Where to Sell Handmade Items: Beginner’s Guide to Selling Crafts Online

Whether you have a small handful of crafts to sell or a bustling inventory, all craft sellers need to take a few basic steps to set up their business before they can start making sales.

Choose homemade items to sell

If you’re looking into where to sell handmade items, then chances are you probably already have an idea of what you’ll be making. But if not, your first step should be to figure it out.

Your products should be something you can confidently craft on your own. They should also be something you enjoy making. After all, if your business takes off, you could end up spending a lot of time making the same items.

You should also consider cost and profitability. Crafts that make money tend to be ones that are low cost as well as fast and easy to make.

That’s not to say you can’t make a profit selling custom high-end artwork or artisan products. But the best crafts to sell when you’re starting out are going to be ones that are cheap and easy to make and that have high enough consumer demand that they tend to be the best-selling crafts on whatever site you sell on.

Here are examples of profitable crafts that sell well:

• Bath bombs
• Soaps
• Candles
• Jewelry
• Holiday ornaments
• Decorative mason jars
• Keychains
• Handbags
• Coasters
• Knitted clothing
• Pet accessories
• Wall decor
• Electronic cases

One point to bear in mind is one of the drawbacks of selling crafts from home: You need to deal with shipping. Heavier items will cost more to ship, ultimately detracting from your profits.

Perhaps most importantly, choose products that aren’t easily mass produced or recreated. If a potential buyer thinks to themselves “I could buy something similar at the store” or “I could make that myself,” they’ll be less likely to make a purchase.

Come up with a unique angle

With tons of competition in online marketplaces, it’s crucial that you develop a unique angle. Creating a signature style can help your handmade products stand apart from the sea of look-alike products in the marketplace.

You don’t necessarily need to come up with completely unique products to sell. Instead, you can take a look at the best-selling craft products on handmade marketplaces and brainstorm ways you can improve on the designs or add attractive flourishes that will brand your products as uniquely yours.

Your brand flare could come out in your ingredients or event your packaging. Take, for example, Jessica Kennedy, a craft seller we spoke to who’s achieved remarkable success selling handmade skincare products. Her products showcase the beauty of the natural world using natural ingredients.

Her skincare business is called Leaf Seed Berry, and there’s a reason for that: She uses leaf, seed, and berry extracts and oils in her products. This strong brand identity and her dedication to the sustainable use of healthy natural oils and extracts likely contribute to the popularity of her products.

But this isn’t the only way her products stand out. Kennedy also uses bright and colorful illustrations on her labels that are inspired by nature, such as flowers and leaves. Visually appealing branding can really go a long way in setting you apart from the competition.

Take excellent photos

Selling crafts online is a totally different experience than selling them in person. To gain the trust of potential customers, you need to have more than an intriguing backstory or product description.

Each of your handmade crafts should have a collection of beautiful photographs and maybe even a video or two. You can showcase the intricate details, color varieties, use cases, and more with high-quality photography.

Not only will this help you sell more of your items—it’ll increase buyer confidence and satisfaction so you won’t have to worry as much about returns.

There are a handful of craft sites that many creators gravitate towards to sell handmade items. Etsy is a popular place to start, but there are many other sites like Etsy that can help you bring in decent sales.

It’s also not a bad idea to diversify your sales channels by using multiple platforms to maximize your profits. We’ve rounded up the best places online to sell homemade crafts.

1. Etsy

Etsy has over a million global customers looking for handmade and vintage products. Overall, it’s a great handmade app and website for sellers looking to avoid the distracting interfaces, sponsored ads, and mass-produced products on other marketplaces.

Another benefit of selling crafts on Etsy is personalization. It’s easier to communicate with customers and to leave personal touches in packages than it is on other platforms.

As we discuss in our Etsy seller review, the one major drawback is how saturated the marketplace is. To succeed here, you need lots of products, a unique style, and loads of rave reviews.

Types of products: Homemade goods and vintage items.
Fees: $15 signup fee and $0.45 + 9.5% per item sold.
Requirements: Etsy Seller Policy.

2. Amazon Handmade

Amazon Handmade is the division of Amazon devoted strictly to people who make their goods by hand. With hundreds of millions of shoppers, Amazon is the largest online marketplace to sell products.

Unfortunately, not many customers know about the handmade goods on the site, partly because they often don’t show up in search results. This one of several drawbacks to becoming an Amazon Handmade seller that we discuss in our Amazon Handmade review. Others include a lengthy approval process, limited product categories, and high referral fees.

Nevertheless, if you can qualify for Amazon Handmade and you come up with a good selling strategy, it can be a great place to sell your handmade products.

Types of products: Handcrafted products.
Fees: 15% referral fee + $39.99 monthly fee (waived after your first month, upon approval).
Requirements: Amazon Handmade terms and conditions.

3. Facebook Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace is a segment of Facebook where users can sell items to others. Many people use Facebook Marketplace as a place to sell used items, but it also happens to be one of the best websites to sell handmade items.

What many crafters love is that it’s a place where you can sell handmade items for free. There are no fees to list products, and you only need to pay a small fee (5%) if you ship your products. Doing the exchange in person allows you to bypass this fee altogether.

Because of the nature of the marketplace, be prepared to encounter lots of buyers who want to haggle on the price, if not outright ask you to give away your homemade goods for free. However, the platform’s reputation for used goods could also work in your favor.

The marketplace tends to be inundated with photos that show just how dingy and used the items are. High-quality photos of your handmade goods will stand out well.

Types of products: Used and new items as well as handmade goods.
Fees: Free to list products; 5% fee for shipped orders.
Requirements: Selling on Marketplace.

4. Mercari

Mercari is a marketplace for selling new or used secondhand goods. They also have a category for handmade items.

Mercari recently removed its sellers’ fees, so it’s now one of the best websites to sell items online for free. The only time you pay is to transfer money to your bank account, and it’s a very small fee.

However, there are some drawbacks to using this platform. Similar to Facebook Marketplace, expect your customers to haggle. What’s more, the new terms of service allow customers to return purchases for any reason.

Types of products: New or used secondhand items and homemade crafts.
Fees: $3 for Instant Pay or $2 for direct deposit (per transaction).
Requirements: Marketplace Guidelines.

5. eBay

eBay is one of the oldest consumer-to-consumer marketplaces. Currently, there are over 2 billion products available for sale. While it’s possible to sell handmade goods, they’ll need to fit into one of the more popular categories to make it worth your while.

Here are examples of products that sell well on eBay:

• Electronics cases
• Home goods
• Clothing or accessories
• Toys
• Jewelry

If you’re considering selling on eBay, test the waters with a small handful of products to see how they do.

Types of products: Any new or used item.
Fees: $0–$20 insertion fee + 6.35%–24.5% per sale.
Requirements: Rules and policies.

6. Finnalby

Finnalby is a new marketplace for retailers and wholesale sellers to sell goods like fine art, clothing, jewelry, pet accessories, and more. They also have a Strictly Handmade category.

Because the selling fee is low compared to other marketplaces, Finnalby is a cost-effective option for makers looking to increase their profits.

Something to keep in mind is that Finnalby is brand new, so you won’t have access to a huge customer base. Additionally, their product vetting process is rigorous, so it won’t be as fast and simple to list your handmade goods.

Types of products: Handmade plus other kinds of goods.
Fees: 5.5% commission fee per sale.
Requirements: Finnalby Policies and Strictly Handmade Policy.

7. iCraft

iCraft is a website where you can buy and sell handmade and custom-order gifts in the following categories:

• Jewelry
• Accessories
• Fashion
• Bath and body
• Bridal and wedding
• Home decor

iCraft is solely for artists and crafts makers. The platform enables you to build your own shop, contact customers directly, and get valuable insights about your buyers.

Like the case with every other top craft marketplace, there are a couple of drawbacks to using this craft site. One is the limited number of categories. The other is the smaller number of customers (about 1.3 million) compared to other marketplaces.

Types of products: Ready-made and custom handmade products.
Fees: $25 registration fee + $10–$15 monthly subscription fee.
Requirements: Terms and Conditions.

So far, we’ve talked about the best online platforms for selling crafts. However, you don’t necessarily need to use one of these services. There are a couple of other ways to sell handmade products that you shouldn’t overlook.

Selling from your own online handmade shop

With a shop of your own, you get more control over your prices and fulfillment options, which can lead to higher profits. Your shop will also be 100% yours in terms of branding, products, and advertising. There won’t be other makers’ products to distract from yours.

However, there is a tradeoff. Opening your own online shop isn’t exactly a hack for selling your crafts online for free. You’ll need to pay for monthly or annual website hosting plus payment processing fees.

There are plenty of e-commerce platforms you can use to build a shop to sell your products through. Here are the most popular options for crafters:

• Big Cartel
• Ecwid
• Shopify
• WooCommerce

Setting up your own handmade shop isn’t for everyone. In addition to building the site, you’re also responsible for marketing and advertising enough so that there’s substantial traffic going to it.

Kennedy sells her skincare products both on Etsy and her own business site, and she says that having your own site is a good idea. This partly comes down to security.

Specifically, she pointed out that sites like Etsy could suddenly shut your shop down at any point, and for any reason. “Unless you have a backup or alternate site, you’re going to be suffering,” Kennedy said. “I definitely recommend having your own website along with your Etsy shop.”

Selling crafts locally

Another option is to sell your goods to local shoppers. As for where you go when selling handmade items locally, it depends on where you live.

Here are some great places to sell your handmade products locally:

• Craft fairs
• Flea markets
• Farmers markets
• Festivals
• Local boutiques
• Pop-up shops
• Consignment shops
• Art galleries

It’s always a good idea to diversify your product sales, and the internet isn’t the only place to sell crafts. Take a look around your local community and see what sort of upcoming events and locales are looking for craft makers to sell their items.

When we asked Kennedy for her thoughts on the best places to sell handcrafted items, she emphasized diversifying your selling channels. “It simply goes back to the old adage ‘don’t keep your eggs in one basket,'” she said. Better yet, the more platforms you use, the more exposure you’ll get to potential buyers.