In an earlier post I wrote about the two most popular venues for handmade and vintage items, and for craft supplies, Etsy and Artfire. Now on to some more.... this is by no means a comprehensive list, but just my observations on these sites.
ZIBBET
Zibbet is one of the newest venues for artists and artisans, and is offered from our neighbors down south - Australia, to be exact. Other than the memorable name that rolls off your tongue, this newbie has a lot to offer! An easy to use interface connects buyers and sellers. The selling model is similar to ArtFire, and offers all services for a set monthly fee, or there is also a free option.
The benefits of Zibbet are that this is a new site, with lower fees and with staff that is eager to listen and learn, thereby forging strong bonds between the company and it's early sellers. The CEO is often in the ning forums, answering questions, even hard questions, with refreshing candor and takes personal interest in the sellers. This is also a great site for people looking to take their business outside of North America, or for sellers outside of North America. Although all of the online venues are technically worldwide, they do reflect the preferences and styles of the location of the company, and this Australian venue will probably grow to be a great niche market for buyers and sellers in Australia. The monthly fee is one of the cheapest among similar venues.
The drawbacks of Zibbet are also tied to its newness. Server crashes and downtime are issues that are being addressed, and seller tools continue to be developed. Given time, all of these issues should be contained, and this venue will probably grow to be a good competitor to established venues.
Overall, Zibbet is great for hobbyists with more time than money :-), and for sellers that are looking for slow, steady growth and are in the business for the long haul, and for sellers looking to target markets beyond North America, or Australia in particular.
CraftisArt
I have not had too much experience with CraftisArt, so I don't have too much to say on it. The site seems to be quite user friendly, and is also based on a hosting fee model with a free option as well. (In fact, most of the venues other than Etsy are based on this model.) This site seems to have growth potential, and does have an impressive number of listings already.
DAWANDA
Dawanda is a great option for sellers looking to target Europe, and Germany in particular. German speaking sellers will do well on the huge, bustling German language version of Dawanda. The English version is quieter, but still gives Etsy and it's cousins a good run for their money. Dawanda was a free site for a while, and has recently started charging sales commission, which is higher than what Etsy charges, but there is no listing fee (on the English and French sites, that is, there IS a listing fee for the German site) and no hosting fee. There are a great set of seller tools, and hands on support provided by the staff. With the decline in the dollar, American products are quite an attractive buy for buyers in Europe, and Dawanda offers a great opportunity for any US sellers to tap into that market. To fully tap into that market, a seller has to put in some effort - like accepting payment in ways other than Paypal, such as bank transfers, and also understand Euro to Dollar conversions etc.
1000 Markets
1000 Markets is restricted to sellers from the US. The pricing model is similar to Dawanda, and there is a sales commission but no listing or hosting fee. The sales commission here is a bit more complicated, since there is both a variable as well as fixed component. You also have to be approved before you can open a shop here, and approval is based on the quality of your items, their pictures etc, i.e. it is a juried site. From what I understand, 1000 Markets is only for handmade items, and not for vintage items or for crafts supplies.
Do you have any experience with any of these sites, good or bad? Are there other sites you recommend, other than these?
YourTime to look good and feel good
I've signed to zibbet, craftisart and haven't had much luck. I'm not ready for juried yet lol. I'm still Etsy-dependent I think.
ReplyDeleteBTW-I love your pooch. She is just too cute!
Thanks!! Yeah she's our little baby :-) and can be quite a handful!
ReplyDeleteLOL yeah juried sounds like more work than it is worth. Although that could potentially keep out resellers, which seems to be a key issue for Etsy. I have not had too much luck on Zibbet and CraftisArt either, but in all honestly I have not focused on those much either. So far ArtFire seems to work out the best for me!
Thanks for your comments :)
Great blog post! I've been looking at alternative sites to sell on and this is just the unbiased review I was looking for. I'm already checking out Zibbet, which I'd never heard of before reading your post, and Dawanda. Based on what you've said here, both look like venues I'll be pursuing. Thanks for the info!
ReplyDeleteI am on Zibbet, and had little success there. if it wasn't for the 50 item free listings I would not be there. I love Artfire and Bonanza. the sales are so good there!
ReplyDeletethanks still woul like to see more etsy is too big and not any good anymore
ReplyDeleteThe best place to sell is Shippi.com You choose your own url and they take care of the shipping so you don't need to deal with UPS or Greyhound.
ReplyDelete