Sell your arts & crafts by building your own online store

I have several websites about my artwork and I think I need another way to sell my art but, I have been visiting several online communities that allows me to build your own online store for free or for some affordable monthly fee. I think, I'm going to give it a try!, I have heard good things from other artists that are using these types of online gallery stores. So, I came up with just a few to share with you if you are looking to sell your creations online...

Searching online experts said that because of this credit crunch meaning more and more people are looking for ways to supplement their income, arts and crafts websites are likely to see a boom in the next year or so.

However, don't just settle for an eBay shop, there are some other much better options available which focus entirely on the arts and crafts community. -online source.

etsy.com

Probably the best known specialized outlet for selling crafts is etsy.com which bills itself as 'Your place to buy and sell all things handmade'.

At the time of writing, there are 170,000 shops based on etsy.com, from all over the world, selling crafts like:

• bags and purses
• candles
• ceramics and pottery
• knitting
• dolls and minaitures
• paper goods
• woodworking
• needlecraft

Here are the key things it offers:

• You must sell something in the 'handmade', 'supplies' or 'vintage' general categories
• The big difference between a site like this and eBay, is that you must have made the goods yourself, you can't sell goods made by somebody else
• Potential buyers can place requests for items
• You can customize your shop, with a banner and announcements, but you can't use HTML in etsy.com
• etsy.com does not offer Paypal (big disadvantage these days!) but it will allow you to take online payments via credit cards
• There is a $0.20 (USD) fee (per quantity of one)

icraft.ca

A lesser know website for selling crafts is icrafts.ca which seems to attract listings mainly from Canada and the USA (as you might expect from the .ca domain name) but which does not limit itself to sellers just from those locations.

The UK is also well represented on the website and it's certainly something you should look at if you have homemade products to sell

icraft.ca is divided up into 'The Collections', broad headings which give the buyer lots of options as they start to burrow down into sub-categories:

• Artwork
• Crafts
• Jewellery
• Clothing
• Furniture
• Accessories

Sub-categories give you much more scope for your listing with much more diverse options like knitted scarves, keyrings/keychains, baby clothes, greeting cards, glass art and Amigurumi ... whatever that is! From the pictures, it appears to be little characters made by crochet - take a look, it's fascinating.

 icrafts.ca has a much greater feel of a selling crafts website than etsy.com in that it has images all over the place of items that clearly haven't been mass-produced ... it really feels like an arts and crafts outlet.

Here are a few key points to be aware of:

• No reselling, all items sold must be self-made
• No commission on sales, but there is a registration fee ($25) and a tiered subscriptions system however the first 5 items are always free
• Each creator has their own personalised page and logos, prices, descriptions and photos can all be displayed
• There are some nice resource banners which allow you to cross-promote from your own website if you have one

Folksy.com

For artists selling crafts in the UK folksy.com is probably a good site to look at as pricing is in GBP, though that isn't really a huge problem these days as the internet has made $-to-£ and £-to-$ conversions a part of everyday life.
I like the slogan for this website which is 'Cast, sculpt, cut, sketch, solder, mould, buy, sell, go!'
That's a pretty good description of what this website offers, and like the other two sites, folksy.com has its own system for categorising the many arts and crafts available, this time dividing by materials and practices.
Like icrafts.ca, wherever you turn on this website, there are pictures of handmade items which clearly have not been mass-produced.
It has a nice 'handmade' feel to it, and I don't mean that in a rude way, I mean that the 'feel' of the website is right for who it's aimed at.
Categories that are particularly worthy of note are:

• Robotics (is this a 'craft' these days?)
• Geek stuff
• Hacking (another fascinating craft, do check it out)

As with the other two websites aimed at people who are selling crafts, you get to use a customised banner and your shop has a highly visible RSS feed ... great if a buyer loves your products.
Here are other features of note:

• Uses Paypal and only Paypal
• Lots of very nice 'Folksy' banners to add to your blog or personal website to cross promote your online store
• Each shop has a 'biography' section so potential buyers can find out more about you and how you make your products.
• Non UK residents can't sell on folksy.com just yet, but they will be able to in the future
• It costs 20p to list an item on Folksy and they charge 5% commission on all sales (excludes postage costs)

 zibbet.com

Zibbet is a global marketplace, connecting buyers and sellers of Handmade Goods, Fine Art, Vintage Items and Crafting Supplies




www.artfire.com

imagekind

Prints, Posters, Canvas & Framed Wall Art

Imagekind is one community for buying, selling and creating art. Discover new art prints and posters from thousands of unique and independent artists around the world. Shop framed and canvas wall art prints and posters from member artists. Or, create your own work of art and frame photos of your own. If you're an artist, you can even sell art online. Shop our selection of high end framed art, canvas artwork, photography art and poster art prints and discover why Imagekind is one of the fastest growing art sites online.

zazzle

 Custom T-Shirts, Gifts, Art & more!

Zazzle is the world's leading platform for quality custom products. Zazzle's proprietary technology enables individuals, professional artists, and major brands, including Disney and Hallmark, to create and offer billions of unique products for customers worldwide. Zazzle's rapidly expanding product base covers every topic imaginable and includes t-shirts, business cards, invitations, in addition to a variety of custom gifts. Upon creation, products are instantly and accurately visualized on the site and offered in the Zazzle marketplace. When ordered, each product is made on-demand, typically within 24 hours. Launched in 2005 and based in Redwood City, California, Zazzle's vision is to redefine commerce, powered by the world's imagination.

So their is no excuse for not getting your creations out there to the world to see, RIGHT!

Don't be afraid, you're not alone!!!

and if you have an online store

Please share with us your experiences, give us some feedback, tips or tricks!.

HAPPY CREATING! INSPIRE SOMEONE TODAY!

Big Hugs,

MoMeMa