Amazon started offering invitations in May, 2015 to join Handmade, giving sellers access to Amazons 285 million shoppers, latimes.com reports. The retailer says the website, which will carry items such as USD 30 walnut cuff links from Australia and USD 325 handmade quilts from Wisconsin, sprang from customer feedback and website searches for crafty items.
We had thousands of searches every day from customers looking for handmade or handcrafted items, said Peter Faricy, vice president for Amazon Marketplace, the source cites. At launch, Handmade at Amazon will include about 5,000 sellers from 50 states and 60 countries offering 80,000 items. Amazon takes a 12% fee from overall sales made by Handmade at Amazon sellers and includes payment processing, discounted shipping and access to other Amazon services. Theres no listing fee or monthly fee to start.
In contrast, Etsy handmade items retailer has 1.5 million sellers and 21.7 million buyers as of June 30, 2015. It takes a 3.5% fee on overall sales and a 20-cent listing fee per item listed. They also differ in terms of manufacturing policy. Amazon says sellers have to fill out an online application to be approved to sell on the website and all items sold must be factory-free and not made by manufacturers.
Etsy, on the other hand, started letting some merchants apply to use manufacturers for some products in 2013. In September, 2015 Etsy said it was creating a new Etsy manufacturing marketplace to make it easier for its sellers to find responsible production assistance. Manufacturers can apply to be part of the program, and Etsy approves them based on certain criteria.
The divide on manufacturing highlights the challenge that platforms for handmade craft sellers face: They want to preserve the personal nature of handmade goods but also help their sellers (and themselves) grow and make more money.
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