Shifting to Put More Effort Into Amazon Handmade

3 months ago

I seem to be going through a period of change.

For the last week or so, I have been rather intensely engaged in the process of photographing of all the finished work I have that is not currently listed for sale anywhere online.

I have already determined that I'm not going to go forward with listing Alchemy Stones on eBay anymore, once my current mini store subscription runs out in a couple of months.

I was looking back through my records and determined that I have made exactly one sale on eBay in three years, which amounts to paying approximately $350.00 in subscription fees in order to make a $29.50 sale. It doesn't take a degree in rocket science to determine that that is a complete waste of money!

Most likely, I'm also going to discontinue having anything for sale in the Facebook marketplace. I used to think Facebook would be a pretty good deal, because I have a fairly active artist page there and it seemed like being able to offer things for sale without people ”having to go anywhere else” would be a reasonably good idea.

However, these days it has proven more true that people basically don't trust Facebook/Meta, and whereas they may look at your stuff extensively nobody thinks of Facebook as a place to purchase things except maybe for occasional mini games and such stuff. Besides, the seller interface and listing and inventory system is rather hopelessly NOT user friendly.

Definitely planning to continue with Etsy, in spite of the fact that I have various issues with the way they do things, and the way they tend to bury search results unless you pay extra to be listed in ”featured” search. In spite of the substantial influx of ”cheap crap from China,” it is still the online marketplace most people associate with handmade things.

In their defense, Etsy is taking new steps to keep the authentic artist accounts a little more visible after a lot of long time users — who helped actually create the site — have started to head for the exits, or have complained very loudly to leadership.

This leaves me with Amazon Handmade, which is the "dark horse" in this equation. I have often noted here that it ”feels like” I never really sell anything of significance on the Amazon but in all fairness I also haven't had any substantial number of listings there.

When I back away and look at it in a more objective fashion, my sales on Amazon relative to the number of items I have offered for sale has actually been the highest of all online venues I have tried!

Part of my past reticence has typically been tied to (a) not wanting to get in bed with the giant "evil empire" and (b) the fact that they have a rather cumbersome way to list products for sale because it is based around things like clothing and books where sellers are expected to churn out hundreds of the same thing with slight variations, not on listing one each of many different unique items.

That said, the most recent news updates from Amazon Handmade suggest that they are finally addressing this problem by creating a new listing interface that is more geared towards actually selling art versus just a generic boilerplate taken from book and clothing and electronic sales.

So, these musings are all bubbling up because I am seriously considering listing most of these new works I have just completed photographing primarily on the Amazon Handmade site. Maybe it will work out to have a large selection there, particularly if I can just move a bunch of the stuff I'm taking off eBay to sit there as well.

Having 200 items listed should definitely result in a better outcome than having 30 (or fewer) items listed, right?

So that's basically what's ahead for this weekend.

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Thank You!

If you enjoy painted rocks, do check out The Hive Rocks Project and help spread the word about Hive, while also being creative!

Because I am trying to make some semblance of income — a part time living, even — I now add this footer to all my posts, in the hope that someone, somewhere, might decide to take a further look at my work, and perhaps consider supporting independent art.

Thank you, in advance, for your consideration and support!

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