The Best Places To Sell Handmade Items

Best Square Online Features To Sell Handmade Items

• Integrates With Square POS: Square is most well-known for its in-person point of sale (POS) hardware. If you sell at craft shows, galleries, pop-up events, in your store, or at any other physical location, take Square POS with you. If you sell something in person, your online inventory automatically updates to reflect the sale.
• Free Plan Available: For individuals who want to get a website up without investing any money upfront, Square has a free web builder that has almost everything you need to run a functional online store.
• No Transaction Fees: Other eCommerce platforms such as Shopify and marketplaces such as Etsy charge transaction fees. With Square, you just have to pay payment processing fees, which you will have to do no matter where you sell your handmade items online.
• Social Selling: One of the best ways for visual artists to make sales is to get found online with social media marketing. Square Online allows store owners to include payment links on Facebook, Twitter, Google Shopping, and Pinterest. You can sell directly through TikTok and Instagram, turning your social media feed into an online store so your customers can easily buy your products and get right back to scrolling.
• Simple Store Setup: Square offers a range of drag-and-drop templates that are all mobile-responsive.
• Built With SEO In Mind: All online stores have built-in SEO tools for your site to get found in search results.
• Photo Studio App: Square has recently released a powerful photo app (only available for iOS at the moment.) With this app and a Square Online account, you can take and edit photos, remove backgrounds, sync photos with your online store, and attach payment links to images. This will drastically cut down on the amount of time spend finding, editing, and uploading photos online.

Square Online Pricing

• Free: $0/month
• Professional: $16/month, or $12/month if billed annually
• Performance: $29/month, or $26/month if billed annually
• Premium: $79/month, or $72/month if billed annually

What To Consider About Square Online

Making a website for free is very attractive. However, free Square Online shops include Square advertising and you must use a Square subdomain name. For individuals who want to solidify their brand, third-party advertising is not ideal.

The free plan also does not include everything you need to run a fully functional online store itself. For example, you cannot print shipping labels on the free plan, which is a serious drawback when a majority of your sales are shipped to customers.

Square Online stores are mostly a way to incorporate an online ordering option into your in-person selling solution. If you sell mainly in-person and don't ship a ton of items, Square Online could be your best place to sell handmade items online.

Best Cratejoy Features To Sell Handmade Items

• Unique Recurring Purchase Structure: There are very few online marketplaces that allow artists to easily sell subscription boxes. Instead of trying to recapture one-time buyers or make a lot of one-off sales, selling subscription boxes helps you retain customers right from the start.
• Huge Audience: Cratejoy has over four million site visitors every month, so there's a huge potential for exposure. Cratejoy also has a good reputation among buyers, so they're more likely to buy on the marketplace.
• Potential To Get Featured On The Marketplace: Cratejoy regularly chooses "trending" subscription boxes to showcase on the homepage, in email blasts, or featured in a popular collection.
• Customer-Focused Subscription Features: Customers can skip a renewal, add on a product for renewal, and manage their subscriptions from their own Cratejoy account. This will reduce the amount of customer service calls and emails you get.
• Web Builder: There is a monthly plan available for individuals who want to build their own website in addition to listing on the marketplace. If you sell a subscription from your own website, the transaction fee is substantially less.

If you have no idea how to turn your handmade items into a subscription box to sell on Cratejoy, read our guide on how to start a subscription box business.

Cratejoy Pricing

• Free: $0/month, with a transaction fee of 11.25% + $0.10 per transaction
• All In One: $39/month, with a transaction fee of 1.25% + $0.10 per transaction

What To Consider About Cratejoy

Subscription-based businesses are on the rise, thanks to increased interest in avoiding stores and the desire for specialized offerings. Cratejoy has tons of different categories and niches that you can market towards. You can also follow upcoming trends and get more sales that way.

However, if your offering doesn't "work" for a subscription box structure, or you don't want to maintain many recurring purchases, then Cratejoy isn't for you.

Lastly, Cratejoy's transaction fees are pretty steep, so once you get some online exposure, consider starting your own eCommerce store and selling subscriptions from there.

Best Shopify Features To Sell Handmade Items

• Beginner-Friendly Web Builder: Shopify has 11 free and 100+ paid templates available, most of which are mobile-responsive. With an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, it's easy to create a branded, easy-to-navigate website.
• Shopify Buy Button: If you already have a blog, or sell mostly through social media, you can opt out of making an entire Shopify store and just insert a buy button to your desired online platforms.
• Multiple Selling Avenues: With Shopify, you can sell your handmade items directly from Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Facebook. If you want to sell on several platforms, you can integrate your Shopify shop to Amazon, Etsy, eBay, and Walmart Marketplace shops.
• Excellent Shipping & Inventory Management: Shopify has one of the simplest inventory management dashboards out there. The company has also partnered with major shipping providers to give their merchants huge shipping discounts. You can even see real-time shipping quotes to figure out which shipping carrier is best for your online store.
• Numerous Add-On Features: From email marketing software to buy-now-pay-later options, to ad campaign management tools and more, you'll find what you need in Shopify's app store. The store currently has 4,200 free and paid apps.

Shopify Pricing

• Shopify Lite: $9/month
• Basic Shopify: $29/month
• Shopify: $79/month
• Advanced Shopify: $299/month

Note: Shopify offers a 10% discount on annual plans and a 20% discount on biannual plans when you pay for your plan upfront.

What To Consider About Shopify

Shopify does offer everything you need to grow as a small business. However, it can be a bit of an investment when you're just starting. The lowest level plan where you can build your own site is $29/month. Factor in transaction fees and the possibility that you'll need a paid add-on, and you could be looking at a hefty monthly investment.

If you're not quite ready to move from casual crafter to full-on eCommerce business owner, you might want to wait to open up a Shopify store.

Note: If your business qualifies for Shopify Payments, Shopify's in-house payment processor, you won't have to pay Shopify's standard 0.50-2% transaction fee. However, not every business qualifies.

Best Etsy Features To Sell Handmade Items

• Easy To Set Up Store: With Etsy, you can set up an online storefront with an unlimited number of listings within a few hours or less, depending on how many products you have to upload.
• Huge Potential Audience: Etsy is the largest independent artist marketplace in the world, so there is a huge potential customer base for makers.
• Simple Shipping: Etsy makes shipping very simple for sellers. You can print labels, use shipping price calculators, or charge a flat rate for shipping. You can also offer free shipping, which can motivate shoppers to buy.
• Sales & Coupons: Etsy shop owners can create a marketing strategy with limited-time sales and coupon offerings.
• SEO Strategy: As Etsy's search algorithm updates become more transparent, you can develop your own strategy for ranking higher in search engine results. When your products rank higher in search results, your store will gain more exposure, which is directly related to the number of purchases customers make from your store.

Etsy Pricing

There are many Etsy fees, which you can read about in our post, Etsy Fees: How Much Is Etsy Really Taking From Your Sales? As a first-time seller you'll notice these fees first:

• Listing Fees: $0.20 per listing (listings expire after four months)
• Transaction Fees: 5% of the purchase price
• Shipping Fees: 5% of the cost your customer pays for shipping

What To Consider About Etsy

Etsy is the most well-known marketplace in the world for handmade goods. The huge potential for exposure is great, but you'll also have a huge amount of competition to get found in search results. Plus, Etsy has many unavoidable fees, which can significantly reduce your profits. Once you get more sales on Etsy, consider moving to another marketplace or building your own eCommerce store to sell handmade items online.

Best BigCommerce Features To Sell Handmade Items

• No Transaction Fees: BigCommerce's closest competitor is Shopify, and while the Shopify vs. BigCommerce race is pretty close, this is one feature that puts BigCommerce ahead. BigCommerce will never charge a transaction fee on any sale, no matter which pricing plan you're on.
• One-Page Checkout: A huge percentage of online shoppers abandon their carts because of the hassle they experience at checkout. BigCommerce automatically builds an optimized one-page checkout for every store. This is typically a high-end or custom feature on other eCommerce platforms.
• Comprehensive Admin Dashboard: BigCommerce has tried to give you everything you need to start selling, which is why there's a bit of a learning curve when it comes to finding all the features you'll be using when you're in your admin dashboard.
• Mobile-Responsive Themes: There are currently 12 free themes that are completely mobile-responsive. Use the drag-and-drop editor to quickly create a beautiful, easy-to-navigate online store.
• Excellent Customer Service: Merchants have fantastic things to say about BigCommerce's customer service. It's easy to reach them no matter which pricing plan you're on, and they are quick to resolve any issues
• Special Payment Processing Rates: BigCommerce has negotiated special reduced payment processing fees for sellers. Originally, the processing fee was 2.9% + $0.30. Now, it is 2.5% + $0.49 per transaction.

BigCommerce Pricing

• Standard: $29.95/month
• Plus: $79.95/month
• Pro: $299.95/month

What To Consider About BigCommerce

One of the only negative features of BigCommerce is the fact that after you hit a certain dollar amount in annual sales, you're automatically bumped up to the next pricing plan.

However, you'd have to make over $50K/year before getting bumped from the BigCommerce Standard plan to the Plus plan. If you're just getting started, you won't have to worry about unexpected price increases.

Best Redbubble Features To Sell Handmade Items

• No Startup Costs: There are no fees to start your own Redbubble shop or list any of your designs.
• No Need To Maintain Inventory: Since you don't have to make or ship any items, you can post your designs and focus on marketing the items, rather than making them.
• Set Your Own Profit Margin: Where other print-on-demand platforms predetermine your commission rate, Redbubble allows you to set your own profit. For example, you can choose whether you want to make a 10% commission or a 30% commission on purchases from customers shopping on the platform.
• Redbubble Uploader: The Redbubble Uploader makes the design uploading process very easy. You only need to upload one file, and the Uploader will decide which products it will look best on. If a file doesn't look great on one medium, like a clock, you can use a different photo for that product without altering any other product.
• Promotional Assets: Instead of spending time photographing products in real use, use one of Redbubble's promotional asset templates to stick your design in a real-life scene. You can easily upload those promotional assets to your social media profiles to promote your designs.
• Niches, Trends, & Fandoms: Redbubble products are typically very unique, interesting, and/or funny, with lots of pop culture references across all product categories. You follow the trends, and you're following the money.

Redbubble Pricing

You don't have to pay anything to set up a Redbubble shop, upload your designs, print items, or ship to customers. Redbubble handles the printing and shipping for you.

What To Consider About Redbubble

It doesn't cost anything to set up your Redbubble store, and you don't have to physically make or ship any items. So, it's worth the effort to set one a Redbubble shop if you have funny or cute ideas for t-shirts, leggings, stickers, phone cases, prints, shoes, etc.

It's important to find the right commission rate to make selling on the platform worth it, though.

For example, say you design stickers with TikTok quotes on them that are listed at $5 each. With a 10% commission rate, you're looking at a $0.50 profit per sticker sale. If your store gets thousands of sales, you're looking at a more significant profit. But if you only sell a few, you're not making much off of Redbubble.

To make a real profit from print-on-demand, you should sell on several platforms. You can use Redbubble and other print-on-demand sites to gain exposure and/or passive income.

Then, branch out and start your own store if/when you're ready to take your design business to the next level.

Best Society6 Features To Sell Handmade Items

• No Startup Costs: There are no fees to start your own Society6 shop or list any of your designs.
• No Need To Maintain Inventory: Since you don't have to make or ship any items, you can post your designs and focus on marketing the items, rather than making them.
• Worldwide Free Shipping And Sales Campaigns: Society6 often runs free shipping and sales campaigns. These initiatives help motivate customers to finally buy that item from your shop they've been eyeing. Promote these marketing tactics within your own marketing channels (social media, email newsletters, etc.) to increase your sales.
• Can Specify Product Pricing: Society6 sets a base retail price for each product you put your design on. You can then mark up the price to whatever you want, choosing how much you'll profit from different types of products. For example, you can mark up a phone case with your design on it by $3 and make a $3 profit. You can mark up a clock with your design on it by $10 and make a $10 profit.

Society6 Pricing

You don't have to pay anything to start and run your own Society6 shop. Since Society6 is a print-on-demand platform, you don't have to manage any manufacturing or shipping costs.

What To Consider About Society6

Much like Redbubble, it's free and easy to set up a Society6 shop.

Society6 also has many types of products you can put your designs on, more than Redbubble. The types of designs and products on Society6 are more refined, less pop culture, than those listed on Redbubble. Keep all of this in mind when you're thinking about what to design, and where to list those designs.

If your designs match the aesthetics of Society6, you should create a shop on this platform and others. That way, you'll maximize the number of purchases and exposure for your business.

Best Spoonflower Features To Sell Handmade Items

• Specific Niche: Redbubble and Society6 do not have a highly specific patterned fabric, wallpaper, and gift wrap section, so Spoonflower sellers don't have a lot of print-on-demand marketplace competition.
• Different Fabric Types: You can specify which types of paper or fabric your patterns are printed on. You will probably need to upload your pattern in different sizes to do this, though.
• Weekly Design Challenges: Spoonflower regularly hosts design challenges. The top 50 designers are featured on Spoonflower's main page as well as their social media profiles.

Spoonflower Pricing

You have to purchase 8x8 inch test swatches of your uploads before you can officially start selling them. The purchasing requirement exists so you can make sure the coloring, sizing, and repeating pattern is correct on the chosen medium(s) before they are printed for customers.

The exact pricing depends on the type of paper/fabric you decide to print with, but according to Spoonflower, 1-5 designs start at $12; 6-15 designs start at $20.

What To Consider About Spoonflower

Spoonflower is a very specific marketplace, which means you won't have as much competition selling on this platform. However, it's also not as well known as print-on-demand platforms like Redbubble and Society6.

This is another instance where you would set up multiple shops to sell from. It's easy to set up, and after that, all you have to worry about is marketing your items.

Best Ecwid Features To Sell Handmade Items

• Forever Free Plan: Add an online store to any existing website and add up to ten products for free.
• One-Page Checkout: Customers can quickly check out as guests or create an account all on one page, eliminating friction at checkout.
• Instant Site Builder: Ecwid only has one theme for standalone stores, which is generated for you. It takes into account your website's brand colors and fonts and automatically applies them to your online store. You can make small tweaks to the rest of your store.
• Multi-Channel Selling: Starting at the Venture level plan, you can sell on social media marketplaces such as Facebook Marketplace and Instagram Shop. Starting at the Business level, you can sell on marketplaces such as Amazon.
• Inventory And Shipping Management: It's easy to manage your inventory in Ecwid's admin dashboard. Ecwid also uses your customer's IP address to calculate shipping rates from the top shipping carriers and find the best option.

Ecwid Pricing

• Forever Free: $0/month
• Venture: $15/month
• Business: $35/month
• Unlimited: $99/month

What To Consider About Ecwid

It's incredibly easy to start selling products with Ecwid. However, it's easy to get started because Ecwid was designed as an add-on to an existing website.

It's great for bloggers or influencers who want to start selling handmade items online, especially if you already have a decent following.

If you are selling more than a few items, anything customizable, or want a more robust eCommerce store in general, then Ecwid might not be the best place to sell handmade items online.