Anyone with an online shop? Where do you sell?

c.m.n.

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I'm looking at starting a part-time shop online selling physical goods (doll clothes). Where do you sell your handmade stuff?



I already know about Etsy, and their new policy of requiring sellers to offer "Etsy Payments". I've also read about many shops closing up because of this.

I also know about Shopify and the $25 dollars a month to create a store.

Storenvy is free but take a high percentage after a sale.

Ebay... Well, we should all know about Ebay already. I'm just now building my sellers account by selling some old antiques there.

I could create a Wix or Weebly. Most of their small business plans have a monthly cost. Would I get in trouble if I still sold on a free website without signing up for a small business plan?
 

Cindyt

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I'm looking at starting a part-time shop online selling physical goods (doll clothes). Where do you sell your handmade stuff?



I already know about Etsy, and their new policy of requiring sellers to offer "Etsy Payments". I've also read about many shops closing up because of this.

I also know about Shopify and the $25 dollars a month to create a store.

Storenvy is free but take a high percentage after a sale.

Ebay... Well, we should all know about Ebay already. I'm just now building my sellers account by selling some old antiques there.

I could create a Wix or Weebly. Most of their small business plans have a monthly cost. Would I get in trouble if I still sold on a free website without signing up for a small business plan?
If it was free to you, then I would think so. But you could look at the site's policy.
 
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Filigree

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I avoid selling on Etsy, though I buy art supplies there.

I can say that my Bonanza experience sucked. They wouldn't verify my account because...I use the same UPS Store as some fraudster who ran up $1500 Bonanza fees. They first tried to hit me up for that amount. When I explained that wasn't my shop, they backed down...but still wouldn't open my account.

Artfire has some bad complaints about messing up payments.

Handmade at Amazon did nothing for me in eight months, so I closed my store there.

SaatchiArt Online has actually sold one of my pieces, so I'll keep my art stock. But it's better for fine art and modern art than crafts.

I just opened up a jewelry and craft shop on iCraft. I'll see how it goes.
 

MaeZe

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I sell on eBay much as their policies piss me off on a regular basis. The thing for me is they have the customer base for the things I sell. I feel like my hands are tied. I always thought Etsy would be the platform I'd sell crafts on when I got to the merchandise I've collected I expect Etsy buyers to be looking for.

The key really is who has the customer base for your merchandise, in my experience, much more so than the platform policies. That's why eBay gets away with so much seller abuse.

If there is ever competition for eBay that has a decent customer base, sellers would leave eBay in droves.
 
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Maryn

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In addition to selling the doll clothes online, don't overlook in-the-flesh points of sale. Locally owned toy stores, doll hospitals, children's museums, etc. may take items on consignment, and you can consider making up a bunch and renting space at a crafts fair in your area. I just checked my city and found four places I'd contact for consignment, and this isn't a big city or anything.

Maryn, aware this is not what you asked
 

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If you have a self-hosted website, you could set-up Wordpress with WooCommerce and accept sales through that. If you're not already paying web-hosting then this isn't cost-effective, however, and it requires a lot of driving traffic to your site (usually via word-of-mouth/Facebook ads/etc).
 

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Before I build and market the self-hosted site, I'm jumping on Etsy for a trial run. I chagrin doing it, but Etsy is really the only game at my mid-level of crafts. Sad to say with their recent corporate overhaul, their ethics might be withering in the face of a tightly-run business. I like where the company is going just on its marketing goals, so I'm giving them a chance.

(I joined Etsy in 2009, but never developed a shop until now). I work for a company that sells on Etsy, often to other extremely prolific Etsy sellers, so I'm getting an inside view as to how the most-lucrative shops work.

I've already reported on the flaws at Amazon Handmade. Here's the result of my three months on iCraft: nada. Lots of views, no comments, no sales. The sales that do happen on this Canadian-based platform seem to be digital image packs, cheap stamped custom jewelry, and a few small clothing items...all for very low prices.

I'm sorting out what I can afford to list for $.20 each, and eventually create a mix of better-selling 'smalls' and some show-quality pieces.
 

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I use to have a online clothing shop through Shopify. I found that platform super good. You don't need any web dev experience but it takes an hour or two to get your head around it. For the ease in which it can integrate into everything from payment, fulfilment, and all kinds of other platforms, I can't recommend it enough. Also their customer service is amazing and probably worth the fee in that itself.
 

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I have a shop on Etsy. I opened the shop the end of Sept last year. I've always had Etsy payments and never run into any problems with it. Etsy is user friendly and cheap to list. I haven't had a ton of sales, but I don't have a ton of things listed, either. It serves my purpose and I'm happy with it. Best of luck to you with your own shop, wherever you decide to place it.
 

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I closed my iCraft account today, before it could roll over and charge me for 12 months. No sales since opening in early June of this year, but a lot of looks. Doesn't look like iCraft is that viable a sales site anyway, so it was a good (cheap) experiment with a promo account.

That meant I had to load more stuff onto Etsy. No sales there, either, but I'm building an inventory.

No original art sold recently on Saatchi, but making enough in print sales to keep stuff there.