The best Etsy alternatives for selling your crafts

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

There was discontent online from sellers arsenic well, owed to some the accrued fig of manufactured goods 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 fig of Etsy sellers went connected strike betwixt April 11th and 18th of that year. And successful March of 2023, erstwhile the Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, Etsy responded by holding backmost the fees of immoderate of its sellers, an enactment 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 nonfiction successful The Information, the institution seems to beryllium caught betwixt trying to pull consumers with little prices and maintaining its estimation arsenic the spot wherever they tin find handcrafted gifts. All this, of course, doesn’t marque things easier for the comparatively tiny vendors who are trying to get their products recognized successful a precise crowded market. 

As immoderate retailer knows, it takes a batch of clip and resources to merchantability products, either online oregon disconnected — resources that you whitethorn not have, particularly if you are not moving a full-time business. You person to make a professional-looking website wherever you tin amusement disconnected your wares to their champion vantage oregon showcase them successful a venue wherever imaginable customers tin find them. You person to way your inventory truthful you don’t accidentally judge a merchantability you can’t fulfill, particularly if you merchantability astatine much than 1 site. You request to beryllium capable to judge income from recognition cards, PayPal, oregon different fiscal 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 with refunds and shipping fees.

In different words, adjacent if you’re a precise tiny shop, selling online tin beryllium complicated, particularly if you’re trying to bash it wholly by yourself.

Selling done Etsy solved that occupation for a batch of creators. It is simply a azygous root that radical looking for crafty items tin spell to; it supplies a income page, a mode to interface with your customers, and different retail services. And since each transactions instrumentality spot done the Etsy level and checkout system, it provides further privateness betwixt purchaser and seller. But if Etsy has go a occupation for you arsenic a seller, what bash you do?

Looking for alternatives

Unfortunately, Etsy — adjacent successful its existent incarnation — seems to beryllium unique. While determination are respective different outlets wherever craftspeople tin get assistance selling their wares, fewer person the full-service plans and outreach that Etsy boasts.

If you’re trying to merchantability your crafts, you can, of course, simply merchantability retired of your ain website. However, it takes time, knowledge, and accomplishment to beryllium capable to physique a retail site, not to notation to publicize it truthful that your customers tin find you. If you’ve got those skills — oregon if you’ve got the wherewithal to prosecute idiosyncratic with those skills — past that could beryllium a solution. However, determination are alternatives. They whitethorn not beryllium the all-in-one solution that Etsy has been, but if you truly privation to find different markets — adjacent if you’re not acceptable to wantonness Etsy altogether — they mightiness enactment for you.

Note that these are lone a fewer of the disposable options retired there. There are galore antithetic e-commerce sites and services available, and determination are others too these that whitethorn enactment for a smaller retail shop. But this volition hopefully springiness you a spot to start.

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

Etsy has a database of fees that includes:

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

Retail elephantine Amazon has a peculiar store called Amazon Handmade, wherever customers tin find crafts and different handmade goods. On the 1 hand, this is Amazon, truthful determination are a batch of radical going determination to bargain things. On the 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. 

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

Shopify is not a marketplace similar Etsy oregon adjacent Amazon — it’s an e-commerce level for sellers who privation to merchantability their products connected their ain sites. It offers a assortment of services for a scope of sellers, from individuals to ample retailers. For example, the Basic program includes shipping discounts and a point-of-sale app (for in-person sales). The Shopify program adds respective unit accounts and insurance; the Advanced program includes a clump of different features, specified arsenic customized reports and analytics.

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

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

Trial period: determination is simply a three-day escaped proceedings and a complaint of $1 for your archetypal month.

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

Fees 

As a Supporter, you tin make a store connected the tract and instrumentality portion successful voting; you wage a one-time interest of $100 and a committee of 9.5 percent connected sales. An Artisan subordinate pays a one-time interest of $1,000 and a committee of 8 percent connected income and gets admittance to peculiar events and communications, positive precedence marketing.

Big Cartel is geared specifically toward creatives and adjacent has a constricted but usable escaped plan. It doesn’t connection a cardinal marketplace similar Etsy does, but it does supply services to assistance crafters make an online store connected their ain site. Note that it doesn’t see arrangements for recognition paper oregon different payments; you volition person to put yourself via Stripe, PayPal, oregon Venmo (and remember, they volition person abstracted fees for retail sales). But Big Cartel doesn’t adhd other fees to complaint done their service.

Trial period: the Gold program is fundamentally a proceedings plan; determination is nary clip limit.

Like Etsy, Bonanza offers a cardinal hub wherever you tin merchantability 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 the different hand, Bonanza is very upfront with their terms. According to the company’s FAQ, it does not outgo thing to database your product(s) connected the tract oregon upload photos, and you bash truthful connected what Bonanza calls a “booth,” which is precise akin to Etsy’s “shop.” Vendors are charged against what Bonanza calls Final Offer Value (FOV): “the magnitude that the purchaser paid to you for the point sold, positive immoderate information of the shipping interest that exceeds $10.” The institution besides says it volition sync your products with immoderate different marketplace you’re using. 

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

IndieMade, similar Shopify, is an e-commerce level alternatively than a retail tract — successful different words, it helps you make a website wherever you tin merchantability your items. Unlike Shopify, it is directed toward craftspeople and works connected a overmuch smaller scale. 

IndieMade offers 4 rank levels — and they each connection the aforesaid features, including a customized IndieMade-branded domain with SSL certification; the quality to merchantability straight from your tract utilizing PayPal, Stripe, oregon Square (each of which volition person its ain fees); the quality to make coupons; the quality to let customers to take merchandise aspects (color, size, etc.); and a blog. The lone differences betwixt the levels are however galore products you tin merchantability and however galore photos you tin grounds per product.

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

Goimagine, similar Etsy, provides a marketplace for craftspeople and artists who privation to merchantability their handmade goods. Unlike Etsy, anyone who wants to merchantability connected Goimagine has to comply with a stringent database of guidelines to guarantee that their wares are really handmade. In addition, Goimagine’s tract says that the institution donates each profits to four antithetic charities.

Goimagine offers three rank levels: Launch, Thrive, and Mosaic. All levels see a store connected the site, a mobile app, and the quality to import from Etsy, on with respective different features. The Mosaic level adds a branded e-commerce website and domain integration, among different things. The fees bash not see charges from immoderate outgo processor the seller uses.

Trial period: none.

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

Fees

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

Trial period: none.

And past there’s eBay. While the fig of products being sold connected eBay tin beryllium overwhelming, if idiosyncratic is looking for a circumstantial benignant of product, it could beryllium a spot wherever a creator could find a customer. And portion eBay was primitively known mostly for reselling utilized items, it is present a marketplace for astir thing you tin find. There are besides immoderate utile features; for example, if you person customers who similar your wares, they tin easy acceptable 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.

If you privation to go a superior eBay retailer, you tin make your ain store via eBay’s Store subscriptions. Subscription fees beryllium connected however overmuch you volition beryllium selling per period and the benignant of income and promotional tools you’ll need.

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

There are further levels for larger retailers.

Trial period: eBay offers nary escaped trials.

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

Fees

Making has been offering a people system, wherever the teacher received a percent of the people fees, but astatine the clip this nonfiction was updated, classes were connected pause. Making is besides seemingly developing a marketplace (currently, it looks similar astir of what is sold are patterns); the tract charges an 8 percent transaction interest on with outgo processing and payout fees, but the transaction interest is waived for income nether $50.

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