Even though the traditional place to sell crafts is at local fairs or shows, many seasoned crafters will tell you that those venues are becoming more expensive to sell at and profit less due to flea market mentalities of shoppers making bee lines to the mass produced, imports, and brand name tables. Even juried shows have become subpar where a crafter can not make a profit if even able to make back the booth fee. In 2007 a major quilting show had a booth fee of over $300! Most local fairs run at $65-75 for a booth. Many artists, artisan business owners, and hobbyists have taken to the internet to share their wares with the world. Many venues now exist where it is not necessary to purchase and design a domain, though that is always an option! The most established website for selling crafts is the Brooklyn-based Etsy.com. With over 128,000 shops, more than a million items listed at any given time, more than two million items sold in the first 2 years, and a half million members, Etsy is the most cost efficient way to setup a webstore for your wares and have instant traffic. It costs twenty cents per listing and a transaction fee of 3.5% based only on the sale price. Each listing lasts 4 months, has space for up to 5 pictures, gets 30 seconds of front page exposure upon listing, and there are on site promotions available for purchase. Among the handmade items are supplies and vintage, making for a diverse marketplace attracting many buyers from all over the world, though prices are given in U.S. dollars. There is also a large community behind Etsy, willing to help with anything from your Etsy shop, to business and crafting questions, to personal support. An internal conversation system, forums, and chat room allow you to have discussions without disclosing your email address. Etsy depends a lot on user feedback including inappropriate item tag flagging, ideas for improvements, newsletter discussions, and email
support. The site is integrated with Paypal for credit card payments, but sellers are not obligated to use them and can make other arrangements with buyers once the checkout with Etsy is complete.
Probably the most famous online venue is Ebay. However, as an auction site, this is not a good place for selling crafts. Auctions can go from 3 days to 7, or to 10 for an extra fee. A shop on Ebay costs $16 and up a month in addition to listing fees and final value fees which are being increased to more than 8%. Handmade items compete with $0.01 listings of mass produced items and it is difficult to get ahead. Though the online giant announced reductions in insertion fees this past week, the cost of listing and the chance of selling at a reasonable price for the work put into an item outweighs the benefit. However, I have been told by artisans that high end one of a kind art pieces, miniatures, and some clothing do well there. It is best to investigate the categories, number of bids on similar items, and the prices items are going for before deciding on the venue.
A UK based handmade site that is gaining momentum is Dawanda. Prices are in Euro and sellers outside Europe have to contact support to setup the origin for domestic shipping. Listing on Dawanda is free, but they take 5% commission on the sale price of each transaction. Lov.li is another site for handmade items that costs nothing to list on, but they take a commission of 3.5% on sales. Also the shipping price is prevented from being higher than the item cost, which may be an issue for heavier items, particularly when the postage rates go up again in May.
There are also free sites including Blujay and eCrater which cost nothing to setup a shop and they take no commission on sales. More promotion is needed when selling on these venues due to lack of traffic. There are also non-handmade goods offered on those sites, but they have forum communities for support. There are more venues listed below.
Regardless of where you sell online you will have to be able to get paid. If you want to accept credit cards Paypal is a trusted processor that does not share the buyers credit information with vendors. You also have the ability to withdraw money from your Paypal account directly with a debit card or to have it transferred into your bank account. You can also use your Paypal balance to shop online either via its parent company Ebay or a number of online shops accepting the processor.
Ebay, Etsy, Dawanda, Blujay, and eCrater are already integrated with Paypal, the only requirement is to sign up with them. Transaction fees are 3.5% plus 30 cents for premier or business accounts which are necessary for succesful online selling. Google Checkout is another processor, however they are only open to U.S. users. The Google Checkout transaction fee is 2.5% plus 20 cents. Google checkout is integrated with Blujay.com and eCrater shops. A new payment system, open to only those with a U.S. social security number, is Revolution Money Exchange. They are currently offering $25 to anyone opening new accounts. The transfer of money between members is free.
More online venues*:
artisansmarket.com - $10/mo membership plus 20% commission, paid monthly
bigcartel - subscription plans which determine customization, stats,
and number of listings/pics, basic plan is free
buysellcommunity.com - like craigslist, free ad placement, but no traffic
craftersbuzz.com - $10/mo hosting if you don't have a site already
craftmall.com - $7.95/mo and up
Craigslist - local ads, must post in small biz if advertising a webshop
crafty-ones.com - setup fee, booth fees, and commission add up
freecraftfair - an alternative to ebay, but no traffic
homegrownmarket.com - free to signup, 15% commission on sales
handmadecatalog.com - $4.95/mo and up, plus 5% commission on sales
hyenacart.com - setup fee, monthly fee, listing fee per pic
inetflea.com yearly membership fee varies greatly, 5% commission on sales, very few members
ioffer - choose a set price or make an offer, 5 cents per extra pic, very little traffic
kinfolkcrafts.com free classified ads, or $75 setup fee and $10/mo for shop
lillysplace.net paypal friendly $10/mo or $80/yr
mintd - Australian site with varying commission rates based on subscription level, base level is free, choose currency
strictlyhandmade.com shipping must be included in the price, listing/yr fee plus commission
ushops - in beta, still working out the bugs, free for now
*Prices based on my last reading of the site terms. Be sure to doublecheck before registering as things change consistently.
