Though Etsy is the largest online marketplace for hand-made goods, there are some great alternatives to Etsy for artists. After the recent Etsy update, commission fees have grown significantly. Besides, the site charges high fees for listing and transactions, which negatively affects the profit.
By using an Etsy alternative, artists can customize their online stores and promote handcrafted products on the market. These e-commerce platforms are easy to use. They work great even for beginners and offer sets of necessary tools.
Among the alternatives, you will find both marketplaces that serve as a sale point for your products and platforms for creating a full-fledged store using free or affordable software they provide.
Some options help you sell handmade products using Etsy product photography tips. Most of them have an easy-to-use interface as well as built-in analytics and sales tools, which makes it easier to reach out to potential clients.
Shopify is one of the most popular e-commerce shopping cart software. It provides you with the most features needed for creating and managing a website.
Upon registration, you get access to the entire set of tools. The service allows users to customize the design of pages, create a catalog of products, set prices, select payment methods, manage taxes, and add extra features using installed extensions.
Main Shopify Features:
Shopify has 9 e-commerce themes that you can use for free. Each of them comes in two or three different versions. If you need more, the premium version offers 72 themes so that you can choose the one that suits your needs.
Shopify can be useful for local family stores, start-up businesses, or even global enterprises. The range of products includes products for home and leisure, such as antiques, ceramics, bags, cameras, furniture, etc. Besides, Shopify includes an integrated shopping cart, which allows you to pay directly from your smartphone. If you are using another platform such as Wix, don't hesitate to migrate to Shopify to enhance your website with this robust eCommerce platform.
Another alternative to Etsy is Square Online. It helps businesses, photographers, and start-ups create feature-rich online stores from a custom template. The store includes multiple marketing and sales functions.
You won’t face difficulties while setting up your store. Just choose a type of business, a URL, website theme, and fill out a form with the necessary information.
Main Square Online Features:
The service is compatible with point-of-sale systems (POS). You can add various categories, pages, links to social networks in an online store created on Square Online. To add new products, choose the type of item, its name, and price. Then, add a description and an image.
Though the platform has no image editing functions, you can order professional product photos for $9.95 per item. Users can sort products by name and price or subscribe to your business newsletter. Square Online supports all main credit cards, Square gift cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
Big Cartel helps artists, photographers, craftsmen, creators, and other entrepreneurs with selling and promoting products. The platform is ideal for small stores and allows you to use several ready-made themes. If you need more customization, Big Cartel allows you to directly adjust HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Main Big Cartel Features:
Big Cartel is an alternative to Etsy suitable for small stores (1 to 20 items). The platform allows you to use its software and payment processing features without paying a monthly fee. This feature is available for 5 products, however, you will need to use the Big Cartel domain name.
You can choose from several subscription options depending on the number of items you want to sell and desired features.
Zibbet is the best alternative to Etsy. It offers various tools for building an online store. The platform lets you sell handmade, vintage, craft, or fine art goods by paying a monthly fee based on how many items you list. Zibbet allows you to sell across multiple channels to expand your customer outreach.
Main Zibbet Features:
Zibbet is an intuitive platform. Once the registration is completed, you can connect all your e-commerce platforms and import products from them. Then, you can edit your listings or create new ones. By editing a listing on Zibbet, you automatically edit your ad on related platforms.
Zibbet allows you to instantly manage your products. You can even upload a PDF file to the site and attach it to your listing. The platform also lets users track sales and manage stocks.
Amazon Handmade is an online store on Amazon that allows you to sell handmade products and gives access to a huge customer base. If you want to become an Amazon Handmade seller, you must get approved first. To speed up the process, you should meet several requirements.
Main Amazon Handmade Features:
Your products must meet the requirements to be listed in the Handmade category. They must be created by you or your company employees. The platform allows using hand tools for creating goods but doesn’t allow selling products created with the help of advanced technologies. Dropshipping and resales aren’t allowed.
By creating a list of goods, you can set the production time if the manufacturing process and shipment don’t take more than a day. This way, customers understand when they will receive the order.
IndieMade is a convenient service for creating websites for photographers, musicians, handmade artists, etc. Here, you can share the project on your blog and create an account for posting pictures.
Main IndieMade Features:
Unlike similar platforms, this alternative to Etsy has a user-friendly interface without drag-and-drop elements. Customers can use three secure payment options, such as PayPal, 2Checkout, or personal invoice. Websites created with IndieMade are completely secure and have an SSL certificate.
IndieMade has no restrictions for bloggers. A good blog can drive free traffic to your site if you use specific keywords. The more articles you publish, the more attention you get from both search engines and customers.
Volusion is a cloud-based e-commerce platform with a wide range of technical tools. With this service, you can sell almost any item. By adding product videos, you can boost your traffic and conversion rates.
Main Volusion Features:
Volusion has 11 free templates. Alternatively, you can use 34 paid themes. The service provides high-quality customer support via phone, email, live chat, and a 24/7 ticket system.
Volusion allows adding products, updating listings and prices, etc. The platform has an efficient mobile app. You’ll get access to 1,000 apps that can be integrated with Volusion websites via Zapier. In addition, you may also use such product research tools as AutoDS to find unique products that will help you boost your profits and increase the demand for your dropshipping services.
Aftcra is a marketplace for selling handcrafted goods. Although the site connects you with customers around the world, it allows listing only American-made handicrafts. If this is the problem for you, head to Ursamleren with lots of reasonably priced jewelry items, accessories, knick-knacks, and more. The platform has no listing fees.
Main Aftcra Features:
To get started with this Etsy alternative, you need to register your business and create a store. When building an online store, you need to indicate your credit card’s number.
Aftcra recommends uploading enough products to meet customer demand without making your store look cluttered. When uploading a product, you can set the available quantity. The service lists products for six months. Once listings expire, you can re-add them.
Cargoh is a curated social platform for creative artists. It strives to bring together buyers and sellers of handmade products globally. It has only two essential requirements: excellent design and high-quality pictures for a product demo.
Main Cargoh Features:
The Cargoh team carefully checks out all products and accepts only reliable sellers. To get approved, you must register and apply.
Aspiring designers and photographers can benefit greatly from this site since it charges a 3.5% commission per sale. The team carefully monitors the market to guarantee that customers will get high-quality products.
