I love Etsy. Seriously. It is addictive. I find myself browsing through the Aladin’s cave of hand made goodies almost on a daily basis. Etsy is a fabulous online one-stop-shop for everything hand made. Whether you’re into art prints, badges, ceramics, cosmetics, baby clothes, bags, or even craft supplies of fabric, buttons, or wool, etsy has it all.
Etsy began life in June 2005 and is the brainchild of Rob Kalin, Chris Maguire, Haim Schoppik and Jared Tarbell. In just two years Etsy has grown to accommodate over 90,000 registered users from all over the world.
Sellers include shops like the dreamy Belle & Boo, whom I’ve mentioned before, as well as
Pillowhead,
Crankbunny,
phunkstyle jewelry and the beautiful
blue tree lighting.
Etsy now makes if possible to buy hand made treasures from craftspeople that would otherwise be almost impossible to locate and difficult to transact with. For example, how else would you be able to buy original artwork from Japan, or a vintage pattern from Paris, without having to rifle through all the designer knock-offs and tat that swamps e-bay.
Making an Etsy purchase couldn’t be simpler as most sellers use Paypal, so need for messy money orders or trying to figure out exchange rates.
Etsy is also a dream come true for crafters who can sell their products on line to a ready made global customer base without having to establish their own websites or deal with the nightmare of e-commerce. It is fantastic resource for sellers who wish to test out their market, without splashing out on shop rent or sitting out in all weathers at craft fairs, plus sellers can upload images of what they happen to have in stock at the time, they don’t need to fill large orders, or amass a large collection before they’re ready to sell.
What I also like about Etsy is that because it is a collective of individual sellers, browsing through an individual’s shop feels like you’ve just stumbled upon a small nook of a shop in a side street somewhere, rather than visiting a huge hypermarket with racks and racks of mass produced goods. Check it out, you never know what you might find.
