. Whatever you decide, do your research, says Kristin Fretz, co-founder of Emojibator, a brand that sells adult novelties: “Identify a strong product-market fit before investing capital and resources into an idea.” Consider ideas within the following buckets:

Target audience

• Products marketed to specific groups and communities (e.g., LGBTQ+)
• Kink-specific niches (e.g., BDSM)

Product type

• Vibrators, massagers, masturbation devices, dildos, and other adult sex toys
• Lingerie, apparel, and adult cosplay
• Complementary products and accessories (e.g., lubricants, condoms, merch)

Trends and themes

• Novelty and fantasy products (e.g., unicorn-themed dildo)
• Innovative sex technology (e.g., augmented reality (AR), smart or rechargeable sex toys)
• Emerging trends (e.g., long-distance sex toys)
• Sexual health, sexual wellness, and self-care
• Rising categories (e.g., app-enabled toys, remote-controlled devices, LGBT-specific products)

When you are offering a product or service that has strong differentiators compared to your competitors, it becomes easier to market your idea in compelling ways.

Emojibator found success at the intersection of a women’s sexual empowerment movement and the popularity of the eggplant emoji. “When you are offering a product or service that has strong differentiators compared to your competitors, it becomes easier to market your idea in compelling ways,” says Kristin. 

Identifying your customer

When narrowing in on your sex toy product, focus on finding an audience for it and assessing market demand. “We were in luck,” says Meesh Oglesby-Cunningham, founder of Strange Bedfellas, “because there was already a robust community built around the collecting of fantasy sex toys.” 

Meesh also knew that the fantasy sex toy community was built largely by LGBTQ+ people, and she’s taken guidance from that community since launching the brand. “We’re fortunate to have folks who are willing to tell us how to achieve wider appeal with our designs,” she says. “Since starting this company, I’ve learned so much about inclusive language and product design.”

While Strange Bedfellas targets a narrow slice of the market, Emojibator launched its sex toys to more general appeal, with co-founder Joe Vela describing the brand’s wide customer base as “first-time sex toy buyers, parents, gift shoppers, avid sex-toy collectors, gender non-conforming people, emoji fanatics, and folks rediscovering pleasure after sexual trauma.”

2. Build a brand

Co-founders Kristin Fretz and Joe Vela launched Emojibator after Joe had the idea for an eggplant-shaped vibrator. The duo set out to build a sex toy brand that felt approachable and relatable—two words not usually used to describe sex toy companies. 

While Emojibator’s success can be credited to timing—at the height of emoji mania—positioning the brand with humorous, shareable content played a significant role. Its success illustrates a key point: In a sensitive industry, your brand’s tone is part of your trust strategy.

Beyond innovative products, your brand identity is what influences customers to buy from you. It should tell your story, connect with your target audience, and build credibility. When you sell sex toys, your brand isn’t just visual—it’s a tool used to build trust.

Developing your sex toy brand

Clone-A-Willy offers molding kits that allow customers to make safe sex toy replicas of genitalia. The parent company made its name supplying prosthetics to the medical and film industries and later pivoted to direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales with a more approachable, consumer-friendly brand.

When building your own brand, define your target market and tell a story. Ask yourself:

• What does my brand stand for?
• What value does my brand or product bring to the market and customer?
• What’s my value proposition?
• What is my voice and tone—informative and professional, or daring and playful?
• What are my brand values?
• What are my business goals, both short and long term?
• Is my personal story critical to the brand story?

An effective set of brand guidelines will inform all aspects of the business, from who you partner with to what’s in your press kit. It will help you scale your sex toy business and maintain brand consistency as you hire or outsource.

Branding for your sex toy business

After you have completed the above brand exercise, it’s time to bring it to life. Here you’ll decide on your logo, color palette, and creative direction. You’ll choose a brand name, slogan, and domain name. Branding guidelines will then guide you—and any future staff—as you build your website, design products and packaging, and develop marketing content.

For a DIY approach, use a free tool such as Canva or Shopify’s logo maker and business name generator. Otherwise, hire a design pro who can bring your vision to life. Shopify Experts are vetted partners skilled in helping ecommerce business owners with their brands.

3. Choose your business model: make, manufacture, or resell sex toys

As with many businesses that sell consumer goods, you have multiple business model options, depending on how hands-on—or off—you’d like to be. Making your own sex toys to sell, outsourcing manufacturing, or reselling existing products are all viable options, and each comes with its own challenges and benefits.

Learning how to sell sex toys online starts with choosing the model that fits your skills, goals, and budget.

Making sex toys and adult products

Meesh and her team at Strange Bedfellas design and produce silicone sex toys by hand in their own facility. As she transitioned from two-dimensional illustrations to 3D sex products, Meesh found that much of the information about making and selling sex toys was readily available online, and that the category isn’t heavily regulated in the US. That meant she had to take extra care to ensure her processes and materials were safe.

“There are tutorials and information out there for people who put the time into searching for it,” Meesh says. “As well, there is a big community of collectors who discuss this sort of thing and were a great source of information when I first started down this road.” 

Benefits

• Full creative control from design to fulfillment
• Personally rewarding for makers and creatives
• Unique product not available anywhere else

Challenges

• Learning curve
• Onus is on you to meet safety standards and conduct testing
• Harder to scale production

Manufacturing sex toys and adult products

Emojibator designs its products in Philadelphia and runs operations remotely across multiple cities. All of the manufacturing is outsourced to factories in the US and China. This model allows the founders and team to focus on other aspects of the business, like marketing and product development. It also lets the brand scale quickly and operate globally.

Identifying and working with manufacturers is the most challenging aspect of this business model. Since sex toys come into contact with the body, safety and quality assurance are critical. 

Verify that any factory you work with has experience in the adult industry and understands and adheres to safety standards. If you’re sourcing internationally, use a third-party auditor or liaison to help ask the right questions—this is especially important if there is a language barrier.

Once you’ve started working with a reputable manufacturer, you can dedicate resources to growing your product line. As Emojibator adds new products to its collection, Joe and his team ask:

1. Does it fit with our brand mission to deliver accessible, affordable, and fun pleasure for all genders? 
2. Is it exciting, astonishing, and newsworthy? 

“These factors allow us to create niche products and unique experiences for our community,” says Joe. Use your own brand exercise to outline criteria for product development.

Benefits

• Ability to scale quickly
• Working with an experienced manufacturer brings peace of mind
• Outsourcing the production lets you run with a lean in-house team

Challenges

• Less control over the manufacturing and quality assurance processes
• Navigating manufacturing sourcing and relationships can be a learning curve
• Potential high order minimums for new and small businesses

Reselling in the sex toy industry

If the product design and development processes don’t interest you, you can still create a brand through smart curation and strong storytelling. There are multiple ways to do this, including:

White labeling

White-label manufacturers create “blank” products known as white-label items. They may create these for multiple brands, customizing labels and packaging for each. With a white-label model, you can bring products to market quickly without starting from scratch.

Reselling

You can build a brand around a theme or audience by buying wholesale and curating products that fit into your concept. Selling sex toys in this way is a quick-start option for beginners.

Some businesses also become local resellers for international brands that don’t sell directly to customers in their region. You would purchase wholesale quantities of products to warehouse and ship to customers.

Dropshipping

The most hands-off model is reselling or dropshipping existing products for your own store. The dropshipping model lets you sell sex toys without handling inventory—customers order from your store, and suppliers ship directly to them. This approach offers the lowest barrier to entry for new entrepreneurs.

What to look for in adult dropship suppliers:

• Product quality verification and material safety documentation
• Discreet packaging and shipping labels (no explicit branding on exterior)
• Reliable fulfillment times (adult products often ship from specialized warehouses)
• Clear return policies you can communicate to customers
• Wholesale pricing that allows healthy margins

Here are some sex toy dropshipping vendors to explore: 

• BeWicked
• Nalpac
• Honey’s Place
• Sex Toys Distribution
• Muffs & Cuffs

Shopify integrates with inventory and order-management tools that make working with multiple suppliers seamless, helping you track orders and automate fulfillment.

Benefits

• More hands-off (ideal as a business to launch initially as a side gig)
• Ability to work with established brands with good reputations
• No need to carry inventory, and you can start up on a lower budget

Challenges

• Same products may be sold elsewhere
• You are at the mercy of other businesses’ decisions (discontinued products) or manufacturing and shipping delays

4. Create an online store to sell sex toys

Selling sex toys online is possible through platforms like Shopify. Where you may run into challenges is through payment processors and payment gateways. While some sex toy brands use Shopify Payments, certain products may be restricted (e.g., cannabis). Here are the steps to get started, a look at which apps to integrate, and advice on choosing a payment partner.

Opening a sex store: online vs. physical retail

If you’re transitioning from a brick-and-mortar adult store to online sales—or considering both channels—the fundamentals differ significantly:

• Online advantages: Lower overhead, broader geographic reach, 24/7 sales, customer privacy during browsing, and the ability to reach niche audiences worldwide.
• Physical retail advantages: In-person product education, immediate gratification for customers, local community building, and no shipping logistics for hygiene-sensitive products.
• Hybrid approach: Many successful sex retailers operate both channels, using their physical location for community events and education while their online store handles the bulk of transactions. Your ecommerce site becomes the backbone of operations either way—even walk-in customers often research online first.

Setup, themes, and design 

Once you’ve developed branding guidelines, you’re ready to build your online store and sell sex toys online. You can plug your logo, colors, and other assets into preset, customizable website themes instead of building a site from scratch. This makes setup simple, even if you don’t have strong design or coding skills.

Essential pages for your website

There are a few critical pages to build when you are setting up an online sex toy store.

Collection pages

If you have a large collection of products, sort them into themes based on type, sexual preferences, kinks, or other categories that help your customers navigate your website and find what they’re looking for.

Product pages

Given the nature of your business and product, product pages need to do more than simply provide a description, photo, price, and Buy button. Use an app that lets you create tabbed information to avoid clutter on the page. Include helpful information such as instructions, safety warnings, cleaning and care tips, and warranty information. These help build trust and increase customer confidence.

FAQ page

This is an important page for anyone selling sex toys online. Many of your products likely cannot be returned for resale due to hygiene and safety reasons. Your FAQ page is the place to state your return and exchange policy clearly. You can also answer questions here about materials, product use and care, privacy, and shipping. 

About pages

Your About page is where your brand story shines. Whether you center your personal story or not, you can still remind customers that there are real people behind your brand. Your About page can contain your mission, brand values, company history, and press links.

Ecommerce photography for sex toy brands

Great visuals not only sell products—they reinforce your brand identity and professionalism. With most online businesses, customers can’t touch, feel, or demo your products before buying. Your product page should be as descriptive as possible to help replicate the in-person experience with copy and photography. 

Shoot sex toy products at multiple angles and include images of any accessories (e.g., charging devices). While your product page should prioritize clear, uncluttered images to highlight products, a lifestyle shoot can add personality to your website, social media images, ads, and press kit.

Emojibator leaned into the humorous side of its products with lifestyle photography. “We were brilliantly practical in our decision to take a picture of our friend’s cat holding the Eggplant Emojibator for our press release,” says Kristin. “The internet, in response, laughed along with us.”

Also consider which video assets you need for customer education or marketing. Hire a professional to shoot core, or evergreen, assets that you’ll use over and over, and consider DIY video content for platforms like TikTok.

Navigating high-risk payment processing

Adult product sellers are often classified as “high risk” by banks and payment processors due to content sensitivity and chargeback risk. Understanding this designation—and preparing for it—helps you avoid account disruptions and build a stable foundation for your business.

Why adult stores are considered high-risk

When Meesh moved her brand to Shopify, her products fell under Shopify Payments’ acceptable use policy regarding products. But her peers have faced challenges with their payment providers. As a security measure, Strange Bedfellas secured a backup payment provider.

As industry reports show, relationships between financial institutions and sex-related business entrepreneurs can be tenuous. “We face unjust financial discrimination as a sex toy company, and it prevents us from competing fairly in the marketplace,” says Kristin.

This high-risk label is why mainstream processors sometimes freeze funds, close accounts, or refuse applications when adult products are involved. Sex toy brands are often grouped into the same category as gambling, CBD, and firearms because of perceived reputational, regulatory, or chargeback risks.

Trusted payment processors

Despite these challenges, many brands successfully sell sex toys on Shopify using a variety of high-risk payment processors. “Read the terms of service and what is and isn’t allowed to be sold,” says Sarah. “This not only differs between payment providers, but also between the same provider based on country. Nudity in images, prostitution, weapons, bondage, and potential for injury could all be relevant.”

If you’re in the adult products space, you’ll often need to work with providers that specialize in high-risk industries. Here are some providers to consider: 

• CCBill
• SegPay
• Epoch
• NetBilling
• PaymentCloud
• SMB Global

These processors typically charge higher transaction fees than mainstream providers, but they offer stability and experience handling adult merchant accounts. Request specific fee schedules directly from each provider, as rates vary based on your business model, volume, and product mix.

Before choosing a processor, verify compatibility with Shopify by checking Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy and the processor’s integration documentation.

Chargeback prevention strategies and fraud tools 

Because financial institutions often classify sex toy businesses as high risk, they monitor chargebacks strictly. Too many chargebacks can trigger higher fees or account termination. 

To reduce that risk, consider:

• Discreet billing descriptors. Use a neutral business name (e.g., “ABC Web LLC”) on customer bank statements instead of an explicit one. This reduces “friendly fraud” chargebacks from customers who don’t recognize the charge.
• 3D secure/Verified by Visa/Mastercard SecureCode. This transaction authentication step demonstrates legitimacy.
• Chargeback alerts and dispute management tools. Services like Ethoca and Verifi let you respond to disputes before they become chargebacks.
• Clear refund and return policies. Provide your refund and return policies upfront to reduce disputes. Quick refunds are often cheaper than chargeback fees.
• Fraud filters and velocity checks. Shopify’s built-in fraud analysis and tools like Kount and FraudLabs Pro can flag suspicious orders before they’re processed.

For more information on payment processor policies and risk reduction, check out these resources: 

• Shopify’s Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy (AUP), including guidance on restricted items
• Shopify Payments FAQ
• PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy
• Stripe’s list of restricted businesses

Apps and tools for adult stores

Shopify integrates with multiple apps to enhance the customer experience and customize your site to your needs. For adult brands, the right tools can also simplify compliance and protect your business.

Here are a few suggestions for brands selling sex toys online:

• Use age verification tools. Tools like Hulk Age Verification or Real ID add a checkpoint to your storefront, so visitors can confirm they’re of legal age before browsing.
• Focus on retention. A loyalty app like Rise Gift Cards & Store Credit will help you reward and retain your biggest supporters.
• Supercharge your FAQ. The Help Lab FAQ Page app helps you quickly set up a clear FAQ page for shipping, returns, and product use.
• Formalize shop policies. Ensure that customers understand them by adding a Terms and Conditions Box.
• Produce professional videos. A video maker like Vimeo Create can help you produce pro video ads and educational content for product demos or brand storytelling.
• Publish a clear privacy statement. Use Shopify’s free Privacy Policy Generator to help.
• Personalize the shopping experience. Try apps that create personalized shopping experiences through quizzes, custom guides, or product-matching tools, helping customers choose items that suit their preferences.

5. Invest in sex education

Education is essential to sex toy companies—both for helping customers make informed purchases and protecting them—and you—from harm. “The products we sell are very intimate by nature, and I want to help people make choices they will have good experiences with,” says Meesh.

Producing this content is a way for our brand to lean in on our educational mission.

Educational content also helps demystify products and builds credibility with first-time buyers. You can share information on product pages, in FAQs, and on product packaging. But it can also form part of your content strategy. Informative sexual health information can establish you as a trusted expert—and content can help drive purchases.

"Educating your customer is the highest form of trust building," says Sean Reyes, founder at Shock Surplus, on an episode of Shopify Masters. 

Emojibator took educational content to the next level, launching Masturbation Month—a month-long campaign each May that drives significant traffic to its educational content. “Producing this content is a way for our brand to lean in on our educational mission.”

6. Consider additional sales channels

Beyond your online store, expanding into other sales channels can grow visibility and revenue. With advertising challenges and restrictions on sex-related products, finding creative ways to connect with customers is key.

Explore the following channels:

• Community events. Sex shop founder Amy Unicorn says events like drag shows are a key part of her business. Music festivals, artisan markets, and other events let shoppers experience your products in person and help you build community ties.
• Trade shows. Trade andconsumer shows can draw wholesale buyers and customers to your brand.
• Wholesale. Selling wholesale through other established retailers can expand your reach. Seventy percent of Emojibator’s business is wholesale, says Joe.
• Retail. The next stage of your online sex toy business might be a physical retail store, where you can benefit from passerby traffic and local listings. Test selling offline with a pop-up shop first.
• Online marketplaces. Consider selling through marketplaces like Amazon or Etsy. Regularly check for updates on each platform’s terms of service to ensure that your products are allowed. For example, in summer 2024, Etsy updated its policies on sexual content, including heavy restrictions on the adult products that vendors can sell.

“The biggest challenge has been raising awareness about our brand and products,” says Joe. “That’s why we’ve leaned in on our wholesale sales channel. We have been lucky to find reputable and certified partners around the world.”

7. Get familiar with safety and privacy practices for adult stores

Compliance and safety are core to running a sustainable sex toy business. Protecting your customers and your reputation go hand in hand.

The sex toy industry has unique challenges due to the intimate nature of its products. Take the time to ensure your business meets safety standards, protects privacy, and stays compliant with regulations.

Product safety and testing

Safety is essential if you are planning to sell sex toys. Be sure to research any local rules and restrictions that may govern your business.

“I don’t personally give instructions on how to use our products, because I’m not a sex educator,” says Meesh. “My best tool is to put disclaimers on our products and encourage folks to do their research before purchasing.”

The community looks out for its members, and identifying dangerous shops is part of that. You don’t want to be on the bad list.

Clear disclaimers, FAQs, instructional product demo videos, and proper labeling can all help to ensure safe product use. During the production phase, work closely with your manufacturer to ensure they adhere to stringent safety standards. Expect the same level of diligence from any other brand you work with. “The community looks out for its members, and identifying dangerous shops is part of that,” says Meesh. “You don’t want to be on the bad list.”

As an extra precaution, consult a lawyer to ensure you meet legal requirements for safety and labeling. It’s also a good idea to consider protecting your business with product liability insurance.

Customer privacy

While social attitudes toward sexuality have become more open, many shoppers want their purchases to remain private. “A lot of our customers live with family or friends who may not appreciate finding their purchases or may be quite hostile to them about it,” says Meesh.

Strange Bedfellas ships in plain boxes and uses its generic LLC name on return labels. Similarly, “due to societal realities,” Kristin says that the brand name doesn’t appear on shipping packaging or credit card statements.

Privacy also extends to the information you collect from your customers. There are already many laws that govern how you use this info, but sex toy businesses may want to be forthcoming about how they handle data. “We don’t share any personal data with third parties that don’t require it,” says Joe. “If anyone requests their data to be deleted, we ensure it’s wiped completely from all of our systems.”

Protecting privacy builds trust and helps prevent chargebacks by reducing surprises on billing statements and ensuring customers feel safe sharing their information.

Discreet packaging best practices

Because privacy is such a strong customer concern in this industry, many successful brands go beyond the basics of a plain box to ensure discreet packaging for their sex toys. 

Consider the following best practices:

• Neutral outer packaging. Use plain cardboard boxes or mailers without logos, suggestive imagery, or brand names.
• Generic sender labels. List a neutral business or LLC name (e.g., “ABC Web LLC”) rather than anything that hints at adult products.
• General declarations. For cross-border deliveries, declare goods under general terms such as “personal massager” or “health products” when legally permissible, rather than explicitly naming the item.
• Tamper-evident seals. Build trust by making sure packages can’t be accidentally opened or inspected without leaving evidence.
• Internal discretion. Wrap products in tissue, bubble wrap, or inner boxes so items aren’t visible even if the outer box is opened.

Statement descriptor masking

Beyond packaging, billing discretion is equally important. Chargebacks often happen when a customer sees a company name they don’t recognize. 

To avoid this, work with your payment processor to display a generic or parent company name on bank statements rather than an explicit brand name. For example, “XYZ Retail” is far less likely to raise eyebrows—or disputes— than “SexyToysOnline.”

Communicate clearly with buyers. Let them know at checkout or in order confirmation emails what the descriptor will look like on their bank statement (e.g., “Charges will appear as ’ABC Web LLC’”). This small step reduces confusion and prevents “friendly fraud.” 

Finally, aim for consistency across all merchant accounts and backup processors so customers aren’t surprised by different names depending on how their order was routed. That consistency helps customers recognize legitimate charges and builds long-term trust in your brand.

Age verification and compliance

If you’re selling sex toys online, one of the first legal boxes you need to tick is making sure your customers are actually old enough to buy them. The exact rules vary by country—over 18 is the standard in most places, but some regions have stricter requirements. Either way, skipping age checks isn’t just risky—it can put your whole business in legal hot water.

At the most basic level, you can use a simple pop-up gate (“Are you 18 or older?”) when someone lands on your site. That’s a start, but depending on where you sell, regulators may require stronger safeguards, such as verifying IDs against a database or using third-party verification services. For example, the UK has explored stricter rules for the adult industry, and some US states have already passed similar laws requiring proof of age for online adult content.

On Shopify (and other ecommerce platforms), you’ll find apps designed to make this process seamless. Hulk Age Verification adds an instant gate to your storefront, while services like Real ID take it a step further by verifying physical documents. If you’re selling internationally, it’s worth checking whether your provider supports region-specific compliance so you don’t have to manage different rules manually.

8. Market your sex toys and adult products

Once your business is safe and compliant, it’s time to focus on visibility and growth.

Sex sells, but selling sex toys is a little more complex. Navigating the marketing of sex-related products is one of the most common challenges business owners in the industry face. Selling sex toys to your target audience means finding them where they are. But sometimes those platforms can be restrictive for sex toy businesses.

“The most effective paid ad networks have either completely censored or heavily blocked any product related to adult toys,” says Joe. Often, Instagram’s policies around nudity and sexual activity impact organic content posted by sex-related businesses.

“Censorship is a considerable hurdle we have to constantly navigate, and we’ve had to be very creative in marketing and promoting to the masses,” says Victoria Nelthropp, Clone-A-Willy’s marketing and brand coordinator. 

On saturated, established platforms like Instagram, making headway with organic marketing is challenging for any type of business. Yet, social media is still a valuable tool for sex toy brands. Meesh uses it as a customer service channel, and Joe says Emojibator has successfully built a community there.

Censorship is a considerable hurdle we have to constantly navigate, and we’ve had to be very creative in marketing and promoting to the masses.

Adult toy marketing strategies that work

Marketing adult products requires creativity since mainstream advertising platforms restrict explicit content, and social algorithms can limit organic reach. Here’s what works:

Content marketing

Educational blog content, buying guides, and sexual wellness information attract organic search traffic without triggering ad platform restrictions. This builds authority and captures customers researching before purchase. Use on-site optimized content to build trust, help customers, and drive traffic to your site through relevant keyword searches.

Email marketing

With acquisition costs high in restricted categories, email becomes your most valuable channel. Focus on building your list from day one and nurturing subscribers with educational content, not just promotions.

“I’ve completely stopped doing ads now. All of my marketing advertising right now is organic, and I’m just sharing myself and my story on my Instagram and I have a really good email customer list that I like to stay in touch with very well,” Chandler Honey, founder Tique Chandler, told Shopify Masters. 

“I’m just showing up for my existing customers and keeping them coming back for more, feeling like they know me through my social media presence and just continuing to post and have people get involved in the story.” 

Explore Shopify’s marketing automation tools to manage email campaigns, SEO, and influencer outreach from one dashboard.

Influencer partnerships

Sex educators, wellness influencers, and adult content creators often accept partnerships that mainstream platforms won’t allow. 

Micro-influencers in your niche typically deliver better ROI than broad reach. Reach out to sex-positive influencers that appeal to your ideal customer. Even new brands can work with emerging influencers who may have lower rates.

Community building

Forums, Discord servers, and private groups let you connect directly with customers outside algorithm-controlled platforms.

PR and earned media

Sex-positive publications, wellness blogs, and mainstream outlets covering sexual health often feature innovative products. A strong brand story and unique product angle make you pitch-worthy. 

“We have a publicist on our team that keeps our brand story in the news cycle, and we aim to create astonishing products worth talking about, which has been our strategy since day one,” says Emojibator’s Joe.

Most major platforms—including Meta, Google, and TikTok—restrict or prohibit advertising for adult products. Review each platform’s current policies before investing in paid campaigns, and build organic channels as your primary growth engine. 

9. Prioritize customer satisfaction

“I actually really enjoy when customers ask detailed questions before purchasing items,” says Meesh, who finds that the open communication helps her recommend the best products and reduce post-purchase issues. 

Occasionally, she’ll even refer a customer to another brand: “I have a lot of peers in this industry whose work I trust, and I have no problem referring customers to them if I think they’ll be a better fit.”

Due to the nature of sex-related products, returns and exchanges are usually not possible. That’s why customer support at every stage is important to prevent unhappy customers. 

“We have an extensive policies page, and we link to it often throughout the site: on listings, on info pages, in all the emails we send,” says Meesh. “We can’t say it often enough!”

There may be cases where you will accept returns of open products, say in the event of a manufacturing flaw. If you’re a reseller, the product you’re selling may have a warranty, and you can refer those customer service issues to the manufacturer for replacements.

Emojibator, for example, offers a one-year warranty on all of its products. The company prioritizes customer support to ensure it handles warranty claims with care. “We know sex toy experiences are unique to each person,” says Kristin, “so we treat each customer with the utmost respect, patience, and kindness.” 

Transparent policies and responsive support reduce chargebacks and build lasting trust. Treat every customer interaction as an opportunity to reinforce your reliability and respect for privacy.

What does it cost to start a sex toy business?

What’s a topic that’s almost as taboo as sex? Money. (Though neither should be.) Startup costs for a sex toy business vary dramatically by business model. 

Dropshipping

Dropshipping offers the lowest barrier to entry since you don’t need to purchase inventory upfront—your primary costs are your ecommerce platform subscription, domain, branding basics, and initial marketing budget.

There are downsides to this model. You have zero control over production and shipping, but you can start a business with a few hundred dollars for a basic website and other online tools.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing your own products demands the highest initial capital for product development, prototyping, production runs, and safety testing.

For manufacturing sex toys, minimums are also a consideration. Manufacturing partners may require you to purchase hundreds of units to keep your costs sustainable. Even the product development process can be costly. “If you are designing a novel or new product,” says Joe, “you can expect that process to take a minimum of one year and $10,000 upfront.”

Reselling and white labeling

If you decide to become a reseller or seller of white-labeled products, the bulk of your startup costs will come from buying inventory, renting storage or fulfillment space (if needed), and paying fees for your online store. Even if you handle much of the work yourself using free tools to design your branding, expect to spend a few thousand dollars to get started.

Making 

As a maker, your startup costs will be lower if you can produce items to order rather than keeping inventory on hand. But depending on your process, the equipment and supplies could still cost you hundreds—or thousands—of dollars. You will also need to invest in branded packaging, which likely will have upfront minimums.

Regardless of model, budget for ongoing costs including payment processor fees (which run higher for adult merchants), marketing, and platform subscriptions. Request specific quotes from payment processors and suppliers based on your business model, as rates vary significantly based on volume and product mix. 

Pricing your products

Pricing sex toys is a delicate balance between making your desired profit and a retail price that customers are willing to pay. Use a standard pricing strategy to calculate your fixed and variable costs and add your profit margin. Then compare your pricing to similar competitors in your industry: Are you relatively in line with the expected retail price ranges?

Getting started

For entrepreneurs passionate about sex education, sexual empowerment, or supporting communities traditionally marginalized by the adult industry, selling sex toys offers a rewarding opportunity to build a business that makes a difference.

Despite the challenges, anyone with the desire and the patience to navigate creative problems can sell sex toys and build a rewarding career. “I really enjoy this job!” says Meesh. “I wasn’t aware I could find so much fulfillment making dildos.”

Selling sex toys online takes creativity, responsibility, and courage—but for entrepreneurs who prioritize compliance, privacy, and inclusivity, it’s one of ecommerce’s most rewarding frontiers.