There’s
talk of one of the world’s most highly respected websites - Etsy - suffering
significant problems recently, prompted mainly by an influx of new and possibly
bigger competitors in the market for handmade and artist created products.
At a
time when few people realised a growing interest in buying handmade goods Etsy
- http://www.etsy.com - emerged as the place for talented artists and
craftspeople to sell their wares online to an international audience and for
several years Etsy remained on top.
Quality
of goods was high and many very gifted creators sold exclusively at the site,
leading to high profits for makers and for the company behind the site. Then as happens for most good things, the
competition got wind of an easy way to make money, by simply mediating between
people good at making things and others good at selling them.
Today, Etsy’s
main rivals are eBay and Amazon, each with its own developing platform for
handmade and artisan created goods, and presenting a major threat to Etsy’s survival.
But for
people like us the result is a proven product and plenty of places to market
goods you and I don’t have to create and won’t even have to pay for in advance
of selling them on sites like eBay and Amazon and, hopefully, Etsy too.
All we
have to do is find artists and craftworkers, people typically good at making
things and lousy at selling them, and we offer to represent them online.
It’s
all so easy, I’ve done it many times myself and, as soon as Amazon and eBay
have all their ducks in a row we’ll take a close look at making money ourselves
from other people’s hard work and creative genius.
Until
then, keep watching this space!
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