hi — my grandma makes crochet stuff and was looking for an alternative to etsy that is more friendly for handmade crafts specifically. do you have any specific suggestions?
Hello!
Some of our members are working tirelessly to develop the Marketplace Accredidation Program (or MAP), which will function as a thorough and user-friendly database for finding the right marketplace for you -- but in the meantime, we do have a few alternatives I can list that a number of our members would recommend!
There's the Artisans Cooperative, a user/member owned cooperative which is very new and currently member-only, and which has quite a few members in the ISG. It may be worth keeping an eye out for when they open to non-member sellers if your grandma isn't able to become a member by either buying in ($1,000) or spending time earning "member points".
There's GoImagine, which Kristi wrote a blog post about in her Etsy Alterative series. This one donates all of its profits to charity and was the first marketplace to apply for accreditation (once we're ready to begin accreditation) with our MAP. This one isn't member restricted, but it is only available to sellers in the US.
The second marketplace to apply for accredidation is Mayfli, which is based in the UK. I couldn't tell you much else about it, but it does boast its sellers' handmade products.
There's also Ko-Fi, which doubles as a donation platform. We have an earlier blog post about it that goes over and rates it in comparison to Etsy. I myself have used it for tips, sales, and commissions; the fees are low to nonexistent, but you'll have to connect it to PayPal or Stripe to receive payments.
Then there's WooCommerce, which isn't a marketplace, but many of our members use it and have described it as a very good tool for setting up your own website if you're sufficiently tech savvy. This may only be useful for your grandmother if she has outside means of bringing customers to her shop.
We do also have a spreadsheet with the beginnings of an Etsy Alternatives Database, but I'm not sure if that's open to the public just yet. I'll reach out to our other members and add any comments they want to share in a reblog of this post!