The best Etsy alternatives for selling your crafts

Jun 25, 2024 10:03 PM - 4 months ago 50245

Since its motorboat successful 2005, Etsy has go well-known arsenic nan spot to spell for handcrafted, one-of-a-kind items from a wide assortment of creators. Unfortunately, complete nan past fewer years, that rosy estimation has changed a bit. A mates of years ago, buyers began noticing an influx of mass-market equipment that were noticeably not handmade. I talked to much than 1 personification who felt that Etsy had go little astir trading handmade crafts and much astir driblet shipping — enterprises that advertise and waste a merchandise and past walk nan bid connected to a 3rd party, which ships it.

There was discontent online from sellers arsenic well, owed to some nan accrued number of manufactured equipment and accrued expenses such arsenic mandatory marketplace plans. Then, successful April 2022, Etsy announced it was raising seller transaction fees from 5 percent to 6.5 percent. As a result, a number of Etsy sellers went connected strike betwixt April 11th and 18th of that year. And successful March of 2023, erstwhile nan Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, Etsy responded by holding backmost nan fees of immoderate of its sellers, an action that was feared to beryllium disastrous for smaller trade businesses.

Since then, Etsy has moved to effort to reconstruct its estimation arsenic a spot for handmade crafts alternatively than cheaply manufactured goods. As pointed retired successful a recent article successful The Information, nan institution seems to beryllium caught betwixt trying to pull consumers pinch little prices and maintaining its estimation arsenic nan spot wherever they tin find handcrafted gifts. All this, of course, doesn’t make things easier for nan comparatively mini vendors who are trying to get their products recognized successful a very crowded market. 

As immoderate retailer knows, it takes a batch of clip and resources to waste products, either online aliases disconnected — resources that you whitethorn not have, particularly if you are not moving a full-time business. You person to create a professional-looking website wherever you tin show disconnected your wares to their champion advantage aliases showcase them successful a venue wherever imaginable customers tin find them. You person to way your inventory truthful you don’t accidentally judge a waste you can’t fulfill, particularly if you waste astatine much than 1 site. You request to beryllium capable to judge income from in installments cards, PayPal, aliases different financial institutions, adhd taxation and shipping fees, and connection approximate vessel dates. You person to battalion up your items (or put to person them packed) and nonstop them out. If you judge returns, you person to woody pinch refunds and shipping fees.

In different words, moreover if you’re a very mini shop, trading online tin beryllium complicated, particularly if you’re trying to do it wholly by yourself.

If you want to support your favourite Etsy craftspeople — and they’re either nary longer astatine Etsy aliases you don’t want to usage nan tract — location whitethorn beryllium different ways to interaction them and / aliases bargain from them. This is wherever your hunt motor is your friend.

You tin besides interaction them done Etsy. 

  • On nan site, spell to your Etsy Favorites (the bosom icon astatine nan apical right), aliases if you haven’t been keeping a Favorites list, click connected your individual icon and spell to Purchases and reviews.
  • Find nan sanction of nan vendor and prime it. This should return you to nan main page for that vendor.
  • Scroll down to wherever you spot Contact shop owner (usually connected nan near broadside of nan page), and nonstop them a message.

Selling done Etsy solved that problem for a batch of creators. It is simply a azygous root that group looking for crafty items tin spell to; it supplies a income page, a measurement to interface pinch your customers, and different unit services. And since each transactions return spot done nan Etsy level and checkout system, it provides further privateness betwixt purchaser and seller. But if Etsy has go a problem for you arsenic a seller, what do you do?

Looking for alternatives

Unfortunately, Etsy — moreover successful its existent incarnation — seems to beryllium unique. While location are respective different outlets wherever craftspeople tin get thief trading their wares, fewer person nan full-service plans and outreach that Etsy boasts.

If you’re trying to waste your crafts, you can, of course, simply waste retired of your ain website. However, it takes time, knowledge, and accomplishment to beryllium capable to build a unit site, not to mention to publicize it truthful that your customers tin find you. If you’ve sewage those skills — aliases if you’ve sewage nan wherewithal to prosecute personification pinch those skills — past that could beryllium a solution. However, location are alternatives. They whitethorn not beryllium nan all-in-one solution that Etsy has been, but if you really want to find different markets — moreover if you’re not fresh to wantonness Etsy altogether — they mightiness activity for you.

Note that these are only a fewer of nan disposable options retired there. There are galore different e-commerce sites and services available, and location are others too these that whitethorn activity for a smaller unit shop. But this will hopefully springiness you a spot to start.

Etsy is 1 of nan astir well-known sources for crafts.

Screenshot: Etsy

As mentioned before, Etsy is champion known for being nan spot to spell for various crafts and handmade items, though this estimation is starting to fray a bit. However, Etsy does supply you pinch your ain “shop,” a measurement to grounds your items and get paid, and a assortment of different services.

Etsy has a database of fees that includes:

  • A 20-cent listing interest for a four-month listing
  • A 6.5 percent transaction interest
  • A 3 percent positive 25 cents costs processing fee
  • A 15 percent offsite ads interest that is only charged erstwhile a acquisition is made from an offsite advertisement — successful addition, nan offsite ads programme is optional if you made nether $10,000 successful nan past 365 days, though you do request to manually opt out

Trial period: location is nary proceedings play for an Etsy shop.

Amazon offers a little-known crafts shop of its own, called Amazon Handmade.

Screenshot: Amazon

Retail elephantine Amazon has a typical shop called Amazon Handmade, wherever customers tin find crafts and different handmade goods. On nan 1 hand, this is Amazon, truthful location are a batch of group going location to bargain things. On nan other, Amazon Handmade doesn’t look to beryllium arsenic good known arsenic Etsy (I didn’t cognize astir it until I started researching this article). 

Amazon offers 2 wide plans: Individual and Professional. 

  • Individual, costing 99 cents per point sold, is for beginners — basically, for those who expect to waste less than 40 units a period and don’t scheme to advertise. However, you cannot beryllium a portion of Amazon Handmade if you’re connected nan Individual plan. You must beryllium connected nan Professional plan.
  • Professional is $39.99 per period and offers advertising, apical placement connected tract pages, and different features. But for those who want to beryllium portion of Handmade and who are existent craftspeople, location is an out. Once you’ve created a Professional Amazon seller’s account, you tin use to person nan interest waived aft nan first period by qualifying for Handmade.
  • Add to that nan referral fees. Normally, nan percent depends connected what you are selling. For example, if you’re trading jewelry, Amazon will return 20 percent of nan full waste value up to $250 and 5 percent for immoderate information supra that. However, if you suffice for Handmade, past Amazon will deduct a consecutive 15 percent referral interest for immoderate you sell.
  • Amazon will complaint you for shipping arsenic good but will past refund nan magnitude — aliases a information of it. Professional users get to find really overmuch shipping will cost; Amazon will complaint them for it and past in installments them for that amount. Individual users person to usage a group shipping interest that Amazon charges; if their shipping costs are much than Amazon’s refund, they’ll person to eat that costs (or raise nan value of their goods).

Trial period: location is nary proceedings play for Amazon Handmade.

Shopify is simply a well-known e-commerce platform.

Screenshot: Shopify

Shopify is not a marketplace for illustration Etsy aliases moreover Amazon — it’s an e-commerce level for sellers who want to waste their products connected their ain sites. It offers a assortment of services for a scope of sellers, from individuals to ample retailers. For example, nan Basic scheme includes shipping discounts and a point-of-sale app (for in-person sales). The Shopify scheme adds respective unit accounts and insurance; nan Advanced scheme includes a bunch of different features, specified arsenic civilization reports and analytics.

If you’re reasoning astir trading retired of your ain website but want a measurement to much easy grip payments, income tracking, shipping costs, etc., an e-commerce level could beryllium very useful, and Shopify seems to person comparatively friends small-shop services.

  • The Basic scheme starts astatine $39 / period aliases $348 / year. Credit paper fees for online income are 2.9 percent positive 30 cents per transaction; in installments paper fees for in-person income are 2.7 percent positive 10 cents per transaction. If you don’t usage Shopify’s costs services, you are charged 2 percent per transaction.
  • The Shopify scheme starts astatine $105 / period aliases $948 / year. Credit paper fees for online income are 2.7 percent positive 30 cents per transaction; in installments paper fees for in-person income are 2.5 percent positive 10 cent per transaction. If you don’t usage Shopify’s costs services, you are charged 1 percent per transaction.
  • The Advanced scheme starts astatine $399 / period aliases $3,588 / year. Credit paper fees for online income are 2.5 percent positive 30 cents per transaction; in installments paper fees for in-person income are 2.4 percent positive 10 cents per transaction. If you don’t usage Shopify’s costs services, you are charged 0.6 percent per transaction.

Finally, if you scheme to marketplace your wares via societal networks and want to usage Shopify’s “simple online store,” you tin effort nan Starter plan for $5 a period positive a 5 percent transaction interest if you usage Shopify Payments.

Trial period: location is simply a three-day free proceedings and a complaint of $1 for your first month.

The Artisans Cooperative was created to connection an replacement to Etsy.

Screenshot: Artisans Cooperative

The Artisans Cooperative was a nonstop outgrowth of nan Etsy onslaught mentioned astatine nan opening of this article. According to nan site, “We beforehand creativity, support creator livelihoods, and link group done an equitable creator community.” To go a personnel and waste connected nan tract via your ain shop, you person to spell done a verification process (apparently, location are plans to unfastened nan marketplace to nonmembers “later this year”). After that, you simply person to salary a straightforward committee connected sales.

Fees 

As a Supporter, you tin create a shop connected nan tract and return portion successful voting; you salary a one-time interest of $100 and a committee of 9.5 percent connected sales. An Artisan personnel pays a one-time interest of $1,000 and a committee of 8 percent connected income and gets admittance to typical events and communications, positive privilege marketing.

Big Cartel offers services for online stores.

Screenshot: Big Cartel

Big Cartel is geared specifically toward creatives and moreover has a constricted but usable free plan. It doesn’t connection a cardinal marketplace for illustration Etsy does, but it does supply services to thief crafters create an online shop connected their ain site. Note that it doesn’t see arrangements for in installments paper aliases different payments; you will person to put yourself via Stripe, PayPal, aliases Venmo (and remember, they will person abstracted fees for unit sales). But Big Cartel doesn’t adhd other fees to complaint done their service.

  • The free Gold scheme gives you a marketplace for up to 5 products pinch a azygous photograph per product, nan expertise to waste online and successful person, taxation calculation, mobile apps, and different features. 
  • The Platinum scheme ($15 / period aliases $144 / year) lets you database up to 50 products pinch 5 images per merchandise and adds a civilization domain, support for advertising, inventory tracking, and different services. 
  • The Diamond scheme lets you database up to 500 products pinch 25 images per merchandise and respective different master features for $30 / period aliases $288 / year.

Trial period: nan Gold scheme is fundamentally a proceedings plan; location is nary clip limit.

Bonanza doesn’t only connection crafts, but it does supply a trading hub for mini shops.

Screenshot: Bonanza

Like Etsy, Bonanza offers a cardinal hub wherever you tin waste your worldly — but dissimilar Etsy, it doesn’t purport to ore connected crafts and different handmade items. It is simply a overmuch much wide marketplace, including clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, furniture, etc. 

On nan different hand, Bonanza is very upfront pinch their terms. According to nan company’s FAQ, it does not costs thing to database your product(s) connected nan tract aliases upload photos, and you do truthful connected what Bonanza calls a “booth,” which is very akin to Etsy’s “shop.” Vendors are charged against what Bonanza calls Final Offer Value (FOV): “the magnitude that nan purchaser paid to you for nan point sold, positive immoderate information of nan shipping interest that exceeds $10.” The institution besides says it will sync your products pinch immoderate different marketplace you’re using. 

  • You salary a one-time trading interest of $14.99.
  • If nan FOV is nether $1,000, you salary 25 cents positive 3.5 percent.
  • Over that amount, you salary nan aforesaid 25 cents positive 3.5 percent, on pinch 1.5 percent of nan magnitude complete $1,000. 
  • Bonanza besides offers advertising services for an further fee, which tin scope from 9 percent to 30 percent of nan FOV. 
  • That 25-cent transaction interest connected each income disappears if you become a Bonanza member. Membership costs $40 a period / $300 a twelvemonth for Gold, $125 a period / $1,356 a twelvemonth for Diamond, and $200 a period / $2,004 a twelvemonth for Titan for a assortment of features starting pinch analytics, lower-priced shipping, featured searches, and nan expertise to tally promotions.

Trial period: Bonanza doesn’t complaint until you make a sale, truthful location is nary proceedings period.

IndieMade helps create a website wherever creators tin waste their wares.

Screenshot: IndieMade

IndieMade, for illustration Shopify, is an e-commerce level alternatively than a unit tract — successful different words, it helps you create a website wherever you tin waste your items. Unlike Shopify, it is directed toward craftspeople and useful connected a overmuch smaller scale. 

IndieMade offers 4 rank levels — and they each connection nan aforesaid features, including a civilization IndieMade-branded domain pinch SSL certification; nan expertise to waste straight from your tract utilizing PayPal, Stripe, aliases Square (each of which will person its ain fees); nan expertise to make coupons; nan expertise to let customers to take merchandise aspects (color, size, etc.); and a blog. The only differences betwixt nan levels are really galore products you tin waste and really galore photos you tin grounds per product.

  • Basic costs $4.95 / period and includes nan expertise to waste up to 10 products pinch 5 photos per product. 
  • Standard costs $12.95 / period for up to 250 products and 10 photos per product.
  • Pro costs $14.95 / period for up to 500 products and 20 photos per product.
  • Plus costs $19.95 for unlimited products and unlimited photos.

Trial period: IndieMade offers a free 30-day trial.

Goimagine’s tract says nan institution donates each its profits to charity.

Screenshot: Goimagine

Goimagine, for illustration Etsy, provides a marketplace for craftspeople and artists who want to waste their handmade goods. Unlike Etsy, anyone who wants to waste connected Goimagine has to comply pinch a stringent database of guidelines to guarantee that their wares are really handmade. In addition, Goimagine’s tract says that nan institution donates each profits to four different charities.

Goimagine offers three rank levels: Launch, Thrive, and Mosaic. All levels see a shop connected nan site, a mobile app, and nan expertise to import from Etsy, on pinch respective different features. The Mosaic level adds a branded e-commerce website and domain integration, among different things. The fees do not see charges from immoderate costs processor nan seller uses.

  • Launch costs $2.50 / period positive a 5 percent transaction interest for a catalog of up to 20 items.
  • Thrive costs $5 / period positive a 5 percent transaction interest for a catalog of up to 200 items.
  • Mosaic costs $10 / period positive a 5 percent transaction interest for a catalog of up to 1,000 items.

Trial period: none.

Shop My Porch concentrates connected section creatives.

Screenshot: Shop My Porch

Shop My Porch is simply a startup that provides an different online service: it concentrates connected small, section businesses. If you create and / aliases waste handmade products aliases baked goods, you tin make a page for each point pinch a photo, description, price, and nan zip codification wherever you’re located. The thought is that buyers find a merchandise they for illustration successful their area and spell prime it up; immoderate products tin beryllium delivered locally aliases moreover shipped, depending connected what nan seller wants. Buyers tin besides petition a civilization order. Because of nan quality of nan site, selections could beryllium constricted (or unavailable) successful your area, but it’s a bully idea.

Fees

According to Shop My Porch, location are nary listing fees; nan tract charges a 10 percent transaction interest erstwhile nan point sells.

Trial period: none.

eBay remains a celebrated spot to waste equipment of each kinds.

Screenshot: eBay

And past there’s eBay. While nan number of products being sold connected eBay tin beryllium overwhelming, if personification is looking for a circumstantial type of product, it could beryllium a spot wherever a creator could find a customer. And while eBay was primitively known mostly for reselling utilized items, it is now a marketplace for almost thing you tin find. There are besides immoderate useful features; for example, if you person customers who for illustration your wares, they tin easy group email reminders to look whenever you adhd thing new.

eBay charges 2 types of fees: a listing interest (known arsenic an insertion fee) and a last worth fee.

  • You tin database up to 250 items per period without having to salary an insertion fee. After that, you’ll salary 35 cents per period per listing.
  • The last worth interest tin alteration widely, depending connected what you’re selling, and is calculated arsenic a percent of your last waste value positive 30 cents per order. To find retired what your circumstantial merchandise would cost, your champion stake is to check retired eBay’s chart.

If you want to go a superior eBay retailer, you tin create your ain shop via eBay’s Store subscriptions. Subscription fees dangle connected really overmuch you will beryllium trading per period and nan type of income and promotional devices you’ll need.

Besides a storefront, these subscriptions connection a ample number of fixed-price and auction listings per month, customer support, and different features.

  • Starter Store costs $4.95 / period and offers up to 250 free fixed-price aliases auction listings pinch a 30-cent insertion interest for further listings.
  • Basic Store costs $21.95 / period and offers up to 1,000 free fixed-price listings and 250 free auction listings pinch a 25-cent insertion interest for further listings. There are besides little last worth fees and $25 worthy of eBay-branded shipping supplies.
  • Premium Store costs $59.95 a period and offers up to 10,000 free fixed-price listings pinch a 10-cent insertion interest for further listings and 500 free auction listings pinch a 15-cent insertion interest for further listings. It besides includes little last worth fees and $50 worthy of eBay-branded shipping supplies.

There are further levels for larger retailers.

Trial period: eBay offers nary free trials.

Making.

Making is touted arsenic a organization for “makers, crafters, and artists” that uses apps for iOS and Android mobile devices to, successful essence, create a societal web for crafters. While it is simply a bully concept, it hasn’t seemed to create overmuch complete nan past year. Still, it could beryllium worthy checking out.

Fees

Making has been offering a people system, wherever nan coach received a percent of nan people fees, but astatine nan clip this article was updated, classes were connected pause. Making is besides apparently developing a marketplace (currently, it looks for illustration astir of what is sold are patterns); nan tract charges an 8 percent transaction interest on pinch costs processing and payout fees, but nan transaction interest is waived for income nether $50.

Update June 25th, 2024: This article was primitively published connected April 7th, 2022. The preamble and astir of nan entries person been updated.

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