7 Apps To Sell Handmade Craft Items (Besides Etsy)

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Make extra money selling your craft and handmade items

You’re a Maker or Artist and are wondering what are the best websites to sell handmade craft items, other than Etsy?

If you create handmade and craft goods as an independent artist, selling them on Apps and websites can make you extra money.

These crafts items are small for shipping convenience and simple to create and make money online.

Some of the more popular handmade crafts to sell online include these;

Personal cards, Personalize pet’s tags, facial masks, art prints, unique items, cross stitch kits, jewelry, candles, bookmark, custom T-Shirts, Pottery, illustrations, ceramics, Wall posters, Hand lettering, Christmas crafts and totes bags.

Etsy is a good platform to start your craft online business, mainly because it already has a large audience.

But, some Makers look for alternatives to Etsy because of this platform’s restrictions. Also, they want to opt for smaller and more niche focused store hosts.

If you’re looking to become a more independent Maker, a platform outside Etsy can be your crafts or products host.

Here are some of the options for Creatives, Makers and Artists to sell handmade crafts.

Optimize your Craft Listing to Make Cash

The internet can be a big craft show or a large garage sale that connects shoppers to indie Makers.

This is why you need to optimize your products’ descriptions and make them visible in the search engines.

These engines are the Apps and platforms your stores are hosted in. Also, Google Store is an engine that can find your shop online.

Enhance your store’s profile and Potential to be found

The profile is all about you as a Maker, Creator or Artist and your craft products.

Write your story. Every App or website provides a field for describing your products in details, name your store and use images to create enthusiasm for your products or services.
Add professional images of your craft products. Take clear shots.
Learn basic SEO techniques. These are necessary to choose titles and tags that signal search engines and algorithms to send traffic to your site or store – Read SEO for your craft shop
Do your investigations on what are the best sites to sell your craft products. There are many Apps and platforms, also you can develop your own website for your business.
Familiarize yourself with the Apps and platforms rules for selling crafts.
Get a good understanding of all fees involved. Some Apps and sites charge a flat monthly fee, while others have additional charges.
Do research on the prices you should charge, check out your competition prices.
Make multiple items. Although one of a kind item can be priced higher, when you start growing your shop the ability to scale is very important.
Use social media and focus on one that is most appropriate for your craft goods.
Add a contact form and answer questions you receive about your products.

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BigCartel

BigCartel offers easy online stores building for makers and artists. The platform claims to have over a million of indie artists and makers using it. This platform provides four different monthly plans to open an online shop.

The basic plan is free and it allows you to sell up to five different products.

The paid plans start at $9.99 per month. These monthly plans include; 50 plus product uploads, custom domain name, Google Analytics, inventory tracking and real time statistics.

Squarespace

Squarespace is a multi use platform. You can do e-commerce, professional website, blogging and offer creative services.

Some of the types of sites using Squarespace include; Photographers, Restaurants, Interior Design, Gaming and Jewelry makers.

You can sell products, sell services, sell memberships or collect donations using this platform.

Pricing varies from $12 per month to $40, depending on the type of website you build.

The platform provides a large number of templates with SEO tools and Analytics.

Create your Own Website

You love your craft and are proud to be a Maker, you can also create your own store on your own platform.

Developing your own platform requires that you invest in your own domain name. This way you don’t have to borrow from Etsy or any other platform a www.mystore.etsy.com. name.

Instead, buying your own domain you can have a www.mystore.com address.

Next, you may want to have your own self-hosted store website.

A self-hosted site gives you more control than a site hosted on someone else’s platform. Control to make changes, monetize and to sell your site in the future.

Click here to get your own domain and get self-hosted <<<Self-host your website with your own domain name

Disclosure: I’m an affiliate of Bluehost. This means I receive a commission when you sign up with the company using my link. This doesn’t cost you any additional money. You’ll get affordable pricing and a free domain name with my referral link.

Blog about your craft and about you as a Maker. Here is my guide to creating your own blog in minutes.

Get your own domain name
Get set-hosted
Blog

IndieMade

At IndieMade you can create your artist or Maker website to include your goods and services plus a blog. This platform offers other tools for Marketing, managing, web hosting and image creation.

IndieMade is offering a promotion of 30 days free for signing up. After this period, you can choose from. four different plans. The paid website plans range in prices from $3.95 to $19.95 per month.

You get hosting and storing services for your site with the paid plans.

Bonanza

Bonanza Webstores provide hosting, inventory, checkout and shipping services for your store.

Bonanza competes with Shopify and Bigcommerce shops hosting services.

Provides free pre-built themes to choose from. The platforms claims you can set up a store and start running it in as little as 10 minutes.

This platform is offering a free 14 days trial. After this period, the monthly price for hosting a shop is $25 per month.

ArtFire

ArtFire is a web stores platform hosting boutique Makers and Creators shops.

The shops on this platform sell handmade gifts for special occasions and for the home or office. Its Boutiques feature unique creations by indie Makers and Artists.

ArtFire offers hosting in three different plans. The cost varies from $4.95 to $40.00 per month depending on the plan you choose.

This web stores host has other fees associated with sales.

Amazon Handmade

Amazon provides store hosting for creators who are approved as artisans.

You have to apply to become an artisan and then start selling on Amazon Handmade.

Amazon keeps 15% commission from each item you sell on the platform.

Final Thoughts

There are many stores hosting services besides Etsy. If you are looking for alternatives, the above are just some of the niche hosting services for Makers, Artists and Creators.

Developing your own self-hosted site is also an option and it may be cheaper in the long term.

Flexibility, cost and control of your store are important factors when deciding what hosting platform to use.

Look at all the costs involved for you. For example, the hosting fee may just be a flat price, the platform may charge additional fees on top. These can include commissions and listing fees that you can compare with other stores hosts.