The best Etsy alternatives for selling your crafts

Since its launch in 2005, Etsy has become well known as the place to go for handcrafted, one-of-a-kind items from a wide variety of creators. Unfortunately, over the last few years, that rosy reputation has changed a bit. To begin with, buyers have been noticing an influx of mass-market goods that are noticeably not handmade. I’ve talked to more than one person who feels that Etsy is now less about selling handmade crafts and more about drop shipping — enterprises that advertise and sell a product and then pass the order on to a third party, which ships it.

There has been a lot of discontent online from sellers as well, due both to the increased number of manufactured goods and to increased expenses such as mandatory market plans. Then, in April 2022, Etsy announced it was raising seller transaction fees from 5 percent to 6.5 percent. As a result, a number of Etsy sellers went on strike between April 11th and 18th of that year. And in March of this year, when the Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, Etsy responded by holding back the fees of some of its sellers, an action that could be disastrous for smaller craft businesses.

Things haven’t changed much since then, and many of those same craftspeople are no doubt wondering if there is another way to sell their products outside of Etsy. Unfortunately, it’s not easy, especially if you’re a relatively small vendor who is trying to get your handmade product recognized in a very crowded market. 

As any retailer knows, it takes a lot of time and resources to sell products, either online or off — resources that you may not have, especially if you are not running a full-time business. You have to create a professional-looking website where you can show off your wares to their best advantage or showcase them in a venue where potential customers can find them. You have to track your inventory so you don’t accidentally accept a sale you can’t fulfill, especially if you sell at more than one site. You need to be able to accept sales from credit cards, PayPal, or other financial institutions, add tax and shipping fees, and offer approximate ship dates. You have to pack up your items (or arrange to have them packed) and send them out. If you accept returns, you have to deal with refunds and shipping fees.

In other words, even if you’re a very small shop, selling online can be really complicated, especially if you’re trying to do it completely by yourself.

Selling through Etsy solved that problem for a lot of creators. It is a single source that people looking for crafty items can go to; it supplies a sales page, a way to interface with your customers, and other retail services. And since all transactions take place through the Etsy platform and checkout system, it provides additional privacy between buyer and seller. But if Etsy has become a problem for its sellers, what do you do?

If you’re a buyer and you want to support your favorite Etsy craftspeople, one way is to find out what alternate ways there are to contact them and / or buy from them. The best method is to just ask them. This is where your search engine is your friend. It’s possible that the vendor has a website with the same name as their Etsy shop; do a little online research.

If you’re having trouble, you can contact them through Etsy. 

• On the site, go to your Esty Favorites (the heart icon at the top right), or if you haven’t been keeping a Favorites list, click on your personal icon and go to Purchases and reviews.
• Find the name of the vendor and select it. This should take you to the main page for that vendor.
• Scroll down to where you see Contact shop owner (usually on the left side of the page), and send them a request asking where else you can find them.

Buyers who want to make sure that the product they’re purchasing is truly a handmade craft and not a drop-shipped item may need to do a little extra research. If you have Google Lens, for example, you can use that on the photo of an Etsy product to see if there are identical products being sold on other more commercial sites.

Unfortunately, Etsy — even in its current incarnation — seems to be unique. While there are a number of other outlets where craftspeople can get help marketing their wares, few have the full-service plans and outreach that Etsy boasts.

You can, of course, simply sell out of your own website. However, it takes time, knowledge, and skill to be able to build a retail site, not to mention to publicize it so that your customers can find you. If you’ve got those skills — or if you’ve got the wherewithal to hire someone with those skills — then that could be a solution. However, there are alternatives. They may not be the all-in-one solution that Etsy has been, but if you really want to find other markets — even if you’re not ready to abandon Etsy altogether — they might work for you.

Note that these are only a few of the available options out there. There are many different e-commerce sites and services available, and there are others besides these that may work for a smaller retail shop. But this will hopefully give you a place to start.

If we’re going to compare several services to that of Etsy, it makes sense to first take a quick look at what Etsy offers its retailers.

Of course, to begin with, Etsy is well known for being the place to go for various crafts and handmade items. As mentioned before, this reputation is starting to fray a bit — I’ve spoken to a couple of friends whose purchases, they asserted, were obviously not handmade. However, Etsy does provide you with your own “shop,” a way to exhibit your items and get paid, and a variety of other services.

Etsy has a list of fees that includes:

• A 20 cent listing fee for a four-month listing
• A 6.5 percent transaction fee
• A 3 percent plus 25 cent payment processing fee
• A 15 percent offsite ads fee that is only charged when a purchase is made from an offsite ad. In addition, the offsite ads program is optional if you made under $10,000 in the last 365 days, although you do need to manually opt out.
• Another $10 / month puts you on Etsy Plus, which adds the ability to have your own web address, additional customization options, and other features.

Trial period: There is no trial period for an Etsy shop.

Retail giant Amazon has a special shop called Amazon Handmade, where customers can find crafts and other handmade goods. On the one hand, this is Amazon, so there are a lot of people going there to buy things. On the other, Amazon Handmade doesn’t seem to be as well known as Etsy (I didn’t know about it until I started researching this article). 

Amazon offers two general plans: Individual and Professional. 

• Individual, costing 99 cents per item sold, is for beginners — basically, for those who expect to sell fewer than 40 units a month and don’t plan to advertise. However, you cannot be a part of Amazon Handmade if you’re on the Individual plan. You must be on the Professional plan.
• Professional is $39.99 per month and offers advertising, top placement on site pages, and other features. But for those who want to be part of Handmade and who are true craftspeople, there is an out. Once you’ve created a Professional Amazon seller’s account, you can apply to have the fee waived after the first month by qualifying for Handmade.
• Add to that the referral fees. According to Amazon, “For every item sold, sellers pay Amazon a percentage of the total price—including item price, shipping cost, and any gift-wrapping charges—or a minimum amount, whichever is greater. Referral fees are in addition to selling plan fees.” The percentage depends on what you are selling. For example, if you create and sell jewelry, Amazon will take 20 percent of the total sale price up to $250 and 5 percent for any portion above that. However, if you qualify for Handmade, then Amazon will deduct a straight 15 percent referral fee.
• Amazon will charge you for shipping as well but will then refund the amount — or a portion of it. Professional users get to determine how much shipping will cost; Amazon will charge them for it and then credit them for that amount. Individual users have to use a set shipping fee that Amazon charges; if their shipping costs are more than Amazon’s refund, they’ll have to eat that cost (or raise the price of their goods).

Trial period: There is no trial period for Amazon Handmade.

Shopify is not a marketplace like Etsy or even Amazon — it’s an e-commerce platform for sellers who want to sell their products on their own sites. It offers a variety of services for a range of sellers, from individuals to large retailers. For example, the Basic plan includes an e-commerce website (including a variety of themes) and blog, access to various sales channels (depending on your country), and the ability to sell gift cards, among others. You also get shipping discounts and a point-of-sale app (for in-person sales). The Shopify plan adds several staff accounts and reporting services; the Advanced plan includes services for international sales.

If you’re thinking about selling out of your own website but want a way to more easily handle payments, sales tracking, shipping costs, etc., an e-commerce platform could be very useful, and Shopify seems to have relatively friendly small-shop services.

• The Basic plan starts at $29 / month. If you decide to use Shopify’s payment services, then credit card fees for online sales are 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per transaction; credit card fees for in-person sales are 2.7 percent per transaction. If you don’t use Shopify’s payment services, you are charged 2 percent per transaction.
• The Shopify plan starts at $79 / month. If you decide to use Shopify’s payment services, then credit card fees for online sales are 2.6 percent plus 30 cents per transaction; credit card fees for in-person sales are 2.5 percent per transaction. If you don’t use Shopify’s payment services, you are charged 1 percent per transaction.
• The Advanced plan starts at $299 / month. If you decide to use Shopify’s payment services, then credit card fees for online sales are 2.4 percent plus 30 cents per transaction; credit card fees for in-person sales are 2.4 percent per transaction. If you don’t use Shopify’s payment services, you are charged 0.5 percent per transaction.

Finally, if you plan to market your wares via social networks, you can try the Starter plan for $5 a month plus a 5 percent transaction fee if you use Shopify Payments.

Trial period: There is a three-day free trial.

The Artisans Cooperative is a direct outgrowth of the Etsy strike mentioned at the beginning of this article. According to the site, “We promote creativity, support artist livelihoods, and connect people through an equitable artistic community.” While you can’t sell out of the site, it does have an Artisan’s Directory, a listing of shops that have registered with the Artisans Cooperative.

None yet (eventual fees are discussed in its FAQ), but if you are interested in joining and being listed in the site’s directory (or just want to participate), you can fill out a form here. It also has a newsletter and a Discord server.