Selling Your Fashion Designs
Guest Post by Sara Duggan of Crochet Business
Sara Duggan, better know as Mom with a Hook has been a valuable resource to me when it comes to helping me grow my business. Sara has been a frequent guest poster on Cre8tion Crochet. I ask Sara back time and time again because she always has such fantastic information for my readers.
This guest post is all about how to find the best online market place to sell your crochet fashions. Be sure to check out the Crochet Business Blog for more business articles on selling and blogging. Be sure to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a FREE copy of the Hooking for Cash ebook that Sara is so generously offering to the fans of Cre8tion Crochet.
How to find the Best Craft Marketplace Online to Sell Your Crochet Fashions
Choosing where you sell your crochet fashions depends on your budget and your patron.
This guide will help you appraise which online craft marketplace is best for selling your products.
Goals of Your Selling Venue:
Easy check out process for your customer
Ample traffic
Fit for your product & market
Ready to set up shop?
Crochet Craft Booth via Aaronetc via Flickr.com Creative Commons Attribution
Choosing a shopping cart to sell your products is an important decision. Handmade marketplaces abound online so which should you choose?
According to Richard Walker:
“Selling Handmade Items Online has less to do with where you put your items and more to do with driving targeted traffic to your site and having appealing items that people are willing to buy” (1) howtosellhandmadecrafts.com
Processing Payments
To sell online you need to have an easy way for customers to make a purchase. For most this means having a PayPal account. Make sure the buying process is as simple as can be. This means it shouldn’t take more than 3 steps to finish checking out. [i.e. choose item, add to cart, pay]
Traffic
Many online craft marketplaces receive large amounts of traffic. This is good for you if you can harness those who want your goods. To do this you’ll need to drive a flux of buyers to your store. This can be done through search engine optimization of your listings, a targeted email list as well as strategic placement of ads.
Does Your Market Shop There?
Knowing your ideal customer will help you choose which shopping cart to use.
For instance:
Hyena Cart is geared toward handmade, earthy, crunchy, middle – upper middle class, college educated moms. If this is your target market, then it will be an adequate choice for you.
Blujay reminds me of a classified ad site or even a garage sale. You submit your items, contact the seller for more information and work out the sell.
The following 10 sites are easy to setup and use the popular payment processor PayPal. Each offers different abilities to customize to your specific niche.
| Shopping Cart | Alexa Score | Stats |
|---|---|---|
| Etsy.com | 192 | .20 to list an item and 3.5% transaction fee |
| Ebay.com | 21 | .10 – $2.00 and 9% of value of sold item up to $100.00; buy now price .50; fixed price fee 7% – 13% |
| Artfire.com | 12,481 | Free 30 day trial and $12.95/month |
| Zibbet.com | 92,971 | Free 50 item limit, $9.95 monthly, or $79/year |
| HyenaCart.com | 57,694 | $10 setup fee and $5.00/month |
| Craftsy.com | 9351 | Free no fee or commission (patterns) |
| Ravelry.com | 3605 | up to $20/month in sales Free $0 to $20 in monthly sales: free $20.01 to $100 in monthly sales: 5% of total sales $100.01 to $250 in monthly sales: $5 $250.01 to $1000 : $10 $1000.01 and up : $20 |
| Ecrater.com | 6510 | 2.9% marketplace cost |
| BluJay.com | 85174 | Free to list |
| Big Cartel.com | 2300 | Free, $9.99/mo, $19.99/mo, or $29.99/mo No fees limit 300 products |
“Realize that literally millions of people are selling their handmade items online.” Richard Walker (2)
“Selling handmade items online has less to do with where you put your items and more to do with driving targeted traffic to your site and having appealing items that people are willing to buy.” Richard Walker (3)
Review:
Ultimately the choice of an online marketplace is yours. The ten places above should get you started in the decision process.
With your shopping cart chosen your next step is to take responsibility for growing your business. You can start by learning how to optimize your listing, taking engaging photos, listing your crochet fashions regularly, driving targeted traffic to your shop, and giving your customers an effortless checkout experience.
Sources:
- http://marketplace.poppytalk.com/ (curated marketplace)
- http://howtosellhandmadecrafts.com/are-things-selling-on-etsy/ (1) (2) (3)
- http://www.craftsy.com/blog/pattern-marketing-101/
- http://www.ravelry.com/wiki/pages/RavelryPatternStore
- http://blog.ravelry.com/2009/07/17/100000-patterns-sold-the-ravelry-pattern-
- http://www.ecrater.com/help.php?faq_gid=3
- http://bigcartel.com/signup
- http://www.blujay.com/support/?page=selling
- http://www.etsy.com/blog/news/2013/etsy-statistics-april-2013-weather-report/ (Etsy Stats April 2013)
- http://www.artfire.com/ext/sell/a
Like what you just read? Visit Sara at CrochetBusiness.com and while you’re there, register for Hooking for Cash 101 a 31 Days to Prepare Your Blog for Monetization eCourse. Each day you’ll receive an email with 1 actionable step to take. By the end of the 31 days your blog should be ready to make some cash. New – Hooking for Cash : 10 Ways to Make Money with Your Crochet Blog 2nd Edition
Enter the Giveaway for a FREE copy of the Hooking for Cash ebook
Also check out Sara’s interview on the Work At Home Mums Network
