Amazon handicrafts?

[VanLifeCrisis]

Looks like amazon is dipping into the etsy market. Anyone tried this out yet. Im thinking of making extra money carvin signs but not sure how to go about sellin em

 

[GrantRobertson]

Looks like amazon is dipping into the etsy market. Anyone tried this out yet. Im thinking of making extra money carvin signs but not sure how to go about sellin em

I try to buy through Amazon as seldom as possible. Personally, I would be more likely to buy handmade item through Etsy or the craftsperson's personal site.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

after some digging, looks like they waive a 40$ a month fee to sell....till august of next year. Not sure id be down with that in addition to thier 12% cut. You also have to apply, tho not sure how hard it is to get added.
I wonder if they consider use of power tools as hand tools. There is a 'by hand but with light machinery' option on the app under how do you make it' but i think this is a disqualifier gotcha answer (like the mass produced option under it). The 100% hand tools is obviously the best answer..but you know people use sewing machines etc

 

[compassrose]

Looks like amazon is dipping into the etsy market.  Anyone tried this out yet.   Im thinking of making extra money carvin signs but not sure how to go about sellin em

Ebay has better prices than Amazon. I looked into Amazon but I could not sell jewelry there. Ended up on eBay (I've had a commercial account for a few years from unloading my first editions, etc) and Etsy. I've heard Etsy isn't all that great. I've not sold anything there yet. Had the store front for a while but didn't have anything there (I pulled all the jewelry David made because I can't bear to part with it now). I have sold a few things on eBay. If you do eBay, get commercial account and get debit card for your Paypal so you can pull money directly from the Paypal account rather than wasting time and fees with bank transfers.

Basically, I'm using eBay to advertise my Etsy store. I need to build up a good stock. I don't have enough offerings there.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

i tried to press an inquiry about the use of power tools in their handmade section. After a stock reply simply telling me that the handmade thing exists with link to it(i had no idea when i asked about that very thing! :\)..i pressed for an actual clarification on what i asked. I then received two responses, identical, telling me that my account wasnt a seller account so they cant speak to me. So, buyer beware if you want to know how 'handmade' your shit is. Amazon has nothing to say to you. And screw perspective sellers. Etsy and ebay are looking better and better.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

someone mentioned the image on the front page has a guy with a sander on it, i guess i should turn off img block more lol

 

[compassrose]

Using a power tool (such as a sander, circular saw, lathe, drill) in the creation is still considered "handmade". You are taking the "handmade" lable a little to literally. By handmade, they mean, NOT mass produced by the thousands in some factory. You can even do a production type set up on an item like wooden toy cars. Then put them all together by hand. They are still considered "handmade". The routed signs would be classified as "Handmade" even if you used a CNC router to make them.

 

[MikeRuth]

I feel Compassrose is DEAD ON here, just about anything hand made involves some kind of tool, doesn't matter if it's a power tool or not.

Hand made is a one off, even if someone asked to have a sign that says the exact same thing as another customer.

I'd take the hand made part out if the signs were made in bulk and stored buy a manufacture in a warehouse awaiting orders.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

yeah..heh, wish i could afford a cnc machine Tho i enjoy hand routing, its kind of (noisy) zen

 

[WriterMs]

Since the handmade section of Amazon is so new, I'm sure they are still working out bugs and getting buried with inquiries right now. They are not dealing with a small percentage of new sellers each week -- they are dealing with the creation of the entire new marketplace all at once. I guess I tend to offer a bit of an excuse for the new type of "stores" because my experience with selling my books on Amazon is so good.

If I email a question to the Kindle Direct Publishing team (KDP is the channel for independent publishing), I get an email acknowledging the receipt of my question and a promise to reply within 24 hours. I've probably contacted them 3 times over the last 5 or 6 years, and they have not let me down once.

Again, I'm sure it is different with the fledgling arts/crafts section because it is so new, but the other overwhelming thing about Amazon for book sales is that they trounce any other book outlet many times over. Their audience is huge -- I want to say something like 20 times the sales of the nearest competitor. So I sign up to sell exclusively through Amazon (and I'm quite sure Bob does too for his book), as they give authors even more benefits for doing that.