You made some great handmade products and want to know other than local craft fairs where to sell them to customers. Here are some great e-commerce platforms where you can list your handmade products for sale.
Etsy: “Your place to buy and sell all things handmade, vintage, and supplies.”
With 1.6 million active sellers and 25 million active buyers, Etsy is huge for product manufacturers of handmade products. Founded in 2005, Etsy has grown so much that several popular sellers have had to get help from Etsy approved manufacturers to scale their businesses, since the announcement in 2015. As a manufacturer, Etsy is great because of the 25 million active buyers. However, Etsy sellers do have to deal with losing a 3.5% commission, which could be a lot when selling small, lower priced items. Below are three solid alternatives to Etsy for handmade product manufacturers.
Big Cartel: “Crafted by artists, uniquely yours.”
With Big Cartel there is no commission, just a monthly fee with four tier levels: gold (5 products for free), platinum (25 products for $9.99), diamond (100 products for $19.99), and titanium (300 products for $29.99). Big Cartel has over 930,000 unique visitors per month, but does not have a social community on their website.
Zibbet: “Handmade artisan marketplace.”
There is no listing fee or commission. The basic option of 50 products is free, the premium option is $9.95/month for unlimited products, or there is a yearly premium option for $69.00/year ($5.75/month), also for unlimited products. Zibbet has over 35,000 unique visitors per month, and is definitely a competitor for Etsy. Several manufacturers also list on Zibbet for an overall higher exposure.
Artfire: “The premier artisan marketplace.”
Again, there is no listing fee or commission, just a monthly charge of $12.95 for a pro account. Artfire could definitely be viewed as a close second option to Etsy when it comes to popularity. Artfire is also better for search engine results. The longer you leave a product up on Artfire, the easier it will be to find. On Etsy, many manufacturers have to pay to reenlist their items to remain on the first few search pages because everything is so saturated. Many manufacturers have made the switch from Etsy to Artfire, and saturation is definitely a big reason why.
This blog post was written by Stephanie Trudell, our Brand Ambassador Intern here at Retailbound. You can reach Stephanie at StephanieTrudell.Retailbound@gmail.com
