20 Places Besides Etsy to Sell Your Handmade Goods

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First launched in 2005, Etsy rose as the leading ecommerce website for people looking to buy or sell unique handmade items, including art, photography, clothing, jewelry, and knick-knacks. With the potential to sell to over 50 million customers, Etsy has been able to gather over 1.5 million active sellers. All Etsy sellers are looking to make it big — like top sellers BohemianFindings and Clbeads, who boast over 730,440 and 411,130 sales, respectively.

However, sellers of handiwork are savvy to avoid locking themselves to Etsy. Since its IPO on April 16, 2015, the price of Etsy stock [NASDAQ:ETSY] has lost over 71% in value. Take action and list your items somewhere else. There is a plethora of places to showcase your wares, after all. In alphabetical order, here are 20 places besides Etsy to sell your handiwork.

1. Aftcra

Launched on 2013 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Aftcra is an online marketplace that only sells "Made in America" handmade products. If you currently live in the United States and your products are handcrafted by you or your small team, you can become a seller on Aftcra. Given the niche market of Aftcra, this marketplace charges a selling fee of 7%, which is double of that of Etsy. However, Aftcra charges no other fees, unlike Etsy's $0.20 charge per listing, $0.20 per auto-renewal fee for unsold quantities, and variable multi-quantity fee.

2. Amazon Handmade

In 2015, the ecommerce giant entered the handmade market with its Handmade at Amazon offering. In its push to compete against Etsy, Amazon is waving its $39.99 monthly fee for a required professional selling plan until August 1, 2016. However, you can only take advantage of this fee waiver as long as you sell fewer than 40 items. If you sell more than 40 items in categories on Amazon, you'll have to pay the $39.99 monthly fee right away. Handmade at Amazon charges a 12% referral fee, with a minimum applicable of $0.5 per item, on sales of goods.

3. ArtFire

Boasting seven million shoppers per year and 10,000 active shops offering two million products, ArtFire offers three seller plans. The Shop plan only charges a 9% final commission fee on sales but limits your offering to 24 active listings. The Webstore plan charges a $20 fee per month, allows you to have up to 1,000 active listings, and tacks on a 3% final commission fee. The Commercial Store plan charges a $60 fee per month, allows you to have up to 5,000 active listings, and tacks on a 3% final commission fee.

4. Big Cartel

Big Cartel is a good option for sellers that are comfortable with HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and who like to customize their online storefronts directly. This online marketplace doesn't charge you a penny if you're selling up to five products. However, Big Cartel is designed only for small stores that sell up to 300 products and charges a monthly fee of $9.99, $19.99, and $29.99 for stores of up to 25, 100, and 300 products, respectively.

5. Bonanza

Formerly known as 1,000 Markets, Bonanza is a good option for sellers already selling on Amazon, eBay, or Etsy because it allows you to import your inventory directly from those marketplaces. Bonanza charges sale fees fees based on final offer value (FOV), which is the price plus any portion of the shipping charge exceeding $10. Items with a FOV under $500 receive a 3.5% sales commission, and items with a FOV greater than $500 receive a fee of $17.50 plus 1.5% of the amount over $500. The maximum possible fee is $250. Bonanza also offers an advertising service within the platform at an additional cost.

6. Craft Is Art

Started in 2009, Craft Is Art originally focused on jewelry and fashion accessories. Nowadays, the Las Vegas-based company accepts sellers of all types of handmade goods. If you're comfortable with up to 100 listings, you can enroll in the pay-as-you-go plan that charges only a 5.5% sales commission. Or you can pay $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year to have an unlimited number of listings and pay no sales commission.

7. Craigslist

With more than 60 million users each month in the U.S., Craigslist is a great resource to sell your goods. While Etsy users have mixed reviews about selling handmade goods on Craigslist, you really can't go wrong with zero charges for listing and making a sale. Additionally, you get to potentially increase the exposure of your handiwork at a local level.

8. DaWanda

Sellers who believe their products have great sales potential on international markets should take a look at DaWanda. This marketplace allows you to list your handiwork on the English site, as well as the German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and Polish sites. Of course, you will need to be able to provide the product descriptions and shipping details in those languages. DaWanda charges a 10% commission on the sales price of any item sold.

9. eBay

Within eBay, you can list your handiwork under several categories, including handmade crafts, handmade jewelry, and many others. eBay recommends you be as detailed as possible in the description section of your listings, include keywords that will draw potential buyers to your listing, take high-quality photos of your goods from different angles, and determine whether an auction-style or fixed price listing is the best format for your products.

10. eCrater

Launched back in 2004, eCrater is an alternative to eBay. The main benefit of listing your handiwork here is that the costs are minimum. It's free to open your store and you don't pay a commission on sales that are directly from your store. For sales that come from the site, you pay a 2.9% sales commission on the sales price of your item.

11. iCraftGifts

Based in Toronto, Canada, iCraftGifts offers you the opportunity to offer your handiwork to both Canadian and American audiences at the same time. iCraftGifts charges a $25 non-refundable one-time fee for setting up your store and offers three plans: starter (up to 50 items for sale for $5 per month), professional (up to 100 items for sale for $10 per month), and elite (unlimited items for sale for $15 per month). There is a 10% discount when you pay annual fees upfront.

12. MadeItMyself

MadeItMyself is another marketplace that charges no listing or monthly subscription fees. You only pay a flat 3% commission charge on sold items.

13. RebelsMarket

Craftspeople of alternative lifestyle and cultures, including goth, steampunk, or rock, can find in RebelsMarket a great channel to reach out within those niche markets. If your application to open a store is approved, you pay no listing or setup fees and have no contract to maintain your store open for a minimum period. You'll be charged 15% of the total item price, excluding shipping.

14. ShopHandmade

You can't go wrong with free. At ShopHandmade, you're charged no fees at all for selling your handiwork. You can list and sell as many items as you want and you keep all your revenues. Besides your handiwork, you can also sell your gently used craft supplies, genuine vintage items, and arts and crafts services.

15. Shopify

Shopify is a turnkey ecommerce solution that you can deploy at your existing website or registered domain name, or that you can use to register a domain within Shopify. This online marketplace is appropriate for sellers looking for a flexible solution that can grow with their business and are willing to pay extra for add-on services, such as an in-store point of sale that connects to Shopify in the future. Shopify is a very robust platform, but all the bells and whistles come at a price. With monthly plan prices of up to $179 and credit card rates of up to 2.9% plus 30¢ per per transaction, Shopify is a platform for intermediate to well-established online sellers.

One important point for sellers considering Shopify is that the marketplace only imports and exports products by CSV file.

16. Silkfair

Some sellers of handiwork also deal other types of goods, such as books, magazines, collectibles, and electronics, and are looking for platforms that allow them to list all kinds of items. Besides Craigslist, eBay, and Amazon, Silkfair is another online marketplace for such sellers. Silkfair doesn't charge you to setup your online store or list items, but tacks on a standard 3% transaction fee on sales across all of its plans. This online marketplace offers templated online stores with limited features and no fees, and customizable stores with extra features starting at $7.99 per month.

17. Squarespace

You may have first heard about Squarespace from its 2015 or 2016 Super Bowl commercials. The reasons why Squarespace can afford to spend so much in marketing is that many companies, including Cisco, Lyft, and Fast Company, use this platform to build not only online stores, but also websites. The main advantage of Squarespace is that it can provide a wide range of possibilities ranging from a single-page websites to a full-fledge online store. Squarespace charges $7 monthly for a cover page, $12 for personal websites, $26 for business websites, $30 for basic online stores, and $80 for advanced online stores. There are discounts for paying in advance for an entire year.

18. Storenvy

Focusing on the indie brand market, Storenvy currently hosts over 44,350 sellers of goods made by hand. This online marketplace aims to stand out from the crowd by curating indie craft makers through its social shopping marketplace. Storenvy claims that its marketplace works like a social network and that it provides you exposure based on feedback from other users (such as "envies," Storenvy's equivalent of "likes") and followers of your store. The more activity your business gets in the marketplace, the greater the chance your business has of being featured on Storenvy's collections at the front page.

All sales made through the Storenvy marketplace are charged a 10% commission of the total sale, including shipping. There are no additional fees for setting up a store or listing your items. However, all customer payments are processed through Stripe or PayPal, both charging a 2.9% plus $0.30 fee to you.

19. Supermarket

Featured on GQ, InStyle Magazine, and the Food Network, Supermarket focuses on attracting talented makers and connecting them with discerning customers. Supermarket claims that its customers are very interested in knowing who made the goods, how those goods are crafted, and where are those goods made. So, being a great storyteller is an asset to sell on this online marketplace. At Supermarket, designers pay a 15% commission, including payment processing, on sold items only.

20. Zibbet

Home to more than 51,200 independent sellers, Zibbet only accepts independent sellers and sticks to a strict definition of handmade. When in 2013 Etsy revamped its seller guidelines to allow vendors to hire additional employees and work with outside manufacturers, some Etsy sellers vowed to let their listings expire and list all of their items on Zibbet. Unlike most online marketplaces, Zibbet doesn't charge a commission or transaction fee. Instead, Zibbet offers three plans: starter ($5 per month, sell up to 50 items), pro ($10 per month, sell unlimited items), and unlimited ($20 per month, sell unlimited items, additional features).

The Bottom Line

Besides Etsy, there are plenty of online marketplaces in which you can showcase your handmade goods. While some of them charge no fees, most of them do. Make sure to check for applicable fees to determine whether or not it makes financial sense to post your items on certain marketplaces. Whenever possible, sign up for a free trial to get a sense of the ins and outs of the platform before you start paying any recurring fees. If you're satisfied with the performance of a specific ecommerce solution, paying monthly fees in advance for an entire year often provides savings.

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