The 5 Best Online Marketplaces for Selling Handmade Goods

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Bonanza will also tag your items and upgrade the quality of the photos you provide. This service costs 5.9 percent of your first $500 in sales, and 1.5 percent of any sales beyond that amount (in lieu of the standard closing costs). This is a good option for merchants who’d like to spend more time crafting and less time mucking with their listings.

Every Bonanza store has a built-in chat system, provided free of charge by the site, and--as the company promises--the site is quite easy to use. At this writing, a mobile version is “currently weeks away,” according to the company.

As a site, Bonanza looks good and feels professional. The selector system for clothing (see screenshot on preceding page), feels exceptionally well-polished. If the site continues to grow, it could become a very compelling option for crafters.

Zibbet

Although Zibbet has been live for three years, it remains small in comparison to its competition, with just 145,000 products listed for sale. It’s based in Australia; most sellers, however, seem to be based in the United States, and items are listed in U.S. currency. Currently, all payments are settled through PayPal, but Zibbet says more checkout systems are on the way.

Why consider Zibbet? Mainly for its fee structure: If you’re a small merchant, you'll pay no listing fees and no closing fees at all. Really: For up to 50 items, selling on Zibbet is free. Of course, there’s an upgrade option: Pay $9.95 per month or $79 per year, and you get “unlimited listings, greater site exposure, a fully customizable shopfront, and advanced selling features.”

Listings give store owners plenty of room for customization, including a massive promotional banner that is easily the biggest element on the page. Sellers who want to imbue their sales pages with the maximum amount of artistic impact should take a long look at Zibbet.

iCraft

A tiny outfit based in Canada, iCraft’s 2300 merchants and 30,000 items on sale are a rounding error compared to most of the other sites in our comparison. Another complicating issue: Items are listed in either Canadian or U.S. dollars, depending on where the seller is located, and most sellers don’t ship across the border. There’s no apparent way to filter based on location, so shoppers must check each item to see if they can legitimately purchase it.

iCraft charges merchants a $25 (Canadian) registration fee to join the site. Once enrolled, merchants pay for listings based on a sliding scale, ranging from zero (for up to five items listed at any one time) to C$15 per month (for unlimited listings). There are no other listing or closing fees.

Unlike most of the other sites in this roundup, iCraft focuses strictly on handmade items; it does not allow the sale of vintage items, food items, or crafting supplies. Resellers are not allowed on the site at all. iCraft reviews all submitted items individually for quality and uniqueness to ensure mass-produced items are kept out.

iCraft is decidedly small, but highly devoted merchants--particularly Canadian ones--might find it a compelling option.

Homemade Goods Merchants: By the Numbers