Why you should not sell on Amazon Handmade (Step #3)
Posted by Michael Cannata on
Now that you have picked out what product you want to sell and you have taking stunning photographs of the items, you now need to get selling.
However, this is much easier said than done. There are countless ways to sell, each with their own benefits and disadvantages. I have used all of the platforms I have listed below and I have put together my thoughts about each one. (Numbers as of October 2018)
Selling Platforms
FEES
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Etsy |
eBay |
Amazon Handmade |
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Transaction Fee: 5% of selling price + 5% of shipping price
Listing Fee: $0.20 per listing renewal (last 4 months) or every time the item sells (whichever is sooner)
Additional Subscriptions: -Etsy Plus: $10/month ($20/month after Jan. 1, 2019)
Source + more info:
https://www.etsy.com/legal/fees/
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Transaction Fee: 10% of revenue
Listing Fees: First 50 listings free (per month) + $0.35 for each additional listing after
Source + more info:
https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/get-started/seller-fees.html
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Transaction Fee: 15% of revenue (or $1.00…whichever is higher)
Listing Fee: Free
Additional Subscriptions: $39.99/month (waived through Dec. 31 2019)
Source + more info: https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=201814220
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EASE OF USE
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Etsy |
eBay |
Amazon Handmade |
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Etsy has an extremely easy to use listing platform. When you want to create a listing you can quickly enter the product info with clear instructions. Etsy also has a forum section (https://www.etsy.com/forums) where sellers can ask other seller or admins questions they have. Additionally, they have a seller handbook that has book posts and articles explaining each feature. (https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook) It typically takes me around 10 minutes to create a new listing, assuming I already have photos. However, most of my coasters use the same format so I simply copy the format of the listings for new items. |
eBay’s listing page is very simply and easy to use also. However, you have much less customization that Etsy and Amazon. Your titles are limited in their size, many additional features you have to pay for, and you cannot add keywords or search terms to help your items get found. |
Amazon’s platform is a bit tricky to use in my opinion. There are pages of categories to fill out information for each product such as Shape, Size Map, Color, Search Terms etc. Etsy and eBay have all of these options also, however they are a bit clearer on what they are and how to fill them out. Additionally, there is many differing opinions and clarity surrounding Amazon’s search term boxes (keywords) and how and what you should actually be putting inside of them. Amazon also has their own seller forum, however I have never actually used it (https://sellercentral.amazon.com/forums/)
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Features:
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Etsy |
eBay |
Amazon Handmade |
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-up to 10 photos -add tags to product listings for better search results -restock requests (for Etsy Plus only) -promoted listings -social media tool to help automatically create posts -can integrate your custom URL address -can create sales or coupons
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-up to 9 photos -Buy it now or Bidding options -many free listing promotions or credits each month
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-up to 12 photos -amazon advertising -can create promotions/discounts/coupons
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Read through this list and find out which site may be best for you and your goals. One recommendation though is to simply try them all. I sell items on each one of these sites each month. And every month the percentage of revenue from each site varies. Some months Etsy is 90% of revenue while others Etsy and Amazon are both 40% and eBay is 20%.
KEEP IN MIND…
That different products may do better of different sites. Typically eBay has performed best for me with my more inexpensive items such as my plain travertine coasters while Etsy does better with more expensive and custom listings.
Also, over the summer my Anchor Travertine Coasters was my best seller on Amazon but not my best seller on any other sites.
DIVERSIFY
By selling on each platform you will also be able to rake in the most revenue. Rather than just selling $500 of revenue on Etsy alone, you may be able to have an additional $200 come in from eBay and $400 from Amazon. You certainly can’t complain about that :)
This will be a working list that will be updated as these sites change or are updated so make sure you favorite this page so you can refer back to it!
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This is a great and useful article I learned a lot from it, thanks for sharing.