Handmade at Amazon Launches, Should Etsy Sellers Apply?

by: Rexford

I sell on Etsy and I have no desire to sell handmade on Amazon. The fees are too high and listing from scratch on  Amazon is a laborious task.  Listing on Etsy is a breeze.

Good luck to those going down this path.

by: White Rabbit

Accepted and set up- shop is open. :-) i found it to be simple to list. there are some tricks that work to help make listing easier.

by: iheartjacksparrow

Currently it is cheaper to list on H@A because the $39.95 is waived until August 1, 2016.

by: Rexford

iheartjacksparrow...thank you for that information. That I did not know.

by: Ina

Thanks, iheartjacksparrow - I edited to fix that oversight on my part.

It's definitely free to list for now, but sellers should not forget to factor in the higher selling fee.

by: White Rabbit

at some point you can also factor in the average price of your merchandise. Just saying Listing one item for $1500 would be equal to listing 150 $10 items or 15 $100 items. I think the optimal price ranges would depend on what you are selling. OOAK and Handmade are a lot different than selling factory goods and I do think people expect to pay more, a lot more.

by: Rexford

whiterabbit, is it simpler to list than listing on item from scratch on amazon.com? (a non-catalog item)

by: White Rabbit

Sorry, Not Sure Rexford but there is ways to use your ''browser''back button so additional similar listings are quicker. (i suggest using firefox for this)

by: The End

Let me just say,"What a Crock".
If you have a Very Special product, unavailable anywhere else on the planet, that sells TONS every month, and you Don't tell them how you make it, they don't want you. You tell them the production method is proprietary not to be revealed, and they disappear into the ether. So, they WILL rip off domestic producers, it's just a matter of time.
STAY WAY AWAY from Amazon hand made. It's just bait.

by: Patricia

I'm on Amazon Handmade.  Made one small sale the day they launched...nothing since.  At this rate i can't see many artists paying their 39.95 a month next year when they start charging for the shop.  I spoke to a rep and told them art will sell and sell big if (and that's a big if, we can be easily found....nope, they insist on making art a sub category to ''home and kitchen''.  Unlike the hey day of ebay when they had the traffic,they were smart enough to make art a category.  Amazon, unfortunately, has not considered us to be important enough.  I think if i somehow could put a counter in my shop i'd be very disappointed to see the lack of traffic.  I'll put my shop url here so you can see there is no reason why this artwork isn't selling: www.amazon.com/handmade/patriciarizzo

by: Louise

My shop on Etsy has died so far this month with two small sales. Very first day on Amazon Handmade had two good orders, then later same day one order for two mirrors. Third day another order. I'm loving it.  

by: Louise

I agree there needs to be great improvement made in their categories and believe they will work on it as it benefits them also. Etsy didn't start out with all the goodies they have now. Believe Amazon will keep working on Handmade as they've certainly made a good start.

by: Sierra

I'm selling on H@A. I've received 2 orders thus far, both on Day #1 (10/8/15).

Listing is ok, but there are things that could be done to improve the process. SEO is anyone's guess at this point, I think. Things that are acceptable in the listing process for ''regular Amazon'' are totally off-limits for H@A; for example, we can't use HTML to make bulleted lists or even to make paragraph breaks; regardless of the number of paragraphs a seller writes, it all ends up as one paragraph. Regular Amazon apparently allows 500 characters in the title and sellers are encouraged to use all that's available to them, however on H@A, we're encouraged to keep our titles at 50 characters or less!

The 12% fee doesn't bother me too much. I've sold on consignment. I've sold wholesale. And I've sold wholesale with a rep where I had to pay the rep 15% of the wholesale price! I can certainly afford 12% commission on retail without any problem. I'll worry about the $40/month fee when it gets here. Right now, I'm thinking if I can sell $1,000/month on H@A, the $40 fee will be worth it.  

by: Patricia

You can indeed use simple HTML in the product description only.  I know because i used it.

by: Sierra

Patricia, are those items still ''active''? Everyone I know who has used code on H@A has discovered those items became inactive. They have had to spend hours, in some cases, redoing their listings!

Amazon is known for running a tight ship, and I wouldn't recommend messing with them.

by: Whatever

Just how long does that application process take or has my application already been thrown out? And if it is accepted I'm not even sure if I want to deal with them after seeing the 2nd application. As a victim of corporate greed with my own copyrighted designs having been stolen and copied I have to say that the questions they asked were troubling - we need a picture of your work space (that was a good one) the precise items used to make the product - the time it takes you - where you get your product (that was pretty scary) a picture of your warehouse and on and on. If your truly making a one of a kind item all they really need to do is verify that product on the internet. If it's unique then it's unique. I've never been able to get into the regular jewelry  line on Amazon even though I've generated sales in the millions. With handmade I was sure they would allow me in but I've heard nothing from them since the 2nd application. And truthfully I'm rather put off that it's the same old same old at Amazon.

by: Noneya

we need a picture of your work space (that was a good one) the precise items used to make the product - the time it takes you - where you get your product (that was pretty scary) a picture of your warehouse and on and on. If your truly making a one of a kind item all they really need to do is verify that product on the internet. If it's unique then it's unique.
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Well I dunno about that Etsy asks for all of the same things things in order to confirm that you are not just a reseller but they don't actually check any of it as the entire site if flooded with resellers. Just search ''rabbit ring'' if you think all those questions make a difference. At least Amazon Handmade says they are committed to keeping AH HANDMADE.  IMHO it's not going to take off because Etsy already burned the hundreds of thousands of buyers that sellers spent 10 years bringing to the site by allowing mass manufactured items. Why would Amazon be any different? Etsy has lost it's core principle ''to bring together buyers and sellers looking for unique handmade goods'' and traded it for ''pile it high and sell it deep, where it comes from and how it's made is of no importance (though we'll pretend it is)''.  

by: Patricia

Sierra - they are all active and I have not used H@A.  I just put two more up yesterday and got a message from Amazon that they were active.  I just have no idea if anybody is seeing them.  If you look at their categories you will not find art since you have to click on "Home and Kitchen" to find Art.  Who would know to do that?  I tried explaining that to them but they were firm on the placement.

by: Patricia

I am really confused.  Regular selling has "Collectibles & Fine Art and my work would fit in there.  Yet, because my shop is Amazon Handmade, I only have these categories to chose from:  
Handmade Baby Products
Handmade Home & Kitchen
Handmade Jewelry
Handmade Lighting
Handmade Outdoor & Patio

Ina, could you look into this please?  I have over 200 friends on my FB page and the majority are artists and a lot of them have Handmade shops and are experiencing the same thing I am....no sales!

by: amshene

I'm at H@A and have been on etsy for over 5 years. Unless Amazon makes big improvements quickly, etsy will have nothing to worry about.  I will be surprised if I stay with H@A until the end of the month unless there are some changes made. I did have a sell on the 1st day and since then I've had next to no views.  

Just a note the 12% includes the payment processing fee, which we pay etsy for direct check out or paypal, it is still a bit higher.

Also, I thought the issue about the rights to our products had been put to bed several times, amazon only wants to use our pictures for promotions, ya they should have worded that better.