So you have a bunch of crafts you've made, and now want to sell them. There are several ways to sell your crafts; you can go to craft fairs, vendor fairs, or flea markets. Some may even open their own store. However, one of the most convenient ways to sell your crafts is to sell them online.
The Internet offers a wide variety of venues to sell your crafts online. You can list your crafts in online auctions, open a hosted store or start your own website.
Online Auctions
E-Bay is perhaps the biggest online auction site. It could be a challenge to sell your crafts online with E-Bay, only because people sell manufactured products at such low prices. Competition gets very fierce on E-bay. There are sites that offer online auctions for crafts, and only crafts.
Etsy Online Craft Auctions
Etsy offers online craft auctions. There is a free storefront, and it is free to join. Etsy charges a low listing fee for each listing; twenty cents for a four month period. There is also a 3.5% transaction fee when your craft item sells.
What can you sell on Etsy? They allow listings that fall into three categories: Handmade, Supplies and Vintage. If something does not fall into one of these three categories, it cannot be sold on Etsy.
Online Stores
Having a store online is another way to sell your crafts online. How is this different than auctions? Well, with auctions, your craft items are found by a search, either by keyword or by category. When you have your own store, potential customers can visit your store specifically to find what you have for sale.
Etsy also offers storefronts; the prices for a store on Etsy are the same as listed above. Other sites offer personalizable store fronts that lend a professional appearance to your crafts business.
The Craft Mall
The online Craft Mall is a place that offers you a "store" in an online mall. It's a nice way to sell your crafts online! The Craft Mall offers you a crafter's admin area, several different tracking options and your craft items are fully searchable from anywhere in the mall.
The good thing about the Craft Mall is there are no "per item" listing fees and no transaction fees when you sell a craft item. Instead, their fees are based on a monthly fee which varies depending on how many items you have in your store. The fees vary from $14.95 a month to $54.95 a month.
Lilly's Craft Stores Mall
Lilly's Craft Stores Mall is another alternative to online craft auctions. On this site, you can open a store to sell your crafts online without any listing fees or selling fees. When you open an online store with them, you get your own web address, site statistics, a Contact Page, Featured Items page, New Products page, About Us page and unlimited categories.
There is a one-time set-up fee of $30, and the monthly fee is $10 a month if you pay monthly, or you can pay for an entire year up-front for $80 and they waive the set-up fee.
GLC Mall
Another site that allows you to open an online store to sell your crafts is the GLC Mall. A store with the GLC Mall will be quick and easy to set up. You will have your own address and their is no set-up fee and no transaction fees.
Prices listed on their website are listed in Canadian dollars. The only fee that they have is a $12.00 per month fee.
Start Your Own Website
The biggest obstacle to starting your own website store to sell your crafts online is that it's an unknown entity. You have to market your website, manage your search engine optimization, and advertise to get customers to your website.
You will also need a domain name; GoDaddy is a great place to get a domain name. Then, you will need hosting. There are so many different hosting companies out there; all you need to do is do a Google search.
If you have web design knowledge, you can design your own site to sell your crafts online. If not, you can find a web designer to do it for you.
To accept online payments, you will need a payment processor such as Paypal or Authorize.
If you are a crafter, and you need to earn some extra money, there are several ways to sell your crafts online. Selling your crafts online isn't that difficult when you know where to start. The websites I've shared with you today can help you tremendously in your endeavors!
Do you sell your crafts online? If so, I'd love to hear about it, what method you use, and if it's successful for you.
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