Get ready to start selling your jewelry online.
Selling handmade jewelry online has become a popular option for many independent jewelry designers thanks to a variety of online marketplaces created around the idea of making it both easy and affordable for artisans to set up shop. As these sites have grown, they have also managed to attract a large number of shoppers hungry for unique handmade jewelry of every kind. So, if you have every thought about selling your jewelry, it's an ideal time to get started.
To help you get going, we've put together the following guide that includes some of the better known marketplaces and a few newcomers.
Etsy
Launched in June of 2005, Etsy has become the largest handmade marketplace featuring products from over 100,000 sellers located around the world. As of today, the jewelry category alone lists 947,233 items. For shoppers, Etsy provides some innovative visual search tools that can show items by color, when they were listed or from sellers based on their geographic location.
Sellers can set up a store without any HTML skills and customize the look with a banner. They will also receive a custom URL including their store name. As items sell, both buyers and sellers have an opportunity to leave feedback about the transaction.
Listing Fees: $0.20 per item for four months
Commission on Sale: 3.5% of sale price not including shipping
Monthly Fees: None
Ruby Lane
For over 11 years Ruby Lane has been connecting buyers and sellers from around the world. Among their 2,000+ shops, you'll find a variety of products including antiques & art, vintage collectibles and artisan jewelry. Products are separated into thirteen categories, called lanes, one of which is dedicated to artisan jewelry.
Ruby Lane stands out through a focus on high quality and creativity that they ensure through strict seller guidelines. For example, artisan jewelry sellers must contribute at least 50% of the final product and maintain a minimum sale price of $20. All products must also be unique, not mass produced or made from craft kits.
Listing Fees: $0.30 per item, one time
Commission on Sale: None
Monthly Fees:
up to 50 items - $15
51-150 items is $0.30 per item
151+ items is $0.20 per item
$20 monthly advertising
Other Fees:
$75 Setup Fee
Shop Handmade
Shop Handmade is a relatively new marketplace that opened in the fall of 2008 and has been growing rapidly. The jewelry category alone now features over 5,000 items sold by 545 stores. This rapid growth is likely being driven by their unique fee structure in which store owners can have sponsors pay listing fees and transaction fees are voluntary.
Shop Handmade also places a strong emphasis on helping the environment and has a special program to help protect rainforests through Conservation International. With every item sold, they pay to protect 25 square feet of rainforest. Sellers then have an easy option to upgrade that to 100 or 250 square feet.
Listing Fees: $0.25 per item, FREE with sponsored listings
Commission on Sale: Voluntary, You Decide
Monthly Fees: None
Other Fees:
Optional Rainforest Protection
Bonanzle
Bonanzle is another newcomer that started in September of 2008 and has been generating interest by promoting themselves as an alternative to eBay. The primary attraction over eBay is the reduction in fees for selling items. There is no cost to list an item and selling fees range from $0.50 to a maximum of $10. Another thing that makes Bonanzle different is their focus on creating a face-to-face experience between buyers and sellers through their built-in live chat feature.
Bonanzle encourage sellers to feature items that are out of the ordinary and not mass produced. This has attracted many sellers of handmade items including purses, clothing and jewelry. The category of handcrafted artisan jewelry currently features 16,318 items.
Listing Fees: None
Commission on Sale: $0.50 to $10
Monthly Fees: None
1,000 Markets
Operating in sneak preview mode since September of 2008, 1,000 Markets made their public debut in April. Their focus is on supporting artisan businesses. All products sold must be finished products and they do not allow any form of resale including vintage, collectible or antiques. To maintain these standards, 1,000 Markets puts every seller through a manual approval process that evaluates things like their mix of products, photo quality, descriptions and store policies.
The shopping experience at 1,000 Markets is designed to create personal connections between buyers and sellers along with a sense of community. One way they support this is by organizing stores into small, specialty markets. One market may be based on a type of product such as the Jewelry Artisans Marketplace while another like the Rocky Mountain Market is based on a geographic location. Currently, a search for jewelry shows 14,618 product listings from among 743 shops.
Listing Fees: None
Commission on Sale: $0.50 plus 5.5% of the transaction
Monthly Fees: None
