Aug 9th 2008 03:42:48 pm

We all know about the online auction giant Ebay, and almost everyone is loving Etsy for buying and selling handmade goods online, but what if you want an alternative option for finding cool, independent artists and crafters or selling your own crafts? I have discovered three more websites where you can buy or sell handmade items: Lov.li, DaWanda, and Made It.

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Lov.li

Lov.li is a community of people who love art, crafts and handmade products. On the site you can buy cool stuff, share your art, sell your products, create groups, promote events, share video, and of course, make friends. People from all over the world use the site to sell their handmade crafts and to interact with other artists and crafters. You can create your own blog on the site and join groups based around specific crafting interests. Jewelry and accessories seem to be the most popular items being sold on Lov.li, but there is a wide variety of items to explore. Although the site seems somewhat simple, there are many interesting ways to search for products, including by maker, tag, and by those being made closest to your own location.

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DaWanda: Products with Love

From the DaWanda site: “DaWanda is about people and their products: it is a place where you can discover original and quality products as well as the people who have a passion to create and to share their creations and where you can contribute by sharing your ideas and what you like and by giving inspiration.” DaWanda is based in Europe and the site can be viewed in English, French, or German. Independent artists and craft people sell truly awesome fashions, home products, and supplies on the site. The products being sold on DaWands seem to have an especially high level of quality and uniqueness and the site seems clear and easy to navigate. The site also includes discussion forums in all three languages that anyone can participate in, even if you are not selling or buying.

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Made It: buy, sell, and talk independent

Made It is an Australian shop and directory of independent designers. Selling is restricted to Australian residents, but buyers from overseas are welcomed. Everything from stationery to bath and body products to clothing is sold on Made It. Made It also has discussion forums, but the highlight of the site is the comprehensive independent Australian designer directory which profiles hundreds of indie businesses.

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Have you bought or sold items at any of these sites? Did you have a good experience? What other handmade marketplace sites would you suggest?

Categories: website review

6 Responses to “website review: buying & selling handmade”

1. jennyb on 09 Aug 2008 at 10:25 pm #

   i sell at dawanda and love it there. i couldn’t sell on etsy as i don’t have a credit card, i only have a debit card. the admin staff there are superb and get back to you normally within 24hours and sort out any problems you have, they are really friendly too.

   it’s easy to use and there are other dawanda groups like one on the ning community websites now and a great dawanda blog directory.

   plus although they charge you 5% commission (instead of 3% like etsy) they don’t charge a listing fee. so you can unlist and relist how you like, if you are taking things to a market for example or decide that one of your items would be the perfect present for a friends - you won’t have wasted money listing the item!

   they’ve upgraded the site recently and it has some great new feature like you can now list and unlist groups of items instead of one at a time.

   like i say i love it!

2. Valerie on 10 Aug 2008 at 7:24 am #

   I haven’t used this one much myself, but I came across another one you might want to check out:

   http://www.pinkdoodle.com/

3. Tammy on 03 Sep 2008 at 8:43 pm #

   I bought some gorgeous bambi hair ties from madeit and they look divine on my daughter. I haven’t shopped at the other two (yet).

   Another site to check out is http://www.wahmania.com.au

4. DEMIANA on 16 Sep 2008 at 7:09 am #

   THANKS FOR THE INSITE I FOUND IT TO BE VERY INFORMATIVE, VERY HELPFUL.
   PEACE

5. Allystar on 16 Sep 2008 at 3:23 pm #

   i have a preference for etsy and ebay but dawanda is cool too, i only use it to sell stuffs and i buy stuffs on ebay and etsy!

6. createmo on 02 Nov 2008 at 12:33 am #

   Thank you for your site
   I made on photoshop backgrounds for myspace and youtube and more
   my backgrounds:http://tinyurl.com/6r7cav
   have a great day and thank you again!

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