Etsy Compared to Artfire

There has been some controversy surrounding Etsy lately, leading to the creation of websites like Etsy Bitch [link: http://etsybitch.blogspot.com], The Etsy Refugee Society [link: http://etsyrefugeesociety.blogspot.com], and Unofficial Etsy News [link: http://etsynews.com/]. While some people are happy to keep selling their handmade items there despite the difficulties, many are leaving the site and exploring alternative handmade marketplaces such as eBay, Artfire, Zibbet, BigCartel, and so on. The main site crafters are running to is Artfire [link: artfire.com], a handmade marketplace built as an alternative to Etsy.

Everyone has different reasons for leaving Etsy. A lot of people don't agree with certain articles posted on The Storque, some feel Etsy doesn't listen to their complaints, and some don't like the changes brought to the site recently.

This in depth guide will explore all the issues artisans have with both sites, allowing you to make an informed decision regarding which marketplace to sell in.

Etsy Vs. Artfire

At first glance

The main difference between Artfire and Etsy is how you pay to sell. On Etsy, an item costs 20¢ USD to list, no matter what. On Artfire, they have a 2-tier membership system; Basic accounts can list up to 10 items a month for free, while "Pro" users pay a monthly fee and can list as many items as they want in addition to access to extra features. Only Pro users can appear on front page, and Pro users can use features like coupon codes, gift certificates, featured items, Artfire blog, and other widgets. Pro users don't see ads anywhere on the site. Currently, the Pro fee is $9.95 a month, but the Artfire admin have stated that it'll eventually rise.

You don't have to register an account to buy items on Artfire - allowing for a potentially faster and easier checkout experience for buyers.

It's worth noting that Etsy only has three top categories for buyers to search in (Handmade, Vintage, and Supplies), where as Artfire has six (Handmade, Fine Art, Vintage, Supplies, Design, and Media). Visual artists on Etsy have long been asking for a Fine Art top level category, since currently on Etsy, artwork is lumped in with other handmade items. Artfire makes it much easier for people to search for fine art. It makes sense that Design and Media get their own categories as well, since they are allowed on both sites, but aren't exactly "hand" made.

Complaints with Search for Sellers

The search function on Etsy is arguably what sellers complain about the most. Etsy's search results are structured so that items posted most recently show up first. Essentially, it's the opposite of what eBay's search results used to be like. So, if you go to Etsy and search for, say, "Vegan Soap", whatever soap bar was posted most recently will show up first.

Because Etsy's search is structured this way, sellers are in a constant struggle to keep their items visible. Most Etsy users feel that buyers won't want to dig through pages and pages of search results to find something, so sellers try to keep their items on the first page.

The only way to keep your items at the top of search results is to renew them, using a button on Etsy's seller interface. This isn't free, it costs the standard Etsy fee of 20 cents per item renewed. Etsy staff and bloggers encourage renewing every day or at least every week. There are some sellers who renew their entire inventory as often as every day, or several times a day. That 20 cents adds up really quickly if you have more than a handful of items in your store. It can become difficult to even make a profit when you spend so much on relisting fees.

In addition to that, because Etsy's search returns new items first, most sellers choose to create multiple listings for one item that they have duplicates for, rather than listing the amount of duplicates they have in one listing. So, for example, if you've made ten identical scarves, instead of having one listing for the scarf with "10 available" in the "stock available" field, it's in your best interest to list them all individually in ten different listings so that you can stagger when you post them, and they can potentially show up higher in search results. This is really frustrating for buyers and sellers alike, because it's the opposite of what every other webshop on the planet does, and causes duplicates of items to clog up search results. For sellers, it's also time consuming.

As a personal note, the fact that sellers always have one item in stock at a time, despite the amount of duplicates they may have, is incredibly annoying for me as a buyer because if I put anything from Etsy on my Amazon.com wishlist (or my Etsy favourites), there's a big chance it'll be "sold out" by the time my friends or family go to buy it for me. Unlike seasoned Etsy users, casual buyers may not know to look in a seller's shop to see if there's another of that item listed.

It's sometimes argued that Etsy admin structures its search results this way to encourage re-listing and punish sellers who refuse to re-list. Additionally, re-listing items is a gamble. Spending those extra pennies doesn't necessarily bring in more sales, and are especially worthless for really popular categories like Jewellery and Cosmetics.

On Artfire, results are randomised, similar to what eBay does now. This means the issues outlined above are eliminated, and re-listing is not necessary. However, Pro sellers on Artfire are listed before Basic users in search results, which means not everyone has a fair chance of being found via search.

Filtering search results is clunky and difficult on both sites. On Etsy you can narrow down results based on what country the seller is in, but you can't do it by region which would be really helpful. Category bleed is a major problem on Etsy, and narrowing down search results on Artfire isn't much easier. It would be great if they adopted the system eBay has - a simple and functional "sort by distance" option on search result pages.

Posting items for sale

The "post item" form is only one page on Artfire, similar to eBay's basic form. On Etsy there are 5 pages to go through to list an item. While I prefer the single page, one advantage Etsy has is that you cannot rearrange images on Artfire the way you can on Etsy, and the size of images on Artfire is smaller. You can not "zoom in" to image on Artfire, which many users complain about. Furthermore, you're only allowed to have 4 pictures for an item on Artfire, where as Etsy allows 5.

Adding shipping costs to items is incredibly annoying on both websites. Etsy's method is slightly better because you can add regional shipping options (for example, you can have one shipping cost for the whole EU rather than having to list European countries individually), where as on Artfire you have to list shipping costs for each country individually, with one option for "All Other Countries". You can save "shipping profiles" the same exact way on both sites. But both methods are really lacking. The only website that has this figured out is eBay, who allows you to put a shipping calculator on your items.

International Issues for those Outside the USA

One major advantage Etsy has over Artfire is the ability to list in other currencies. Artfire forces you to list your item prices in US Dollars, which I personally hate as a seller based in the UK, and is undoubtedly frustrating for anyone else outside the US. Both sites, however, let buyers choose what currency to display, so at least buyers don't have this problem.

Selling Tools

Probably the biggest advantage Artfire has over Etsy are the selling tools, especially Google Base. On Artfire, any products you post are automatically uploaded to Google Base (provided they follow Google's rules for sellers) which means they will show up in search results on shopping.google.com. This makes it very easy for buyers everywhere to find your items. On Etsy, you have to manually upload your inventory to Google Base (how, I have no idea) and only some sellers are allowed to (Etsy claims that Google won't let them upload too many items at once).

Analytics are also built into the Artfire site (though it gives you the option of using Google Analytics as well), On Etsy you can add Google Analytics to your shop - however, Google Analytics doesn't function that well with Etsy shops. Most of the stats on my Google Analytics account for my Etsy store include hits for Etsy's main page rather than for my shop specifically. Most of the referring URLs are from blog posts that don't mention my shop anywhere, and are showing up because they linked to someone else's shop or the Etsy main page. Other users have complained about having the same problem.

The networking buttons on Artfire are another great tool. If you have a pro account on Artfire, they allow you to post links to your other shops and networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc). and have Social Networking buttons displayed on all your shop pages so visitors can easily go to your other sites. Etsy doesn't allow any outside links at all, so any social networking URLs you put anywhere on your Etsy page will not be clickable.

Artfire allows coupon codes and gift certificates for Pro users, something Etsy users have been begging for. Etsy only recently rolled out coupon codes, but you can't limit coupon codes to one time per customer like you can on Artfire.

You are limited to ten shop sections on Etsy. On Artfire, you can have an unlimited amount.

The Front Page and alleged Etsy Favouritism

On the Front Page of Etsy (abbreviated FP by Etsians), a "treasury" is displayed to entice shoppers. Treasuries on Etsy are themed collections of items for sale put together by Etsy members, you can view one on Etsy.com right now. There is a ton of controversy surrounding the FP, as a lot of people believe the Etsy staff only displays items on the front page from their "favourite" sellers, or only displays items that fit a certain look and feel that is distinctively "Etsy". As someone who visits Etsy a lot, I can say there is some truth to this - most of the FP treasuries are colour coordinated and feature earth tones or a muted colour palette. Bright colours very rarely appear on the front page. I've definitely noticed certain sellers get featured quite a lot - not just on the Front Page, but in things like Newsletters as well; but whether or not favouritism actually exists on Etsy remains up for debate.

Artfire has "Collections" instead of treasuries, and their FP is far more diverse than Etsy's - featuring collections actually made by Artfire members rather than staff picks. This is a good and a bad thing - some of the Collections that make it to the FP are less than stellar, I'll be honest, but that could be purely because the overall design of Artfire's index page isn't as good as Etsy's. Etsy.com has a much cleaner look to it.

"All I care about is which site will bring me more sales!"

This is what is really on people's mind when they are trying to decide which site to use.

Believe it or not, one site does not bring more sales than the other. It's possible that Artfire does give you a slightly better chance of being seen by offering promotional tools and uploading products to Google Shopping. But at the same time, Etsy is overall a more popular site with more active users. A lot of whether or not your shop is successful is up to you, the quality of your products, the quality of your photos, and how you promote your shop.

Personally, I have more sales on Etsy, but I've also been on Etsy way longer and have a lot more items posted there. Furthermore, I find that most of my customers on Etsy are also sellers, so 99% of what I've sold and continue to sell on Etsy are supplies. I don't have a Pro account on Artfire either because I find their fees to be too steep. It's possible that I'd sell more if I had a Pro account.

A lot of people who try both Artfire and Etsy say that they like Artfire, but whine about how they don't get sales there. Most of these sellers also admit, however, that they spend all their time promoting their Etsy store and no time promoting their shop on Artfire. Of course if you do this, the sales are going to roll in on Etsy and no other venue.

When you choose a selling venue, choose the one that you like most based on your personal preference - not because you think it'll bring you more sales. Ultimately, it's up to you as a seller how successful your shop is. You have the potential to be successful no matter where you present your crafts to the world!