Is Etsy still the best marketplace for makers and vintage sellers?
For years, Etsy has been the gold standard for handmade items. But over time that “handmade” definition has loosened, as opportunists began churning out products with print-on-demand businesses, and overseas companies offered can’t-beat prices on bulk items.
With competition high, it can be difficult to stand out among a sea of sellers.
Is Etsy still worth it? Well, that depends on your product, promotion, and pricing. Many sellers are still seeing continued success on Etsy.
However, unlike running your own e-commerce site, you’re not able to maintain your customer list, which places limits on the type of branding and promotion you’re able to do. Plus, if you do eventually grow to the point of wanting to manufacture products, you’ll want to move your business model to an e-commerce platform.
While some alternatives have a higher cost than Etsy, the long term investment of scalability, analytics, and/or better visibility could pay off in the end.
If you’re finding that sales have slowed, views have dropped, or you’re just not enjoying the experience, it’s worth looking into additional marketplaces.
Here are 6 Etsy alternatives for online sellers.
Table of Contents
- goimagine (Go Imagine)
- Shopify
- Squarespace
- IndieMade
- Wix
- Ecwid
goimagine
Price: Starting at $2.50/month
goimagine is a handmade-only marketplace option that may appeal to activists and those who prefer to contribute to charitable causes, specifically for children — 100% of all transaction fees that the platform charges go to nonprofits. The platform includes built-in tools to track metrics, orders, and inventory, with the ability to easily import items from Etsy stores.
Shopify
Price: Monthly plans start at $1 with free trial
Shopify is one of the biggest names in e-commerce and hybrid physical/online selling with a full suite of native tools and a comprehensive App Store with practically any tool you need to run a business. Shopify’s multichannel solution is user-friendly, with hundreds of templates you can easily customize to reflect your branding. Shopify also lives on your custom domain name, which means you own your online store and customer list, and it offers flexibility with plans and pricing tiers to support a variety of business needs. In addition, Shopify integrates with existing Etsy stores, making an eventual migration easy and fast.
Squarespace
Price: Seller plans start at $18/month.
Squarespace is another popular e-commerce platform thanks to its simplistic drag-and-drop design. This is an excellent option for non-tech-savvy users. The platform also allows you to import existing Etsy stores, seamlessly migrating all of the products you’re selling. The biggest benefit to Squarespace is that it has a comprehensive inventory, marketing, and operations suite of tools, such as gift cards and subscription options. This is key for sellers who plan to scale and want to increase customer retention.
IndieMade
Price: Starting at $4.95/month
IndieMade was formally known as a top platform for selling art, but has grown to include full e-commerce stores and nonretail promotional websites, such as blogs and standalone sites. Sellers can pop up an IndieMade shop to sell wares, or sync sales and listings with an existing Etsy store. You can also create a custom domain URL.
Wix
Price: Starting at $23/month
Wix is another user-friendly platform for building a website with drag-and-drop tools. On their e-commerce side, they offer comprehensive operational tools like order tracking, PayPal checkout options, shipping and tax tools, and more. The platform also offers a small array of marketing tools and an Etsy integration.
Ecwid
Price: Business plans start at $15/month
Ecwid is neither a platform nor a marketplace; it essentially allows you to create multichannel sales by adding a Buy button to blogs, social media, and more. (And without the need to use coding.) They also provide a suite of functions like inventory and order management, but with limitations — Ecwid is a great option for smaller businesses to kickstart their sales engine.
Online marketplace Etsy alternatives offer sellers the chance to become multichannel sellers,= and grow their stores through multiple marketplaces.
But, in order to truly reach the right audience, you need well-written content, website copy that sells without being salesy, and enticing product descriptions that are informative and engaging.
Contact me today to work together on a content plan that can increase organic traffic and engage your target audience!
This post contains affiliate links.
Melissa Esposito Writes 