Amazon recently opened up an all handmade marketplace on their site called Handmade at Amazon. If you are someone who has been selling handmade stuff for years, I know you’ll be excited to try another marketplace.
Handmade at Amazon is different – think about the audience Amazon already has. Extremely large customer base – Amazon is a #1 name in online shopping, so you’re upping your chances of being seen. They have around 250 million customers!
Many publications have declared Handmade at Amazon an “Etsy killer” already. I know loads of folks are going to be excited to have an alternative to Etsy due the fact that Etsy has turned into a free-for-all for every reseller under the sun.
Advantages Of Selling On Handmade at Amazon:
- With an active customer base of 285 million, Amazon has what it takes to make being part of a marketplace worthwhile.
- All applications are thoroughly screened. Handmade at Amazon even ordered items from sellers to make sure they weren’t mass produced. In that way, they get rid of resellers and wholesalers, which levels the playing field.
- You have the option to let Amazon ship your items for you if you’re doing well enough to send them loads of products at once. This will allow you to take advantage of Prime shipping/free shipping as well, which may draw in more customers.
- Ability to do all shipping through the site – you can buy and print labels from their interface.
- Handmade at Amazon has about 250,000 products listed, while Etsy had more than 29 million products listed. More customers, less competition.
- They handle year end tax paperwork for you, whereas on Etsy you are in charge of your own tax destiny.
- Actual seller help from Amazon – Etsy has always been slow to respond to seller issues and does not offer phone support, but with Handmade at Amazon you can call them up and get the support you need.
Disadvantages Of Selling On Handmade at Amazon:
- Higher fees. Whereas Etsy fees are $0.20 a listing and 3.5% for each listing that sells, Amazon takes a flat 12% fee from every listing that sells. However, your listings never expire, and it doesn’t cost money to list items.
- Customers are sure to expect different things. Amazon customers are used to getting very cheap products VERY fast – the opposite of handmade. It will be interesting to see how Handmade at Amazon is accepted by the larger community of buyers on Amazon.
- Amazon is still allowing “collectives” of up to 100 people to sell their products in a “handmade” store, which sounds dangerously close to the way Etsy has turned out. I only hope that their rules for sellers aren’t made more lax and that no loopholes are created, because I’ve watched how quickly resellers have taken over Etsy and it is not a good situation.
- Because Amazon is such a large marketplace, any changes made to your inventory, shop or shipping will not be instant. It can take up to 15 minutes for changes to take effect, so it’s important to keep that in mind.
But what if you’re still hesitant to leave Etsy? Or what if you got denied on your application in Handmade at Amazon?
You might be wondering what’s inside this marketplace if it’s user friendly, easy to set up, etc.
In this video from HandCrate, she shares a peek into the world of Handmade At Amazon and also give a run-down of what she have noticed in the Amazon Seller dashboard thus far.
So will you be selling your wares on Handmade at Amazon? What do you make of it? We’d like to hear from you.
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