Local artisans are now turning to e-commerce website Etsy.com to sell their products, saying they find it easier and more affordable than selling out of local shops or craft sales.
The New York-based website, which launched in 2005, allows users to sell handmade goods, vintage items and craft supplies online.
Over the past few years, Ottawa “teams” have been created on the website, with the goal of bringing together Ottawa artisans looking to sell their products online.
Susanne Young of online shop Lola Creations created the group Etsy Ottawa. She says she likes the website for the groups feature and its affordability. Young says putting her items up for consignment in local shops is more expensive than using a website.
Etsy charges sellers 20 cents to list an item for four months and takes 3.5 per cent of the profit once it sells. This makes it one of the cheapest options for those looking to sell handmade goods online.
Katie Mustakas, a Kanata resident who runs the shop KatieBug’s Daisy Boutique, got on the site when she found her products were not selling well in local craft shows. She makes hairclips designed for babies.
In the two years since she opened her online shop she has made over 300 sales, mainly to customers in the United States, Canada and Australia. She attributes a lot of her shop’s success to the research she did on search engine optimization to ensure that her products would be easily found by her target buyers. She says that she is not opposed to selling her hairclips out of stores, but that she simply found Etsy to be an easier route.
According to Nikki Fournier, however, the website cannot replace selling out of stores. Fournier opened her Etsy shop BulletsandBones in September 2013, but still sells out of local stores, including Adorit Boutique in the Byward Market and Fall Down Gallery on Bank Street.
Though she says stores that sell her pieces on consignment typically take a 50 per cent cut of the profits, she feels selling things in stores is more effective.
“When you have an item for sale in a store customers can actually walk in and touch it and feel it. They can ask questions about it and see it rather than taking a risk and purchasing it online,” Fournier says.
For her, the website is a great place to connect with other artisans, but she says the market is too saturated for it to really be a source of profit.
Kala Ritchie, a member of the group Etsy Ottawa, says she hasn’t yet made a lot of money on the site. Until she has more time to update her online store, she says Etsy serves more as a tool to connect her with other local artisans.
“The community is very talkative. They talk all the time. You can ask questions, you can join teams and these teams help give you advice,” says Ritchie, who sells artwork and clothing on her shop RitchieArtworks.
Though these sellers all have full-time jobs in addition to their craft businesses, all of them plan to continue selling on Etsy.
Mustakas, who makes her products when she is not at her engineering job, says it’s really just a part-time hobby.
“I’d like to make a little more money doing it but I don’t expect to make a whole bunch.”