Selling Venues - Winkelf

Well my first impression of WinkElf is that I love their logo! Of course I am partial to elves and fairies so that explains that :P I also love the bar of multiple colors they have running across, so perfect for craftiness!

The next thing that caught my eye is that they are currently doing a Presidents Day sale - how cool is that?

The fee system on Winkelf is a bit complicated. You can list the items for free (see the pic below for what's included), theirs a 2.5% selling fee (reasonable), and then there are a lot of upgrade options! What I liked best about this was you can go free until the sale if you want, upgrade a wee bit if you want, or if you want to go whole hog on it they have a $5 a month package that gives you all the upgrade options :) I like have options like that!

For the shoppers you'll be glad to hear that there are a wide variety of items offered on WinkElf. What I liked best about their shopping options is a little bar on the left hand side that shows trends! They have; Editor's Pick, Featured Items, What's Hot, International, New Arrivals, Ending Soon, Feature Stores, Other Stuff Too, and Sold Goodies. So if you like being trendy (or want to be a trend setter!) there's lots of fun to be had there!

One last thing that's important to note about Winkelf. It currently doesn't have that large of a following. Which has it's positves and negatives as I've mentioned before. Yes, your items won't be as likely to get buried as they are on sites like etsy, but you may not have as many viewers either. As always that's what you have to decide for yourself if it's something you want to try risk :)

If you want to check out some of the Ranking Data about Winkelf, check out this post by my partner in this series - TiLTCreations :)

Selling Venues - Shop Handmade

My first impression of Shop Handmade is that it could use some improvement on it's layout. Of course, that might just be the geek/designer in my talking, but the site is orientated to the left of the screen and doesn't maximize it's space well. Since I've started this series I've begun signing up for all the sites as I research them, you can find out more that way! This one was extremely easy to sign up for, you just had to input a nickname or e-mail address, and that was it! The one thing that got me a little curious was that it didn't seem ask for a password. So first thing I did was go looking for the account information. Sure enough, they did want a password, they just don't ask for it up front! Strange. Plus, at the bottom of the account page, they have a long list of e-mail offers. Make sure to go visit that if you don't want them sending you a lot of e-mails! Of course if you want them, by all means keep them checked :) Personally I don't want any right now, but I'm also not opening up a shop at the moment, if I did I might change my mind.

Once you've signed up for an account clicking on "my account" at the top of every screen takes you to an easy navigation page. If you have not opened a shop it lists "Open a Store" and "Sell an Item" front and center. Then you'll find a navigation bar on the left with a "My Account" secition that includes; Profile and Preferences, Wishlist, and Purchase. Below that is a Store section including; Profile and Logo, List an Item, Inventory, Orders, Ledge, and Store FAQ.

I didn't get to experiment at all with the listing process, because I didn't want to fill out a shop profile and then not actually open up shop. So instead my next step was to check out the Store FAQ!It wasn't very long, and actually left me with more questions, but I think that's because I'm doing things out of order. So on to the About section!

After reading the About section the most confusing thing, to me, about Shop Handmade is it's fees system. From what I understand it's possible to list for free, if you sign up for a sponsor. They also let you chose if and how much you pay of the final selling value. It seems a little strange to me, but I'm not going to knock the option of free!

They are very "green-minded" at Shop Handmade. It's a large part of why they started their venue! They attempt to off-set the carbon footprint, and support the rain forests, so if that's a passion of yours this could be the site for you!

There a variety of search functions, but it worked a little slow for me. I also didn't like that I couldn't find a way to contact the seller if you had a question or wanted to chat. The pictures are also blocked from being shown - so I couldn't feature any items for you - even though I found some cute ones! So instead you'll have to be satisfied with a picture of the featured shops on the front page.
The biggest drawback I saw to Shop Handmade is that there really doesn't seem to be any community. As I said, I couldn't find a way to contact sellers, and there are chat or forum features. That's a major drawback as far as I'm concerned because a major part of selling your work on-line is to form relationships!

Would I sell here? Maybe, but it's not on the top of my list. I don't like the lack of community, and I'd rather go someplace with interaction possibilities. However, the fees system does make it tempting! So it's on the list of possibilities :)

Have you entered my One World One Heart Giveaway yet? Click here to enter and hopefully win!!!

Artfire - An Interview with John Jacobs

I recently had John Jacobs, founder and President of ArtFire, add me as a friend on Twitter. Well my first thought was "selling venue series!" So I shot him off a quick message and he agreed to be interviewed! Here it is :)

1. Could you tell us a little bit about the motivation behind starting Artfire? I've heard stories, but I'd love to hear it straight from you.

There are several strong factors that contributed to the creation of ArtFire.com. I grew up in an entrepreneurial and crafty family and watched my mother struggle for many years at craft shows and with selling her handmade wares to support our family of six. Starving artist was a very real term in our lives as the best case scenario most weeks while traveling around the country, was to break even at the craft shows. My parents never really ever got ahead, but the show promoters always got paid.

When eBay came on the scene, my parents, like many artists, thought that they may have found a new venue to sell on. A venue that might get them off the road! For several years, back when EBay was still human, this was the case. Sadly most artists have left EBay due to abuse, poor treatment, and unbearably low bids for their unique works. ETSY, a better option for artists emerged, which we admire for pioneering a site that celebrates the culture of handmade. There are also many things that we don’t admire about ETSY, but it is certainly a better option for artists than any other available venue, and we hope that our presence helps challenge them to better serve artists.

In summary, our motivation is to support artists and provide tools to help members be more successful with their businesses. We want to create a system that truly serves and adapts to the needs of the artisan community. We also think that a marketplace should respect their members and take a servitude role, instead of arbitrarily shutting down and destroying the trust and investment of hard working business owners.

2. What distinguishes Artfire from the other selling venues that are out there?

Free, no fees; a culture of customer service which puts our company leaders on the front line; community directed development which puts our members in control of new features; total commitment to artisan success, no matter the venue; full social media integration and education; and we focus on advancing environmental sustainability through planting trees for every member that joins. We adapt quickly and engage the needs of the community, put the community and members first, and we stay very focused on proactive engagement of members. We also put our faults out there, don’t hide our mistakes, don’t censor, boot, or ban our members, and treat people the way we want to be treated.

3. I've heard that you have a lot of money set aside and/or invested in marketing, can you tell us a little bit about the marketing strategy for Artfire?

Without giving away the entire marketing strategy, we use a combination of viral media, traditional media, and constant reinvestment in marketing to help transform the handmade niche from a popular trend to a macro movement. We purchase displays in several national publications and have locked up the back cover of CRAFT magazine for the next several years. We have placed ads on radio stations with a concentration on grass roots and public radio, and we invest heavily in web advertising, including social media and viral campaigns. We are very aggressive with our marketing program, for example in December our combined advertising reach was over 20 million views, which is the only portion that we can accurately quantify. Our viral programs appear to have generated an additional 2.5-3 times this number.

4. What is your vision for where Artfire is going?

ArtFire will serve the needs of the community, empower and educate artists to become more successful, encourage and support positive environmental impact and green commerce. We intend to introduce a whole new generation to a culture of creativity and become the home for handmade.

5. Artfire is obviously growing in leaps and bounds, what are your plans for keeping up with that expansion?

We are focused on keeping it personal and staying connected with the needs of the community. This is one of more frequent questions that members keep in the back of their minds and the answer is simple; a culture of service is a choice that company leaders make. We don’t believe that scale is an excuse for poor customer service, and I point out a company and a leader that I admire and emulate constantly, Tony Hsieh of Zappos.com. Zappos is a billion dollar company with a larger customer base than ETSY, Dwanda, Thousand Markets, and most internet companies for that matter. Tony is on the front lines of customer service, expects and fosters the highest level of service from his staff, and can even be contacted directly on Twitter! When was the last time that you could contact the CEO of a company with thousands of employees, yet alone a company with just 80 employees?

To sustain our current level of service we have a plan that constantly sets a baseline for evaluation, and an inelegant enhanced engagement system, manned by competent and empowered staff members, that will support our U.S. and international members about 20 hours out of every day. Most importantly, at ArtFire, our members are the mission, we win when the community wins. This outlook keeps us innovating and challenges us to constantly adapt and grow.

6. Let's say I'm a new seller on Artfire, what would be the most important things for me to know or to do?

Get involved in the community. There are thousands of members ready to mentor and assist. Ask questions and learn how to increase your social footprint, market yourself and build personal brand with ArtFire provided tools like “Shop Window”, “Market Hub”, and a personal blog. Most importantly, keep a positive attitude and help your buyers and other sellers whenever you possibly can. Remember the values that make you and your items unique, and let your actions reflect the same love and care that your handmade items were created with.

Thank you John!

Selling Venues - Crobbies

You may remember me mentioning that Theresa and I's blogging series inspired a special at Crobbies.com? Well, I decided that meant they should be my next write up! I know, I know, it's taken me awhile to get to it. Life's been busy and interesting lately :P



This is a pretty sweet deal for someone who wants to try out their site! Listing and selling fees are always one of the frustrating facts of life that we have to deal with, and so it's nice when they go away, even temporarily! What are Crobbies normal fees you ask? Good question! To quote Theresa's blog:

“handmade crafts and hobbies”
Free to sell, unlimited listings…they note that fees may change from time to time
3% fee with sale
6 month listings



The front page at Crobbies greats you with a pretty normal range of options. You see some featured items, newest listings, and the current Featured Seller. If your looking to buy, you can either search by category, tag, material, color, or price (with options for minimum and maximum). I got to this item by clicking on "Art/Painting," and then narrowing the search by the category animals.



Are you interested in selling with Crobbies? The sign-up process takes very little time, all they ask for is an e-mail address, username, and password! From there they give you a list of options, and all the require for you to be able to start selling is to enter a credit card or paypal account!

I did sign up for an account, not because I've decided to sell on there, but to be able to give you the most information. However, the site won't recognize my paypal e-mail address for some reason, and I don't really want to give them my credit card information without having made that decision. So, sorry, but I can't give you any more of an idea of what the listing process is like!

One thing I found very interesting about the community is that they have section where you can contribute articles, and a section where you can post blog posts. I find this an interesting addition to the forums we see on many sites, and if I were to start activily using the site I know I would love being able to further my exposure as a seller through these means!

One advantage and draw back combined with this site is that it's still small. That can be good when you consider that your items won't be burried by a thousand others, but it also means the site itself won't have as wide of an exposure base.

I hope this information has helped! Keep your eyes on my blog and Theresa's for more information about selling venues :)

Selling Venues - Bonanzle - Part 2!

I probably won't do two part posts for most of the selling sites I review, but I did feel that it was necessary to give you some more information about the site its self, and I didn't want that first post to drag on forever! So...here you go...part 2 :)

The above picture is what greeted me when I logged in today. Yes, I have signed up for Bonanzle, but at this point just so I could explore! That's one of the nice things about Bonanzle - you don't have to submit a credit card or any other super-personal information to sign up and browse. The process of signing up only takes about two minutes.

The pictures you see on the front are constantly changing - something I love! The border colors also tell you if the seller is currently on-line, near where your located (you do have to give a zip code), newly listed, or in a bonanza today! Bonanza's are site advertised sales, and each seller can sign up for one a month!

Interested in buying? Clicking on the "Buy" button takes you into a variety of ways to search for what you want to buy. At the very top you'll see current and upcoming bonanzas (sales!), and scrolling down you'll find links for local items, recently listed, bonanza items, favorite items, and freebies. Those last two caught my eye since they aren't really things I've seen on other sites so far. Keep in mind that I am beginning my research though...

Anyway, Favorite items gives you a chance to see what items others have marked as their favorites. I like that concept :) Freebies is exactly what it sounds like - free stuff! Sometimes it might be a picture that they will freely let you download, or a recipe, or instructions for a project, you never know! It's a fun area to browse :)

Diving into the world of selling - each seller gets to set up a booth (the equivalent of a shop on other sites). Below is a snap shot of a booth that I picked just because I really liked his art work! Click on the picture to check out his booth!

There's a lot of information you can input right one the front page, including your location, upcoming bonanza's, pickup if you offer it, discounts for multiple purchases and categories you offer. Also, if your currently on-line they have a real chat option! I don't see myself using this constantly if I decided to sell here, but I can see how it could be really useful in specific situations, like discussing a custom order for instance.

Now for some of the basics about costs and whatnot. Big thanks to Theresa - my research partner - for compiling this info!

~ Free to post items
~ Fees
based on Final Offer Value (FOV): less than $10, $0.50; less than $50,
$1; less than $100, $3; less than $1000, $5; $1000 or more, $10
~ Payment options: Google checkout, Paypal & money orders
~ Import directly from eBay (a major plus if you've been selling there).

I hope this information helps you! As for me, I find Bonanzle very interesting, and it's currently on my list of "I might try's," but no decisions have been made yet along those lines, lots more research to do first!

Selling Venues - Bonanzle

Today we're going to take a look at www.bonanzle.com. I've got a lot to share with you - so I'm going to have to break this up into two days :) In this post I'm going to share the response I got from a seller on Bonanzle. I'm just getting to know Terri, she's one of my twitter friends, and she's been incredibly helpful! The next post (in a day or two) will take a more in depth look at the site itself.

~ How long have you been selling with this site?
Selling on Bonanzle Since September 16 2008, (Just out of Beta) there were about 1700 members, and 30,000 listings then, now there are over 16,000 members and 600,000 listings.

~ On a scale of 1-10, (1 being hardest and 10 being easiest) how hard/easy is it to navigate and use the site?
Site is sooooo easy to navigate I have to give it a 8.5 to a 9, as I would give it a 10, but no site is ever completely perfect...only because there is a small learning curve. The live chat and  active forums, plus the Human nearly immediate support response make it very easy to find answers to your questions.

~ Have you had success selling on this site?
My top selling category is Jewelry and Jewelry findings. I also sell quite a few semi-precious and real gem stones.

~ Are there any key features that find especially helpful on this site?
The live chat is awesome, the forums are very warm and welcoming. I especially like the fact that I have over 1000 separate items listed, and have not paid a penny in listing fees....I can also include up to 4 photos, free. Final value fees are incredibly low. Up to $10 the fee is $.50, up to $50, it is $1.00.., and up to $100 it is $3.00. If you post a question in the forums, you most likely will get a hundred responses and welcomes from the members. You can chat right in your booth with friends or customers, either publically or privately. You can have 1 advertised "Bonanza" (sale) per month, and as many self promoted sales as you like. I am also an administrator of the site wide Meet & Greet called Tickle Me Tuesday, which allows people to get out and visit participating booths, have a sale, and get exposure for their own booths.

~ What's the community of artists like?
There is a huge on line community, not only artists, but sellers of many items. A large part of this community is comprised of ex-eBay Power Sellers, who have left for a variety of well known reasons. There is an entire thread of Hand Crafters, who chat, and help to promote each other. I belong to the Jewelry Integrity Group, (JIG) myself. Because we are a relatively new site and all know the bad feelings of poor customer service and high fees, the entire community bends over backwards, for the sake of Customer Service. The owners are very approachable for ideas and to solve problems.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Woohoo! Doesn't that sound pretty cool folks? I'm going to be doing some more research into the lay out and everything for the next post, but I have to say that this site sounds pretty awesome just from my initial research. Now to tell you a little more about Terri...

You can find her shop on bonanzle under blarney_stone, and she wasn't kidding when she said she had over 1000 listings! *whew* It wears me out just thinking of all that work... Terri is doing a SALE TODAY from 1:00pm to 10:00pm Central time - 20% off everything in her booth.

So what can you find in her shop? Well, being a jewelry-freak I of course started out by checking out her jewelry and findings section. Look at this awesome butterfly pendant I found! Only $3.99 :)

With over 1000 items you can well imagine that Terri has MANY different things to offer. One of the other items that I just fell in love with was this little miniature shaving mug and brush. It's adorable! Also only $3.99 :)

Selling Venues - Etsy

Now I might be naive, but I'm pretty sure most of my readers are familiar with Etsy.  Why? Because that's where I'm currently based and where most of my contacts have come from! I'm going to give a brief overview of how the site works anyway for those of you who've never explored it :) So if your one of my etsy friends, feel free to skip the next paragraph!

Etsy.com is a selling and buying venue for handmade items, supplies, and vintage items. There are many different ways you can search for what your looking for, forums for your questions, chat, blog updates from the staff, and options for requesting custom items. Most people use Paypal for payment, but you have the choice to use other options such as RME. There are "teams" on etsy that you can join.  These teams offer a lot of support and help with navigation and useful tips! I know this is a very short overview - so let me know if you have any questions!

(etsy people start reading again!)

A couple of days ago I started a thread in the etsy forums to get some feedback on people's selling experience. I did get some valuable feedback on other sites that I'll be sharing in later posts - but I got a wealth of replies about etsy itself! No surprises considering it was ON etsy right?

The questions I put out there were:
~ How long have you been selling with this site?
~ On a scale of 1-10, (1 being hardest and 10 being easiest) how hard/easy is it to navigate and use the site?
~ Have you had success selling on this site?
~ Are there any key features that find especially helpful on this site?
~ What's the community of artists like?

I got responses back from people with a wide range of experience. We had one respondant who'd only been on the site for 3 weeks, and we had one person who'd been on the site for just over 2 years! With the exception of three people and some of the newbies, everyone reported having been successful. 

Let's stop and take a look at a the term for a success for a minute. I didn't give any qualifications for that term in my questions did I? That's because success is a very subjective term. If I wanted to, I could set up some sort of arbitrary parameters that I consider the definition of success, but it wouldn't really apply to everyone. Some people are on here selling part time for fun, other people spend a great deal of time and money and their livelihood depends on it, many are inbetween, so success is going to mean something different to each of these people! Because of this, when I say the majority of people reported being successful, keep in mind that I mean that by their definitions. Also please realize that while some of the newbies (4 months and under) I catagorized under "just starting," and they reported no success yet, there were other newbies who reported wild success already!

The average rating of ease of use on Etsy was 7.6, with a range from 3-10. Many people said that it was easy to use in comparison to other sites, while others said that it was difficult to figure out initially. My personal experience with the site is that it can take awhile to learn where everything is, but that over all most functions are relatively easy to learn how to use.  Plus, when you get confused about anything there are a lot of helpful people to help you figure things out! I'd say a 7 or so rating is pretty accurate :)

Out of the features that people like; the one's mentioned the most were the conversation function, the forums, and the treasuries.  People also reported that the community in general is friendly and helpful. Granted, people aren't as likely to air their grievences in a forum, but it was still overwhelmingly positive :)

My personal experience has been that this is a really friendly community, and that you'll get out of it what your willing to put into it. Some products are harder to sell here than others, and jewelry in specific is a very saturated market. Which can be frustrating for me, because that's what I make! So putting a lot of "effort" into it doesn't necessarily mean you'll make sales, but it does increase the liklihood! That's probably true for most selling venues :)

As for success? I haven't been as successful on-line as I'd like to be, but I have definitely developed some incredible friendships and opportunities through etsy! I am looking to expand into some other venues though, and that's why I'm doing this research :)

If you sell in a venue other than etsy I would still love your response to these questions for each site you sell at! Thank you!

~ How long have you been selling with this site?

~ On a scale of 1-10, (1 being hardest and 10 being easiest) how hard/easy is it to navigate and use the site?

~ Have you had success selling on this site?

~ Are there any key features that find especially helpful on this site?

~ What's the community of artists like?

Upated List of Selling Venues

Alrighty - it's been a busy morning - and I'm gathering a lot of information already! I'll use this post and update it periodically as I expand my list of venues to sell your work in. Some of these venues that people have mentioned are more focused on a specific type of craft than others, but I'm including all of them because I know that I have all sorts of artist friends!

Wondering what I'm talking about? Check out my starting blog post for this series.

etsy.com
artfire.com
shophandmade.com
winkelf.com
dawanda.com
creativecafe.com
1000markets.com
ebay.com
hyenacart.com
http://lov.li/
http://www.mintd.com/
http://www.zazzle.com/
http://www.cafepress.com
http://www.redbubble.com/
http://www.imagekind.com
http://www.icraft.ca/
http://www.bonanzle.com/
http://www.handmadefusion.com/
http://www.ecrater.com/
http://bigcartel.com/
cultvult.org
daisycraft.com
creativecafe.ning.com
http://www.smashingdarling.com/index.php
http://www.boundlessgallery.com/
www.silkfair.com
Crobbies
Lollishop
Ravelry

Where Do YOU Sell?

There are many tips and tricks that seem to fly around the internet about the best way to promote your business and get your name out there. One that I've heard frequently is that it's wise to have your merchandise in more than one location. I can see the sense in that. After all you'll reach different audiences theoretically right? My main concerns with the concept has always been that I don't want to spread myself to thin, and then trying to decide which venues to even try!

My good friend Theresa of TiLTCreations mentioned to me the other day that she was planning on doing some research on the different on-line selling venues and I jumped at the idea! So expect to see more posts in the future as we do research into the different on-line venues, and review each one!

To start my research there's a few things I'm doing. For one, I'm creating a list of different on-line venues. I'm sure my list is incomplete, so please leave a note in the comment section of any sites I've missed!

The Starting List:
etsy.com
artfire.com
shophandmade.com
winkelf.com
dawanda.com
creativecafe.com
1000markets.com
ebay.com

For the next part - I need YOUR help! There's only so much I can learn by looking over each web-site, the best information come from the people who are actually using the site! If you have a minute please take the time to leave me a comment telling me what venues you sell in, and answering the following questions about each:

~ How long have you been selling with this site?
~ On a scale of 1-10, (1 being hardest and 10 being easiest) how hard/easy is it to navigate and use the site?
~ Have you had success selling on this site?
~ Are there any key features that find especially helpful on this site?
~ What's the community of artists like?

If your not comfortable leaving your comments on the blog, feel free to e-mail me at jedimarri@gmail.com :)

Thanks in advance for your feedback!