Etsy Alternatives

Etsy has a solid reputation among buyers and sellers regarding handmade, personalized, or antique things. As of 2020, there were more than 4.3 million Etsy merchants. Although it's one of the most well-known sites for selling distinctive goods, it's not your only choice.

You have a wide range of alternatives, whether you want to create your store or access popular local or international online marketplaces. In this post, we'll examine a few of the most well-liked Etsy alternatives so you can decide which is right for you.

Alternatives to Etsy for Online Shops

Desire total command of your brand? Instead of using an online marketplace, think about creating your own e-commerce business.

Here are a handful of the leading brands in online shopping.

1. Shopify:

Price: Monthly Ecommerce plans start at $29 + transaction costs.

Shopify is one of the largest e-commerce platforms, much like Etsy is one of the largest online marketplaces. Shopify, which has more than a million members, is a reputable Etsy alternative for business owners looking to build their brand from the bottom up.

Having no experience with online design or programming may make this seem scary, but that's not a problem. There is a tonne of pre-designed themes available on Shopify. All you have to do is upload your text and picture files, then edit the user experience (UX), and you're ready to go. The main thing to remember is that, unlike Etsy, you won't have access to a marketplace full of customers who are prepared to make purchases.

You'll need to build your traffic and customer base the same way you build your store, which means you'll need to be prepared for some intensive online marketing. Fortunately, Shopify offers a variety of tools to assist with marketing your company.

2. Big Cartel:

Price: Plans start at $9.99 for up to 50 items, with free shipping on the first five items.

Similar to Shopify, Big Cartel offers you to establish a stand-alone online store with your branding. Its creators have focused their services on helping artisans and business owners who offer handcrafted items. Big Cartel provides templates you may edit to meet your brand's style.

A smart sales tax solution is also available that reduces the business owner's administrative cost. Additionally, the platform provides a selection of marketing tools to support the promotion of your brand. Big Cartel, however, is primarily an e-commerce site and does not have an Etsy-like customer base.

This suggests you'll need to create your audience and discover strategies for keeping customers. Big Cartel is among the top Etsy alternatives if you currently have a loyal consumer base and want to monetize your creative abilities.

3. Squarespace:

Price: Monthly Ecommerce plans start at $18 plus transaction costs.

Another platform that creators may utilize as an alternative to Etsy is Squarespace. Its beautiful designs make it simple to stand out online and look fantastic on mobile devices. To attract customers, utilize Squarespace's extensive inventory management system and its integrated marketing features.

Squarespace is one of the simplest alternatives to Etsy if you're trying to go independent because it allows you to integrate your Etsy storefront while preserving your product URLs and items.

Squarespace, on the other hand, takes longer and is more difficult to set up, but on Etsy, you can open a shop and begin selling in under an hour. You could spend the money on outsourcing web design to accelerate the process.

4. Wix:

Price: E-commerce plans start at $17 per month plus transaction costs.

Selling handcrafted and custom-made things online is simple with Wix, a website builder with user-friendly designs & e-commerce features. You may track orders, specify tax and shipping policies for various regions, provide discount coupons, and take credit card and PayPal payments using the platform.

To help you manage your product listings, Wix also provides an Etsy connection. Reviews and ratings, however, point to several problems, from sluggish loading times to technical faults. This should be fine if you still need an Etsy account because no migration will be required. However, if you want to sell lots of items, there might be better options than Wix.

Using this platform, you can only add 100 pages to your website. Additionally, there isn't an interface for more recent sales channels like TikTok, so if you want to sell on popular platforms, look at these Wix alternatives.

5. Weebly:

Price: Plans begin at $6/month + transaction costs. Weebly is your best option if you're searching for an economical Etsy alternative. This platform includes inventory monitoring, shipping tools, abandoned cart recovery, gift cards, coupons, and anything else you need to sell items online. Additionally, you can use the Weebly editor to improve the SEO settings on your product pages and the Weebly App Center to add other marketing tools.

Weebly's templates may appear a little disappointing compared to other website builders. They're still sufficient to keep users on your website, though. Additionally, you may modify every visual component to suit your preferences and design requirements.

The Help Center of Weebly has some out-of-date content, which is a drawback. You might have to wait a bit to obtain help if you have a problem. Weebly's support is excellent, but more is needed.

Alternatives to Etsy's Marketplace

Building your own business comes with the trade-off of developing your audience, even though it gives you the most control over your brand.

The trade-off with online marketplaces is the opposite: you will buy into potentially very large audiences that are prepared to make purchases, but you won't have as much control over their purchasing process.

Let's examine some of the top Etsy alternatives available today.

1. Zibbet:

Price: $5 per linked sales channel each month.

Once you're up and going, Zibbet is a wonderful tool to assist you in connecting the dots if you'd want to offer your items across several markets. It is a unique platform since it functions as a sales channel aggregator. You may import goods from your current marketplace accounts on Etsy, Facebook, and Instagram.

Once your sales channels are linked, you may manage them from your Zibbet account. This may save business owners who sell on various channels a lot of time and money.

Zibbet helps you with activities like posting listings to all your channels with just one update and synchronizing your inventory across all of them. You can stop going into each channel separately to update listings.

2. Amazon Handmade:

Price: Free to register and sell items, plus 15% of all purchases are deducted as a referral fee.

Amazon Handmade was created as a direct rival to Etsy and a viable alternative. With a large audience of customers shopping for artisan items, Amazon promises that its seller network is exclusively made up of artisans.

Amazon Handmade is a thriving market for creatives to expand their businesses, offering anything from accessories to pet supplies, personal care items, and more. Please take note that Handmade currently does not support digital or downloaded items.

Before joining Handmade, you should be aware of one more crucial fact: opening an Amazon Professional selling account costs $39.99 a month. Then, you'll apply to become a Handmade vendor using your Professional selling account. You will waive your first month's $39.99 Handmade subscription cost if accepted.

3. Bonanza:

Price: Free to register and list items. However, there is a 3.5% fee on all purchases and an additional 5.5% if you use Google Shopping advertisements.

Bonanza offers the best of both worlds: you can either set up your online store or list your products on its marketplace. This gives you a one-two punch for attracting and retaining customers while still retaining ownership of your brand.

Compared to other marketplaces, this platform's fees are quite inexpensive, at just a 3.5% basic charge plus an extra fee if you use Google Shopping advertisements to display your items.

There are several methods to attract quality consumers with Bonanza, like connecting with Facebook and Bing Shopping, being highlighted on blogs and review sites, and using its customer marketing tool to convert one-time buyers into loyal customers.

4. ArtFire:

Price: A standard store costs $9.99 per month plus listing and transaction costs.

To sell your items and attract the platform's network of customers, you may start a boutique shop on ArtFire, an alternative to Etsy. It has a strong sense of community since company owners can interact, communicate, and share knowledge on the platform.

Another excellent choice if you want to launch as quickly as possible is ArtFire's user-friendly platform, which enables you to create your boutique without ever touching the code.

Because ArtFire is a platform for selling handmade and artisanal goods, there is a commission modifier if you want to sell commercial goods. At the end of the day, this distinguishes ArtFire from Etsy by preventing craftspeople from competing with bulk goods at lower prices.

5. Storenvy:

On its platform, it may offer everything from unusual jewelry to kitchenware. Book sales, recorded music sales, beauty product sales, and tech product sales are also strong on Storenvy.

Compared to other Etsy substitutes, Storenvy stands out since it gives users access to a commission-based marketplace and a free online shop hosted on its platform. This suggests that you promote your products individually and to the customers, and Storenvy attracts them to its marketplace.

However, Storenvy can claim to have less traffic than Etsy. It's wonderful for getting your items in front of an indie-loving population, but if you want to reach a larger audience, Etsy would be a better option.

The Conclusion:

Here are the top 10 sites for selling handcrafted goods similar to Etsy. You have a wide range of Etsy alternatives, whether you want to start a business from the beginning or use an online marketplace's strength and reputation.

Consider which Etsy alternative is the greatest match depending on your audience, available time and resources, and long-term company objectives before you start. So go ahead and do it.