You make the most incredible rag quilts, beaded jewelry, herbal soaps or knitted children’s sweaters, but you don’t want to spend your weekends packing and unpacking at craft fairs all over the country.  Are there any other options?

Increasingly, artisans of homemade goods are selling their products online.  While some crafters maintain their own websites, they often find that the html coding, shopping cart decisions and security logistics can become cumbersome.  It may be a better use of resources to pay a small fee to join a group of other sellers and let other people deal with the hassles of website management.

EBay
EBay is the gold standard of online selling. For between $15.95 and $499.95 per month, eBay offers sellers a complete store front option (this is in addition to normal per transaction fees). Depending on the level of service purchased, sellers can customize their store front and have access to a handful of promotional, branding and management tools.

The biggest attraction to eBay stores, however, is the access they give artisans to the enormous eBay audience.  The drawback?  eBay does not specialize in handmade items, however many people successfully sell their work on eBay.

Etsy
Etsy is the online marketplace for buying and selling all things handmade. They connect buyers with independent creators and shop owners to find the very best in handmade, vintage and supplies. Etsy shoppers are looking for handmade goods, vintage items and craft supplies and not necessarily the cheapest product they can find.

With over 170,000 independent shops, prospective buyers can sift through eclectic and traditional collections of ceramics, indie crafts, jewelry, recycled products, vintage and vegan items, house wares, clothing and more. Their search methods are pretty innovative, too.  You can choose a color and the site displays everything that is offered in that color, or click through categories like Furniture, Children and Weddings.  There is also the Geolocator, letting you shop by locale, the Showcase, which are daily paid feature spots for store owners, and the Time Machine, which lists the most recent items listed on Etsy.

When you sign up to be a seller, you’ll get your own easy-to-use online shop. You can customize it with a banner, fill out a profile and set your shop policies. Etsy sellers can also participate in Alchemy, a feature that allows buyers to post requests for custom made items and allows sellers to bid on those requests.  

The best part?  There is no HTML required. Setting up shop on Etsy is easy and takes only a few minutes. You can customize your shop with a banner, profile, shop policies and more.   You’ll get your own URL for your shop based on your username,
http://username.etsy.com   

It costs 20 cents to list an item for four months. When your item sells, you’ll pay a 3.5% transaction fee. Read all about Etsy's fees for more information.

Tips
Whatever service you use, here are some tips to consider:

Look for feedback
Etsy and eBay both have their own feedback system. Feedback and seller ratings are taken just as seriously on Etsy as they are on eBay. Sellers depend on good feedback for their reputation, and bad feedback will leave an ugly black mark on their record.

Take great photos
One of the biggest mistakes handcrafters make is having poor photographs of their products.   Choose a photo that is clear, bright and depict the item you have up for sale in the best light.

Describe well
Make sure to include the material of the item, the dimensions, if the item comes in more than one color and turnaround time (if any).   For example, if it takes you five to seven business days to produce and ship an item, you must include that information in your description.

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