Selling your Designs Online
Where do you like to buy things online?
General Marketplaces
Pros
- Most people already have an account.
- No seller fees with local pickup.
Cons
- Not great for rare items (choose Ebay).
- Not great for high value items (less protection for sellers).
- Shipping isn’t as easy.
Pros
- Many customers looking for handmade goods, Etsy only allows for handmade or vintage goods to be listed on its marketplace.
- Have your own web address.
-Offsite Ads feature built in.
Cons
- $0.20 Listing fee, 5 % Transaction fee, 3% + $0.25 payment processing fee.
- Etsy fully dictates the terms of what you do, often implements changes suddenly.
Pros
- Very professional, strong analytics tools.
- For part of the pandemic, sales were equivalent to Black Friday for several weeks in a row. Stock Price
Cons
- Shopify plans range from $29.00 - $299.00 per moth, fees range from .5% - 2.9% depending on the plan.
- You need to establish a legal entity for your company and provide an EIN to create a shop (Employer Identification Number).
Other Ways to Sell
- Letgo, Offerup, Nextdoor: Apps that allow you to sell to people in your area.
-Craigslist: Allows for a variety of sales and postings, not frequently used for handmade items.
-Ebay: Good for rare items. May be ideal for designs in particular trades (woodworking, glass making).
Should you create a legal entity?
Why would you want to hold off on creating one in the begining?
Sole Proprietorship
Limited Liability Company (LLC)
Incorporation
Buying a Web Domain
- Necessary for Shopify
- Not necessary for Facebook Marketplace, seller apps (Letgo, Offerup, etc.)
- GoDaddy, Domain.com, Bluehost can be used to buy web domains.
Uploading your Designs to Made to Order Marketplaces
Pros
- Large variety of items: clothing, phone cases, greeting cards, wall art, & more
- Easy upload process
Cons
- High competition
- Complex selling metrics. Baseprice, markup, and discounts, all need to be factored in to calculate what margin of the sale goes to artists. More info: rebubble sale prices
NFTs for Artists101 with Melanie Adcock
