Make extra money
selling your handmade items
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Two obvious places online to
sell your handcrafts are Ebay.com and etsy.com so
let's start with them, then move on to other sites
to sell your beautiful handmade items.
Left, pottery by All Fired Up on
sale at a weekend street fair in Los
Angeles |
Good ol' Ebay
On
Ebay.com your handcrafted item will be listed
among other similar items--some good, some awful,
some made in factories. You will not have the
benefit of showing your items in an attractive
setting unless you open your own store on Ebay. Your
items will just be part of a gigantic list. In my
opinion Ebay is similar to an online Thrift Store
with some great deals if you dig deep enough, but
not the best place to showcase your work. Most of
the millions of customers shopping on Ebay are
looking for super bargains, so you have to price
accordingly. You pay their fee if the item sells.
Etsy for crafts and
vintage
The shoppers on
etsy.com, the largest
online site for handcrafts, vintage items and
art/craft supplies, are seeking something unique and
appealing. They are less price-sensitive and, better
yet, all your handcrafted items will appear together
in your own very attractive 'shop' instead of
a mass listing of similar items. Etsy has a very
international flavor these day. It charges a
few cents for each listing and a 3.5% fee when an
item sells.
|
Bonanza for
the unusual
Bonanza.com
prides itself on being the site for
"everything but the ordinary.' Some
items are handcrafted, many are not. As with
etsy, sellers set up their own shop and,
with a few clicks, can automatically import
their listings from etsy and Ebay. There is
a monthly fee for the shop, but if you
simply list your handcrafted item, it is
free. There is a 3.5% fee on items that
sell.
|
 |
Icraftgifts is smaller
and select
Canadian-based
icraftgifts.com is
exclusively for handmade items. No vintage. No
manufactured goods. That means their shoppers are more
likely to be looking for what you are selling on this
attractive site.
|
They charge a $25 one-time membership
fee and then $5 to $15 per month depending upon how many
items you list. (For the $5 monthly fee you can list up
to 50 items!) They have some interesting extra features:
they give you statistics for your shop so you will know
how many people are seeing your items and automatically
send out a tweet on Twitter when you list a new item.
Australian-based
Zibbet.com sells to
customers around the world. You can list up to 10 items
for free. For listing as many as 50, the fee is
$9.95 and for that you get your own shop, too. There is
one other level called 'Pro', if you have even more items to
sell.
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Some crafters supplement their online
website with sales at outdoor markets during the
summer. |
How to
create a
"Night Garden"
to enjoy on warm evenings. (Plant it now!) |
Some other choices
Amazon now has handcrafted
listings, but it may not be a particularly good first choice.
Amazon really focuses on new, manufactured goods and
books. You may, however, want to set up your own
independent store on Shopify.com, bigcommerce.com, or
volusion.com. These three specialize in low-cost,
turnkey e-commerce sites. They are easy-peasy to set up,
no programming knowledge required. All you have to do is
upload your photos and write a description. There are other
sites, such as Weebly or Wix, that offer e-commerce,
too.
The downside of setting up your own independent
online store is the challenge of attracting enough
visitors and potential customers to your site. Most
experienced online sellers recommend starting on one of
the big sites like etsy or Ebay or Bonanza, then later,
after you develop a following, setting up an independent
site.
What to say and show
about your handcrafts
Before you list even one item
you should comparison shop for similar items. Notice the
styles, the sizes offered, the prices, the quality of
the goods and any shipping charges. Then, take a careful
look at their photos and the descriptions. This is your
competition.
Your description should be very
detailed including size or exact measurements, weight or
washing instructions, if applicable, materials used, and
color or colors available. You should also note if an
item can be special ordered in a different color or
size.
Also be sure to post excellent,
well-lighted photos of the items from all angles,
especially from the front and the back. Show close-ups
of all details. You want your customers to be happy, not
disappointed, and eager to tell their friends about you
and to order more.
Promoting your
handcrafted items online
Because the internet is so
enormous now, becoming visible to potential customers is
a major challenge. Obviously you are going to tell
everyone you know that you have set up an online store
to sell your handcrafts. And some of the sites
where you can open a shop will promote your items at
least once. To this promotional effort
you should add tweeting on
Twitter.com or posting on
Instagram.com to attract
more potential customers to your online shop. Do
this at least once every day. You can also find people
on the Fiverr.com site
who will promote your new shop for just $5. You
may also want to develop an email list of customers so
you can contact them with special offers or new product
introductions.
Good luck and much success!
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