Online Shops

There are hundreds of places online where one can set up shop. The most known are eBay, Amazon, and now, Etsy. Smaller ones may target a certain niche or have big dreams of becoming the next eBay. Sellers can also use their websites or blogs to sell directly to their customers. I have tried many venues. Each involves learning a new platform for listing the products, different pricing structures, and getting to know a unique community.

I have chosen to focus my time, energy and money on Etsy, eBay and 1000 Markets. (See Shop) I believe that these three venues are also better options for a small craft business than setting up a shopping cart on a website or blog. Reasons:

Immediate access to the customer base each brings through their own marketing.
Customer confidence in having a larger umbrella organization to iron out potential disputes.
Platforms are attractive or already set up with needed seller tools.

Each marketplace has their own set of pros and cons. The following may help you decide whether any of these venues might work for you.

	Pro	Con
Etsy	Inexpensive to list Easy listing Attractive platform Enthusiastic staff Excellent forum and blog Loyalty among peers High quality products overall Integrated with Google Analytics Integrated with Facebook Accepts international sellers and customers Etsy mini very useful Integrated with Pay Pal	Lousy search engine Staff is young and biased towards certain products Site penalizes both supplies and vintage in how it is set up, but fees are the same Seller tools are minimal Listing process could be streamlined Should allow more photos Not enough shop sections Shipping fees are all about good guesswork
eBay	Largest marketplace in the world, recognized everywhere. Excellent search system Excellent category system Has both auctions and fixed price stores The most comprehensive seller tools available Integrated shipping tools Good widgets Owns Pay Pal	Expensive (feels greedy) Almost impossible to connect with a real staff person A free-for-all of junk, electronics and everything else. Nasty forum
1000 Markets	Beautiful platform Easy listing process Mature and intelligent staff Excellent products Customer interaction built into seller's page via blog and notes. Unlimited images Great concept in setting up markets of similar themed products Excellent networking opportunities with other peers	Young Does not accept international sellers or buyers Integrated with Amazon payments (I prefer Pay Pal) Does not accept imported products. I would love, love, love it if 1000 Markets became and advocate for the fair trade movement! Need better widgets

In looking at where to sell, it is important to think about where your traffic will come from, whether they are the audience you want and if your competition is selling similar products as yours. I don't have any statistics on this, but my gut tells me that higher end items will sell more easily on 1000 Markets than on Etsy. I use Google Analytics for my stores and blogs which helps me see whether people are coming from my social media efforts, web searches or within the marketplace itself. I think it is good to have several places to sell so that the business is not completely dependent on the health of one particular market.