March 29, 2024

Handmade Michigan

Selling Your Wares Online
Feb. 19, 2016

Whether you’re a consumer of handcrafted goods or you create your own, chances are you’re looking for somewhere to buy or sell them. Craft buyers tend to eschew massmarketed goods as they seek something truly unique, and craft sellers often don’t have enough product or business to open a brickand-mortar storefront; they need somewhere to make sales and build their customer base.

The familiar standby outlets will probably continue to be popular for quite some time: local gift stores, farmers markets, craft shows and simple word-of-mouth, but there’s yet another option for those looking to shop and those looking to sell – and it’s all happening online.

ENTER ETSY

The big kahuna of all online selling sites (other than eBay, which is more an auction site) is Etsy (etsy.com), a massive e-commerce site that focuses on everything handmade.

Etsy sells everything from art and photography to jewelry, beauty products, quilts and more, plus vintage items if they’re at least 20 years old. Etsy makes its money by charging a percentage of each item sold, and it raked in more than $195 million doing this in 2014.

To buy on Etsy is simple. After opening a free account, shoppers use the search bar to find products in categories like Home and Living, Gift Ideas, Craft Supplies or Trending Items. Click a link to fill your virtual cart and pay by credit card or PayPal.

To sell on Etsy, users are required to register a username and can also register a shop name, both of which are free; each item posted for sale in the shop is listed for a small fee (currently 20 cents per item), and then Etsy claims 3.5 percent of the price once it’s sold.

Etsy is big indeed. They ship globally and their membership boasts more than 54 million buyers and sellers, but there’s a local site that’s similar, and it’s causing a buzz in the Michigan craft world.

HELLO HANDMADE

Michigan’s own answer to Etsy is Handmade Michigan (handmademi.com), a website launched in 2011 that hosts more than 16,000 products from 3,200 craftspeople and artisans, all from Michigan. Website founder Matt Stevens’ goal is to "provide a way to support local products made in Michigan and help bring this economy back."

Handmade Michigan functions a little differently than Etsy; you do have to register as a seller, but there’s no cost until an item is sold, at which time a 5 percent commission is applied. All payments go directly into the seller’s PayPal account.

Shoppers will find an interface similar to Etsy, with a search box and categories like Ceramics and Pottery, Glass, Woodworking, Jewelry, Quilts and Fishing. The range of products on the Michigan-only site is surprisingly eclectic.

A quick browse found everything from soy candles to knitted hats and cup cozies, stained glass mosaics and recycled wine bottle tumblers, fabric market bags, leather wallets, necklaces, key fobs and hand-loomed rugs.

FASHION AND FISH

Smackie Beads is the business brainchild of Shelley Mackie of Cadillac; she hand-crafts unique bracelets, making the beads herself out of clay. The bracelets range in price from $5.99 to $14.

"I like the Handmade Michigan site because, well, everything on it is from Michigan, and I’m from Michigan!" she said.

Mackie also mentioned that she found it easy to post her photos and sales information on the site, and she plans to add more of her wares to her merchant page.

"I’d have more up already, but I’ve been really busy getting ready for the spring craft shows and farmers markets on the ground," she said, "but I definitely plan to do so."

The Old Ausable Fly Shop in Grayling is another Handmade Michigan merchant. The shop utilizes the website to augment the sales made at their physical store, according to Co-Owner and General Manager Jeffrey Gardner. The land shop sells fly-fishing gear, lodging, excursions and more, while their web shop focuses on the guided fishing trips at $375 per person.

"We like the site primarily because it’s all Michigan," he explained. "We try to get our name out there more and, when we do so, we focus first on outlets that have all Michiganmade items, then regional (Midwestern) items, then national, then offshore. Plus, we wanted to see if the site worked for us."

The verdict? "Well, we do sell a lot of trips – over 600 per year, and some of those come from the Handmade Michigan website," Gardner said. "So it’s actually been pretty good."

MICHIGAN MADE

Jim Oliver of Mancelona also has a storefront on Handmade Michigan; it’s called Checkmate and focuses on metal art. Oliver is an example of the other side of the coin, stating that he doesn’t think the Michigan website has been working for him very well. Oliver is in the process of moving his inventory listings to Etsy.

"I just think the Michigan site is too difficult to use," he explained. "With Etsy, you can embed your site in another website or in Facebook. Etsy also has a deal with the USPS, so you get lower postage rates, and it also prefills the packing slips for you."

Oliver said he has an extensive inventory of products, so these time-saving steps are very important to him. He usually sells wholesale to gift shops or takes orders by phone, but he was willing to try the Handmade Michigan site until he was drawn to the features Etsy offered.

"The Michigan site is just not as evolved yet," he said.

Handmade Michigan is still a pretty good bet for Michigan artisans and shoppers, though, with a lot to discover and a wide range of categories. For sellers, its efficacy probably depends on your needs; for a smaller craftsperson like Smackie Beads, it’s a friendly and easy option, but bigger sellers might need more than the regional site can offer.

Much like any "real life" store, you’ll just have to shop and see for yourself.

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