Selling your Crafts in an Online Store: What Matters

Where to sell your handmade items is always a big decision. Learn more from Maria Nerius about setting up an online store, which has many advantages including control of your inventory, no worries about weather, and the ability to change out your goods easily. You’ll need to do your homework and explore all your options.

One market widely used by those selling their handmade crafts is to have an online store. There are many websites that offer this service and some of the most popular include e-Bay, Esty, Lilly’s Craft Store Mall, and Artfire. Every online store service has different rules, set-ups, fees, and commissions. It’s best to really do your research before investing your time, energy, and money.

Some use a flat rate and you’ll be expected to pay a monthly rent. Others want a commission from every sale you make. And others use a combination of monthly fee and commission. You’ll have to carefully study what is expected of you. Visit the sites. Check out the quality and diversity of items sold on the sites. You want a clean looking site that has an easy search engine for potential buyers. You also want a site that markets and has develop a reputation for things uniquely handmade.

The best advice I can give when selling online is have great photos of your work. The photo of an item is all the consumer has to consider a purchase. Make sure you have good light for the photographs and that you get close-up to show off the details and quality of the item. Browse the shops of other sellers and note any detail that makes the item pop in the photograph. Use this insight to photograph your own work. Learn more about photographing your work by reading  Get that Product to Smile – How to Take Great Pictures of Your Crafts.

Check out the prices of your competitor’s goods. Yes, everyone selling similar items as yours is the competition and you need to provide something ‘extra’ to close the sale. It might be a lower price, better detail, or a gift card with each purchase. Your online store is just like any other retail store! You need to update, change out your merchandise, and keep your customers coming back!

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