Selling your Designs Online

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Where do you like to buy things online?

General Marketplaces

Facebook Marketplace

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.

Etsy 

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. 

Shopify

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). 

Why  would you want to hold off on creating one in the begining? 

Sole Proprietorship 

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Limited Liability Company (LLC)

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Incorporation 

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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

Shapeways Marketplace

Shapeways Marketplace

Teespring 

Redbubble

Pikaole

Obinsun

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

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Questions

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