So, which service is better? I have been listening to the scuttlebutt on the internet for a while and since I’ve never gotten organized enough to sell on either, I thought I’d do a little research. The important thing is that I have no opinions of my own, so I’m just going to collect input from both sources and feel free to comment and let me know about your own experiences.
Etsy
Etsy is an online marketplace where you can buy and sell items that are handmade, as well as vintage goods and crafting supplies. Read more on the Etsy Press Page.
Artfire
Founded in 2008, we are small Tucson, Arizona based company with about fifteen employees, with a passion for handmade, art, and indie business. As an interactive handmade market place and craft community our mission is to support your business and your brand with innovative features and functions. We are an e-commerce company and we focus on support of member’s needs by taking a service first approach.
Both are great sites for selling, but apparently there has been some discord with the Etsy sellers for some time.
So, how do you decide? If you’re a current shopowner at Etsy
—do you move over? Well here are some of the most helpful notes I found about the two sites. These in particular are off Crafty Nation (pop over if you want to read the whole conversation).
Groan! I have optimized my Etsy shop and don’t want to start all over with Artfire!
For someone like myself who has been on Etsy for just over 1 year and live outside the USA then Etsy is still the way to go because Artfire is only for US residents I believe it’s still in it’s Beta testing..
I like that Artfire is completely free for up to ten listings (and I doubt I’ll have much more than that to sell at any given time) plus they let you link to your Etsy shop
I’ve listed thirty items. I have never been able to list that much with Etsy because the listing process is so laborious and slow.
Etsy has a track history of not listening to its customers. And all the traffic in the world is no good because of Etsy’s odd search system, which they’ve just made even odder.
Another helpful thread was on Etsy itself (so biased? Not sure). But still some good information.
Etsy Con: Etsy requires you do upload items to Google Base yourself
Artfire Con: Is in beta so traffic isn’t as high as Etsy yet
Etsy Pro: High traffic and established customer base
Artfire Pro: Customer service is top notch; offer toll free support number, admin active in forums
Etsy Con: No toll free number; difficult to get straight forward responses on issues
Artfire Pro: Initiates many suggestions for site functionality made by the community
Etsy Con: Still waiting years later for a way to organize favorite items on etsy
Artfire Pro: List and sell for free up to ten items at a time or unlimited $ per month—saves me a bundle of cash
Etsy Con: 20 cents per listing and 3.5 percent transaction fee
Artfire Pro: Category search is random so everyone gets exposure no matter when they listed
Etsy Con: Category search is time based so newest listings show first; costs 20 cents to renew and get seen again
If that didn’t help you make up your mind, and if you want to completely blow your mind, here’s a long list of places to sell handmade!
The great news is that there are plenty of places to sell handmade—now it’s up to you to come up with a great product!
Originally published on FrequentlyWrongbutNeverinDoubt
