Third suggestion that's not etsy (please comment below)
Voting ended onJun 13
I ask because I have been trying to build my crochet business for years (among other things) and I want to pic something that will help me further that. I know etsy is the easiest answer for many, but with all the things going on with etsy, I'd rather take my chances elsewhere. That's why I never moved off Ebay despite it being more geared to reselling used goods than home made stuff. (I think that may be part of my problem too!)
I wouldn't get rid of my ebay, I'd simply start adding my stuff to a new shop as well.
Every now and again , I think of that scene with megatron altering Trailcutter/trailbreaker’s body from transformers: more than meets the eye. Yeah, Trail had an obvious drinking problem. But much like Tarn the yarn’s transform addiction, Ratchet (THE ACTUAL MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL) said that it can be treated. Megatron essentially altered trailcutter’s body to his whims and forced him to work how he wanted-
-Calm down -
-down fanfic writers, I know this is gold for some of you but wait til the end!… Heathens (🤣 I jest of course.)
Anyway, it just reminds me that Megatron has a bad habit of nonconsensual changing folks bodies to his needs, and that is like the top five most god awful shit that he has done to me. Along with his SEVERAL gem-no-sides(fuwk tumblr’s censorship) both of his own people and other folks who were just minding their own god damn buisness, his horrible leadership (eff what anyone says, Megantron is a functionally bad leader.) , his racism…cus he legit racist. He even ADMITTED IT!
(No shade to his fans tho, I don’t consider you enjoying the character a condemnation of your person, just the excuses and encouragement made for him. I am strictly discussing the character, not who likes him. If you like problematic or villainous characters, that’s fine. )
where was I? Oh yeah, megatron’s habit of forced body modification/transformation.
can we bring up how he created a whole cast of literal bomber-men composed of people who either sucked at being soldiers, wanted to leave, and ect. (still in idw1 run, btw). Keep in mind, his species were on the endangered list. But him and his faction decided to take members of their dwindling population and turn them into fuwkin bombs!
not mind control, not manipulate, not brought down a rank, just use em to blow up the enemy…I see why Starscream constantly criticized him.
Oh, another forced transformation- prowl and the constructicons. No matter how you feel about prowl, what happend to him was not karma nor an appropriate punishment but an absolute violation of mind , body, and soul. And hell, the constructicons too, cus I don’t think they deserved that! Let alone ever agreed to any of the mind sharing thing or having one of their buds replaced by an autobot of all things. (I have always felt some type of way about the constructicons because in the og series there was an episode where they were all mind-boggled into serving megatron. They kinda felt like another set of victims from megatron.)
Yo, did overlord and the other g6 or whatever they are called consent to being stuck in super-powered soup? I need an answer on that cus I don’t think any of them could really say know. (I am sure overloard was cool with it cus he has this thing with beating megatron and having the universes bluest lipstick 💄 and clearly both would have gotten h8m to his goal.)
and I am adding the races turned into slaves or energon fuel , just because.
megatron is a huge example of how hurt people hurt people. His pain costed many galaxies their peace. But I am not one to excuse the actions of a cruel person, for his pain is only an explanation, as well as his entitlement to others bodies and autonomy. These actions were cruel, invasive , dehumanizing (I know they are robots, bare with me. ). Doesn’t matter if Trailcutter can’t get sloshed anymore, that was not Megaton’s decision to make. That was not his body, he was not trailcutter. A fallen warlord , or even some rando, touched you and altered your body possibly forever because they felt like you were doing something detrimental too much. Made worse when there were better alternatives to help you.
I came across this comic called “Kill 6 billion demons”
and I love it. I highly recommend it. It’s not often I find a comic that just engulfs me. It makes me excited.i love the arts the, the writing, the I inspiration and character designs. Does it have its problems, everything does, but I am so enamored with the story and the characters , it’s just a blip on the radar. It’s got angels and demons and a complex story with a capable heroine that is very human , fairly sympathetic yet dumb, so dumb , but I root for her. God to I root for her. There is probably a ton I missed about it since I binged it and honestly got excited for the next pages, but boy howdy did I have a good time. Most, if not all things are connected, and I’m gonna leave it at that because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. I want you to read it and enjoy it as I have.
I might make some fan art of it, I don’t make a lot of fan art but I’d love to make it for that comic. Comics like this are what I look for. I have a strong love for indie comics, always have, and this is going on the shelf of “would read again” personal favorites. Even if it made me cry or frustrated the hell out of me now and again. I hope it gets more physical prints. The series has been going since 2015, i belive. It’s been publishing for a long time, even to this day, with more on he way. So I’ll be here sitting on the edge of my seat, counting the references I find as well as the little hints whenever i read the comic again.
list of alternatives for Etsy, ebay, and Amazon homemade:
This is a list I’ve been composing for months with a lot of help from that poll I made a few weeks ago as well. (Thank you to everyone who lent me their insights and advice.) May be unneeded to say, but these are also alternatives to Etsy as well. Most if not all of these alternatives have a free subscription with limited item uploads and a cheap paid one (at the time. )
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store envy: ( https://www.storenvy.com/open-new-store )
they have free section that lets you list 20 items for free. They also have a subscription that costs 5 bucks called the “artist plan.” Which I find funny because it’s the cheapest one and there is a stereotype of artists being broke…it’s not untrue for many but still. It’s promising , and it lets you sell handmade works. Will look into more. (Addendum June 29, 2026. Shipping.: Tested it out further, it lets you list your own shipping costs groups. Which , admittedly, I find confusing. I’m used to eBay’s system which simply lets you pick what tripping label you want and gives you the approximate price. You don’t have to manually put the shipping in and how they handle international is even easier. )
GoImagine:( https://goimagine.com/membership )an Etsy alternative. Lets you list 12 items for free on its free plan. Its thrive plan costs 5 bucks and lets you list 600 items. And this site is really hand made item oriented. Promising.
Vinted: (https://www.vinted.com/) is prettypromising. Offers shipping labels and processing, allows sales of homemade clothes though is generally geared towards clothes in general rather than general handmade works but uts open. Reminds me if ebay .No fees apparently, and has a "bump" system. More indi here: https://www.vinted.com/help/26-selling-basics?access_channel=hc_topics
Artisan coop: (https://artisans.coop/) curently in beta2 but accepting applications for a store and is functional from what I’ve seen. (They intend to open to non members later this year from what I’ve read, at this time June 14th , 2026.) No losting fees and handmade only. You have to apply to be a member, and the have a homemade police (works for me as I make my own crochet items but for others this could be different.) They claim no listing fees, no shop opening fees, no dues , one charge on sales commission but no shipping. Commission varies by membership though.
Marmalade: (https://marmaladehandmade.com/apply: oh, here is Marmalade. They have a strong no ai stance as well as no drop shipping. they encourage the sale of physical handmade goods. Hear is their info and application process. Sadly , they are a catalog rather than a store front: you link your shop on their site and design the look. They state in their “how it works” section that “Add listings that link directly to your shop (ex: Etsy or Shopify site) - no fees, no commissions. We're here to make it easier for people to discover and support real artists.”. No charges is pretty nice though. I could use them with my existing eBay.
Mayhem: ( https://mayhem.my) this one is notable on that it prohibits the use of ai in products both in listings and in Images. (A plus, I hate Gen ai and false advertising.. .and all gen ai is false advertising.) They allow for digital and physical handmade products both with tracking and without .(from what I’ve seen.)It’s super green in aesthetic. I see no foreseeable listing limits. Mayhem claims that numerous payment methods can be used and that the only one with a transaction fee is the 3 % one on credit cards. They don’t take a cut of sales but they do have a monthly fee between $5 and $10.(SUBSCRIPTIONS , my third trigger! They also require a selfie id for adult content sales , they will not be getting my id. My money account should be proof enough. If you ever see smut from me, I probably would use itch.io or just mail it to ya like in ye identity times.) More info in their features: https://mayhem.my/features
Mercari:( https://www.mercari.com/us/how-to-sell/ ) They let you list 12 items for free. But I didn’t see anywhere that they charge or any plans for listing more. they have hand made crafts and crochet sections . Acts similarly to eBay rather than an Etsy alternative so , true to title.
ecrater: (https://www.ecrater.com ) : “open your 100% free online store” is their claim on the first page. Looking through it gives it an eBay or mercari feel. Allows for eBay imports and tshipment tracking. Seems to encourage handmade and second hand sales. Here’s more info about their features; https://www.ecrater.com/features.php
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those I know exist but will not consider.
rubylane: (https://www.rubylane.com/) they charge $45 a month to have a store front. It defiantly feels professional, in its vetting Rockies. And you have to have had a preexisting shop or site to apply. It’s the have money to make money bs again.
Createjoy : ( https://sell.cratejoy.com ) $24 dollar subscription to have store front. It’s also for craft boxes. If you make craft boxes and dint mind the subscription, this is for you. I don’t do subscriptions nor make craft boxes so it’s a no.
Indiecart :( https://indiecart.com/sell.php ): subscription based storefront with no free option or limit. However , they say “user-friendly, customizable, reasonably priced selling venue out there. And at $7.50/month with no listing or final value fees” on their application so it’s something for others to consider. I avoid subscriptions at the best of times but I like the fact that I can customize my front to some degree.
Bonanza: (https://www.bonanza.com ) You can make your own webstore on the site or you can import you Etsy, eBay, and Amazon store into their storefront. Only sells in US due to some tax thing they claim. I could not find any other information if they run a subscription based storefront or if they charge for how many items you list so it’s difficult to say. (Everytime I tried to look for more info on the site, it would just ask me to make a subscription, I don’t trust it.) Because of that , I will list this as fairly low. I prefer upfront costss.(addendum for bonanza. I found this on their t.o.s. “New sellers who activate a booth on Bonanza will be charged a non-refundable $14.99 account set-up fee” . Here’s the rest of it; https://bonanza.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000605292-Bonanza-Pricing)
If the redwall series doesn't have a graphic novel, i need somebody to make that happen. If no one does it within the next 3 years , I'll see what I can do but I need a redwall graphic novel and i need it now.
Gen ai is everywhere- Like how lead paint WAS everywhere. And like how little Dutch boy paint spread lies for their product, gen ai companies lie too. If companies have to outright force you to use it, it’s not a need! It’s redundant snake oil. Don’t get discouraged, don’t feel forced to use it.
I’m sure Gen ai is here to stay, as many like to say. Like why the flu, spam mail, computer viruses are still around. But it’s not gonna exist later as it does today. Today it is a detrimental , pollution generating forgery program. Tomorrow , it’s just a shittier statistical algorithm.
“It’s the future” means nothing , especially if you know history. Double if you know how marketing trends work. Even the developers of alot of these ai say it’s an unsustainable bubble. Futures become presents and pasts all the time. But you making your own work with your own hands is timeless.
Keep creating. Keep using your own noggin. Nobody can do it like you do.
I might stir up a hornets nest with this but I have concerns about the recent GlobalComix acquisition news, primarily with the capital inves
I know I don't have much reach but I still wanted to speak up anyway. I want to inform other Global comix users of some of the controversies erupting from their end as of late so that they can make a more informed decision on whether or not to continue using global. I will also be giving my unsolicited thoughts and experiences here. None of what I say is towards any admins as they have no power over these circumstances.
The "start":
Some things have been happen. well, several things over a course of a while. the creator of TENACITY (Paige Critchlow) leaving the global comix platform after finding out they used ai to describe her comic in a promo: which is weird because it both implies they didn't read her comic and is rather redundant because why didn't they ask her to just... write a description for them?
She made a record of it here: https://bsky.app/profile/tenacity-comic.bsky.social/post/3m3s57odw3s2w
"-they didn't seem to grasp why using ChatGPT to alter our work was bad" is going to be a theme that pops up later.
This was when I noticed Global comix's ai stance get called more into question (publicly.) oh, she never got an apology for this by the way. Three weeks later in a follow up post she point how she still hadn't received an apology nor a cleaer ai stance from global.
Post is here: https://bsky.app/profile/tenacity-comic.bsky.social/post/3m5n2vgmehs2p
Then there was Comic Yeti's jounalism.(link above.)
The aforementioned forbes link comic yeti gives: https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2026/03/18/globalcomix-closes-13m-round-acquires-inkr-and-names-henrik-rydberg-new-ceo/
Please read before going further. The article , in simple terms, discusses how Global comix received a 13 million investments well as inkr and a new ceo by the name of Henrik Rydberg.
As far as inkr is concerned,Ill quote the article, "Rydberg says the addition of INKR enables GlobalComix to implement a suite of technologies that he characterized as “Figma for comics”: collaborative, AI-assisted tools for translating, formatting and distributing IP globally, overcoming some of the cost and timing issues related to localization." - Rob Salkowitz, Senior Contributor. Mar 18, 2026 (Forbes.com)
which more or less confirms the inclusion of gen ai "tools"( services) to global comix. Do you understand my frustration? Once again there si more information in the article.
Ai translations remind me of the really bad English dub animations anime had back in the 1980's and 90s... only 100 worse. You thought those sucked, listen to the amazon ai dub of "Banana fish" then you'll get an idea of what I mean. But more on inkr in the q and A. speaking of which.
Global comix's ai policy as of march 20, 2026: https://globalcomix.com/ai-policy
I highly advice reading it through. It's basically " We won't allow ai comics* , but we will allow ai comics."
Their q and A the same day: https://ellipsus.com/read/Tbh5qPiS1Uo9TkThEcd83/Global-comix-q-and-a-notes-March-102026
I was in their 1 and a and let me say I am dissatisfied. I made some trash notes for discussion points as it was kinda hard to follow here and there and I honestly felt kinda gaslit here and there (and god I wish I brought up the Paige incident but I was more concerned with our comics being fed into global's potential database and the investment fund that also invested in the military. )
I need to remind people that work made with generative ai has no copyright protection nor ownership, you are putting what work you mix with it in danger. Only the work you actually made by hand (from scratch not ai "aided") is what you own. The rest is public domain.
There is probably more, I know I've seen some people bring up previous incidents concerning Global comix and it's ai fuckery (or other fuckery). this was just my breaking point. I've left platforms I adored for LESS.
I loved globalcomix:
When I tell you I loved globalcomix , I LOVED global comix. I absolutely adored it. None of what I say comes from a place of ungratefulness. It was one of the few indie comic places I knew of that let you monetize your comics immediately, and even let you sell prints through their system. Many of the users were nice and it had an varied comics from a myriad of creators, of every race and creed. It let me upload my comics at full size no issue! (unlike tapas and some other places which make you size them down to phone screen quality. was hard to get used to when you had as much space as deviant used to allot.) I love the UI it had. I loved its comic upload system and how you can make issues or upload and you could save it all in drafts. adjusting as you please. my favorite aspect was that you can monetize the comic for a certain amount of time before allowing ot to be free. and you could still sell pdfs of the comic, all on the same site! It was damn near perfect.
Then, unfortunately, they started advertising industry comics like marvel, dc , and darkhorse... which have their own comic sights. and disney, who owns marvel, signed an ai deal a short while ago so it makes even less sense to me. It was pretty much the same thing webtoons and tapas did when they pushed the indie creators over for copy-paste manwha their companies employ. How many reincarnated villainous stories with the same art styles do we need? Only webtoons and tapas knows. Only benefit from this was that, unlike tapas that puts payment behind a watcher amount, Global still let you monetize your comic.
I personally don't care for a lot of corporate comics, especially from marvel and dc. (I do like darkhorse though but my point still stands, they have their own site.) Not trying to be a hipster or anything but I am a pretty big supporter of independent comics and manga. they have a completely different feel and I like when the creator has more control and ownership of their work. Among other things that aren't as prevalent in industry comics. So naturally when Globalcomix did this 180, it irked me as both a comic creator AND a reader.
Then I noticed the ai comics, because of course it was ai generated comics on there. At least they had an off button to stop seeing MOST of them. (Even if some posers refused to label their slop.) But why were they allowed there in the first place, I will never know.
Year or so later, Paige's situation happened. Then there was a slight argument/altercation in a different discord server for webcomics because page DARED to speak about her experiences only to have one of the globalcomix devs CONFRONT her in that server- then we confronted him. Cus ain't know fuckin way. And that's when I stopped uploading on global. I needed to see what happened.How they would respond. A q and a was promised, then they claimed they would make an an announcement. But all we got was promises of something , then it got pushed back because someone was in the airport at the time. they then went to the hospital. Then silence. Silence for MONTHS. Five to be exact.
Only to have it broken when someone shared the Comic Yeti's post. but I'm getting a tad redundant here.
People need to stop sticking with one site and spread out more:
Things like this have been happening for a while. And people get rightfully upset but stay because they aren't used to or never bothered to learn other sites or ecosystems to function in. And that's what a lot of companies bet on when they make these terrible and disruptive decisions. That's a huge reason why a lot of people stay on webtoons despite it sucking for users and creators. or how many still stay on Meta products like facebook and insta despite them being trash. reach and accessibility stop being good reasons to stay if the site stops giving you reach and accessibility.
Go to other sites, use search engines in browsers to look at other ones. There are other comic places to read on : comic fury , Itch.io (they let you sell yoru comcis) , gumroad (they also let you sell comics and graphic novels), tapas , spider forest, Namicomi, comic one, comic cleric (upcoming,) all of these allow independent creators to upload their comics for readers access.
What now?(conclusion) :
Paige really was our warning. Among a few others . I gotta admit I'm kinda hurt and I feel really dumb. I make it a point to not to trust companies because at the end of the day they are out to make money in this capitalistic hellscape we call life in 'Murca. But I digress. I had the delusion of hope, that you could have a sustainable business that worked with integrity and didn't throw its creatives , workers, and users under the bus for a quick buck. Those who thought in the long term instead of the short term. One should not find themselves too trusting with any company (or trust at all really) and should always be ready to detach. No business is your friend.
I have no trust for any company trying to push, encourage , use , nor overlook generative ai in its current, unregulated, environmentally destructive, theft ridden state. We brought up how it can only function off plagiarism and we were ignored. We brought up our discomfort and were told we didn't have to use it but it would be implemented anyway. We , the users and creators, were not considered for this decision but we are expected to use it anyway. None of this is for us and its obvious.
I want to point out that I am being so nice right now. So undeniably cordial both for how I typically am and what is deserved. the anguish I feel right now is almost tangible. Doesn't matter if my or other people's comics weren't that popular and didn't make much money for it- we provided globalcomix free labor and we still brought people to them.My friend put in WORK to get me on there, without her i wouldn't have ever touched global. My friend is disgusted, she lamented to me that she encourage so many people including me to use global comix. I have NO blame to her , she was right and it was great while it lasted, I just feel bad for her cus she feels guilty for something out of her control. How was she supposed to know we'd get sold out?( we aren't physic.)
(But how surprised can I be over a site that doesn't even have a block button after 2+ years...)
I want to point out that I UNDERSTAND that this is a business and people need to be paid. (Again , capitalistic hellscape where money and private property is more important than people and humanity. Yada Yada.) They need money to run. sites and bandwidth are expensive. But looking at other comic sites and indie places, I know there were better ways to make money and get support. You know, without selling out the creators who helped build the site.
They KNEW much of their userbase was anti-ai. I need to explain the ABSURDITY of continually trying to normalize gen ai to independent artists and comic lovers. That's like trying to sell saltwater to fresh water fish. that's like trying to gift chocolate to dogs. Trying to load mousetraps to mice.
Its wolves bane to werewolves.
Its garlic to vampires.
Its like... well its just an insult at this point. Comparable to a slap in the face, in my eyes. Like if Global comix hated its users just say that.
my only comfort is that I data poisoned most of my comic pages, might not do much but its a small act of spite.
For those of you who follow my comics and come across this, I am in the slow process of mirroring my other comics on my other sites. (i have some up already but not all of them.) I have a comic fury (main), a tapas (thin ice.), and a namicomi (new). I'm looking onto others as well, and I'd like to set up a neocites for my comics.I've built the habit of spreading myself thin rather than focus on one place. thank devaintart eclipse for that, was a hash lesson. I no longer feel comfortable leaving my work on global comix at this time nor the foreseeable future.
I'm going to throw my last three dollars at comic fury and if possible comic cleric
