E-commerce has not left any market or industry untouched. Well, the buyers are all beaming with joy that their desired products are at a moment’s reach now. E-commerce has really proved beneficial for artisans and craftspeople. It has truly helped in reviving the dying tradition of selling handmade products. Now, it has evolved into a whole new dynamic industry with so many new artisans entering the market. People are going out of their way to spend some extra money to get authentic, handcrafted products. This trend is more than welcome. It’s more like a win-win for everybody. People with that taste for authentic items get their share of joy and craftspeople, who were getting nowhere with people moving towards readymade store items, having a platform to showcase their original work and also gain some monetary benefit out of it. Let us see some of the facets of selling handmade products online, which sites sell such products, and what steps does an artisan need to take in order to make money online. Handmade products are totally tax-free,
you don’t require tin any, vat, or any other such identification or authentication numbers. But you need some basic things like your personal computer, internet, a fixed location or address. You’ll also need a Pan card, bank account number, etc.
There’s no dearth of handmade products that you can sell. In fact, there are so many varieties of handmade products that it is not even possible to categorize them. You can sell handmade cards, jewelry, gift items, bracelet, home decoration items, and whatnot. People are using different materials and transforming them entirely. So it is simply the broadest range of products that you can sell online. You can sell your DIY stuff online also. What matters is that ultimately you are garnering attention. You attract buyers, people appreciate your creativity and you are able to make money with it is what is needed. These days everything is available online, so, to stand out amongst this crowd of online sellers you need to properly strategize the kind of product you want to sell, the platform where you want to sell, and the pricing that you want to keep for your product. If you get buyers and followers then it means your efforts are going in the right direction and they will eventually pay off.
Now, when it comes to selling such products online, then you have the benefit of these products being tax-free. You can go ahead and choose any platform that you prefer and start selling online. However, your preference should be based on proper research and analysis. You have all the popular e-commerce sites like eBay, Amazon, Flipkart but keep in mind that these sites sell all kinds of products. You need to pay attention to such factors that whether the platform you have chosen is going to highlight your product or not. If the platform is suitable for your product or not. You need to be careful and watch out for such rookie mistakes. The bigwigs of the e-commerce industry might be the best for business but not necessarily in the case of handmade products. Although you have the chances of getting a fairly good number of viewers these probable buyers won’t necessarily opt for something handmade if they don’t find it useful for them. You need to gather a targeted audience, the one who appreciates your creativity and is genuinely interested in buying handmade products. You can have such targeted viewers on sites like
- ‘The India craft house’, which is an Indian company. You can find really unique Indian crafts which are simply amazing. This is a visual treat for any handicraft lover.
- Craftsvilla – this is headquartered in Mumbai. This site is also really good and houses a large collection of handmade products, especially home decor and gift items.
- Etsy.com – this is probably one of the best known online marketplaces for artisans and craftspeople for selling purposes and is really helpful for people what are interested in buying such articles. You’ll find new and fresh collection along with vintage goods on Etsy. You can also get a directory of local handicraft shops in your area.
- Artfire.com – this is a well known platform as well. You can place an item on Amazon wish list from this site. They have numerous categories of hand crafted products.
- Ecrater.com – it is an amazing online marketplace as it allows you to build your online store as well. If you are a seller who intends to sell handmade products online, you can create a free online store in just a few minutes. You can also import your eBay products into Ecrater. They have a huge collection of handmade products in a number of categories.
- Craftly.com – it is one of those hot new startups that earn points for online markets. It is a very nice platform for beginners. It’s really effective to kickstart your career in selling handmade products.
- Folksy.com – it is a UK based, handmade goods marketplace. It has everything from jewellery to soap, all hand made. It also has a nice make magazine style, do it yourself section.
The process for selling online is almost the same on all e-commerce sites. You need to set up or create an online seller account on the eCommerce platform that you have chosen for selling your products. This is totally free of cost. This account will help you manage your product’s listing and inventory status etc. When you have created your seller account, you’ll get to see a seller dashboard. Here, you can upload your products, describe them, set their price, and manage inventory also. Now, regarding the payment procedure, a monthly cycle is followed by most companies. They deduct their commission, be it 5%, 8%, or 10%, and transfer the remaining amount directly into your bank account. This ensures transparency and quick response. One more aspect that you need to take care of is the packaging. You need to ensure good packaging. If the product is damaged, then you’ll have to bear the cost of that. After packaging, you will have to deliver the product to the pickup location. That location can be anywhere, for instance, if you are selling from home, then your address will be the pickup location or if you have a warehouse set as the pickup location, then you’ll need to ensure your product is present at that location to be retrieved by the company.