A Handmade Hot-Spot!

As a buyer looking for unique and interesting products, I love sites like Etsy. Etsy is an online market place where each artist/seller can essentially run their own store, detail their brand and products, and describe their passion and intention. Most sellers include photos of their merchandise and links to their blogs or original website. Etsy does a great job of connecting artisans with buyers in need of unique and interesting products.

I personally tend to search by featured sellers, category, shop local and showcase. The search options, though plentiful, are a nice way to sift through merchandise when you have a particular interest or need. 

Sellers are divided into the categories of handmade, vintage (20 years or older) and commercial and handmade crafting supplies. This is a great outlet for anyone who has a creative craft and wants an opportunity to increase buyer exposure. It costs 20 cents to list an item for four months. When your item sells, you pay a 3.5% transaction fee. Not a bad deal for a seller, especially when it means you can customize your own online space for no cost.

Etsy also has a special category called Alchemy. Alchemy allows buyers to request custom made items from sellers and then sellers bid on the opportunity to make these goods. I have never had a need to use this before, but the idea seems to be gaining momentum depending on the request.  Ex: A buyer wants a gift for their mother in the category of accessories or jewelry.  Five artists bid on the project based on price and idea. Buyer chooses the artist with the vision and price that matches their own.

Etsy also has a fantastic blog spot. It tends to gear towards topics that benefit the seller, but I find these are frequently applicable to buyers for a larger store front as well. Some of my favorite discussions have been on strategy for e-commerce and store displays, shop trends, and store makeover suggestions.

My only beef is that Etsy tends to be a bit more complicated than other wholesale sites. Even at its most simple, wholesale categories range from accessories to glass, needle point to woodworking. Each store takes time to sift through and it definitely can be overwhelming.  Many of the pages are also very dense with information and photos. Unfortunately, the website is geared towards the seller and not the buyer. There are hundreds of online resources for the community sellers and only a small fraction of these are specific to the purchaser.

Overall, I have had great success buying jewelry off of this site. Most of the vendors have been helpful, friendly and very customer service oriented. I have re-ordered a couple lines numerous times and you can definitely tell these artists appreciate your business more that the larger wholesale vendors and showrooms. I highly recommend this site for handmade sellers looking to market their products at a low cost and a buyers looking for unique products.