Having your own handmade business is something that is very attainable these days. There’s a huge demand for handmade goods and a lot of ways to sell them. Whether you’re selling your handmade crochet or knit items or making something completely different, you’ll have many options. In this post, I’m going to go over the best places to sell your handmade goods so you know where to start, or where to expand your existing handmade business.
The Best Places to Sell Your Handmade Goods
Selling your handmade goods can be a fun and lucrative way to earn an income. You can sell online, you can sell offline, or you can do both. It’s all up to you and what sort of income you’d like to make with your handmade business.
Selling Online
The great thing about selling online is that you expand your market — by a lot. I always suggest including online selling in your handmade business plan, if it’s at all practical for you.
Etsy
Let’s start with the obvious online selling venue for handmade goods.
This is where I started my handmade business and it is one of the best places to sell your handmade if you want to sell online. Etsy has turned many hobbyists into real business owners, with many of them earning an incredible income.
When you list an item on Etsy, you pay $0.20. When you sell an item, you’ll pay 5% of the total amount charged for the item, including shipping, and gift-wrapping (if applicable).
The huge amount of traffic that Etsy gets makes these fees worth every cent, in my opinion. There may not be another online selling venue, at this time, that will bring you the number of potential customers that Etsy does.
Amazon Handmade
Amazon Handmade is a marketplace within Amazon where you can sell your handmade goods. It’s not as big as Etsy, but it might be worth trying for your business.
Amazon Handmade does not charge a fee to list an item. It does charge 15% or $1, whichever is more, for each item you sell.
The reach for Amazon Handmade is not included in the regular Amazon search. Meaning, when people search on Amazon for a product, they won’t find Amazon Handmade products unless they specifically select Amazon Handmade in the filters.
There is also an application process to sell there. They have a specific set of categories that your items have to fall into, and your products have to be 100% handmade by you.
They do offer Amazon Fulfillment, which means that you can send your products to an Amazon warehouse and they will handle all of the shipping for you when you sell something.
Other Smaller Sites
There are many other online venues where you can sell your handmade products, also. None of them get the traffic that Etsy does, but they might fit your products and customer base really well and may be worth a try.
Your Own Website
If you are going to sell online, no matter which platform you decide to use, I highly suggest that you also create a website/online shop of your own. It’s not difficult or expensive and can pay off big down the road.
When you make your own online shop, you’ll use a platform to build it on. There are quite a few choices and the cost is typically very low. I have my online shop on Shopify, and it costs me approximately $29 per month.
These platforms make it very easy to get set up, too. In some cases, you can have your shop set up in a matter of minutes.
Here are some of the best places to sell your handmade in your own online shop.
Shopify — includes a free trial.
Weebly — includes a free trial.
BigCommerce — includes a free trial.
Selling Offline or In-Person
Some people just enjoy the experience of selling “in real life,” and find that they’re more successful that way because they like it so much.
If you prefer to sell this way, you have plenty of options for that too.
Art & Craft Shows
Selling at art and craft shows aren’t just for the hobbyist who wants to earn a little cash. If you do things right, you can make a full-time income selling your handmade pieces this way. There are some who actually make it their full-time job.
One of the best things about selling at art and craft shows is actually getting to meet people, face to face, and see their expressions when they purchase one of your products. It’s really fun!
There’s also a huge variety of different types and levels of art and craft shows. You can find everything from small, free-to-participate shows to large, juried shows that have a pretty high price tag for a spot. One isn’t necessarily better than the other — it just depends on what you sell and what sort of environment you want to sell in.
Art and craft shows run all year round and you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding some that fit your products.
Boutiques
Selling at boutiques is great for certain types of handmade goods.
Crochet and knit accessories, like scarves, shawls, cowls, hats, etc. can be big sellers at a cute little boutique. Jewelry and other accessories can be a good fit too.
There are a couple of different ways to sell at boutiques.
Consignment
Selling on consignment is when you have your handmade products in a shop or boutique, and when they are sold the boutique owner takes a percentage and you get a percentage. It’s nice for the shop owner because they don’t have to invest anything upfront to have your pieces there.
The percentage split amounts are something that’s negotiated between the artist and the shop owner.
Wholesale
Selling your handmade goods wholesale allows you to sell a larger number of them, all at once, to a shop or boutique owner.
When you sell wholesale, a boutique owner might purchase 20, 30, or more of your handmade pieces. They would typically be purchasing them all at once, but for a price that is lower than what you would normally sell them for. Usually by about half.
This allows the boutique owner to have room to profit on the pieces but also gives you a large sale.
Space Rental
There are some places that will actually rent a small area of the store to you, just to sell your handmade goods. That sort of situation is perfect if the shop is well-established and fits the style of your products.
You can also find places that are made up of ALL rental spaces for artists. It works the same way, where you pay a monthly rental fee in exchange for an area within that space to sell your goods.
Just make sure that it’s a business that gets plenty of customers through the doors, and that there aren’t 20 other artists there who are making the exact same thing as you.
So those are some of the best places to sell your handmade goods!
Best,
Tammy
Posh Patterns
