Are you artsy? Or maybe you have some handcrafted products you would love to sell to millions of potential customers? Amazon for Handmade might be the platform for you!
Similar to how Etsy works, you can become a part of the massive empire that is Amazon and get to sell your handmade products. It’s almost a no-brainer to become a part of the Amazon world. They have millions of loyal customers that just love their platform. If you really want to make money with your handmade products, this platform is just what you needed!
What is Amazon Handmade?
Amazon Handmade is a platform where people can sell their handmade, unique, and one-of-a-kind products to people all around the world.
Unlike every other product that is sold on Amazon, Handmade only sells unique handmade products. You cannot sell mass-produced items, and as such, must remain unique.
What can you sell on Amazon Handmade?
As mentioned in the point above, sellers on this platform are only allowed to list handmade and unique items. You cannot re-sell items or items that are mass-produced (like cups from a factory).
Top help you a bit, here are a few examples of what you can sell:
- Handmade art
- Handmade sculptures
- Handmade jewelry
- Handmade pottery
- Handmade sewn products
- Handmade utensils
- Handmade books / covers
These are just a few good examples. As I write this, I logged into Amazon to see what items are currently the best-selling handmade items:
How do I get started on Amazon Handmade?
If you have used/know about Etsy, then this platform works very similarly. Just like selling regular products on Amazon, you will have to apply to be able to sell you handmade products.
Not everyone can just show up and sell their products on this platform. It’s really easy to get approved, but only if you can actually prove that you make your own handmade products.
Step 1: Fill out the application
As intimidating as that might sound, it’s really straightforward. All you have to do is answer their questions honestly and submit the application. Here are some of the questions they might ask you when applying:
- Your country and which country you plan on selling to
- Examples of the products you plan to sell
- Photos of your workspace
- Photos of your hand-making process
Step 2: Wait for Approval
Once you have submitted your application, you will have to wait for approval before you can list your products.
In the past, the approval process would take up to six weeks to complete. Nowadays, you might get the application approved within a few hours or a couple of days. Just remember to be patient and not apply multiple times.
Also remember, Amazon Handmade requires that all the products you sell be handmade by yourself or an employee. You cannot sell mass-produced products or products from another artist.
Step 3: Decide how you want to fulfill your orders
With Amazon Handmade, you have the choice of whether you want to fulfill your orders yourself (packing, labeling, dropping off at the post office) or have Amazon FBA do that for you.
If you use FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon), you will ship a number of items to an Amazon warehouse. When someone buys your product, Amazon will handle the shipping and returns of your product for you. Takes out the hassle of doing that yourself.
Listing your products on Amazon Handmade
Once you’ve gone through the hoops of getting approved, it’s time to start listing your products!
At the time of writing this, being a seller and listing your products is $39.99 per month. Many speculate that this might change in the future, but for right now that’s how much it costs (other than 15% a referral fee per-sale. More on that later).
All you have to do is to take great photos of your product and a compelling description. As mentioned in the steps above, if you choose to ship your products using FBA, your products might be eligible for Prime Shipping. This is what makes selling products on the Amazon ecosystem very profitable.
People want their products quickly, and having the ability to sell your products under Prime shipping is a huge advantage.
Amazon Handmade vs Etsy
If you’re on the fence and trying to figure out where they should sell an Amazon or Etsy, let me make it a little easy for you.
Overall, Amazon fees are higher than Etsy fees. On average, you’ll probably have lower profit margins on Amazon than if you are selling on Etsy. This is definitely something to take into consideration.
Another thing to consider is the $39.99 per month charge on Amazon. If you are just starting out, this is quite a chunk of money. This doesn’t even include selling fees, which I will discuss shortly.
Regarding fees, here is a good illustration of how much you could potentially save by selling on Esty:
| AMAZON HANDMADE | ETSY |
|---|---|
| Selling 40 items | Selling 40 items |
| Average Cost: $18 per item | Average Cost: $18 per item |
| Average Shipping: $6 per item | Average Shipping: $6 per item |
| 15% transaction fee | 3.5% transaction fee + 3% payment fee |
| $39.99 monthly fee per seller | $0.20 listing fee per item |
Just purely looking at numbers, it is clear that Etsy is much more affordable than sending on Amazon. However, with e-commerce, it’s more than just fees. For example, you can’t beat Prime shipping when it comes to shipping your products.
With Etsy, you have to handle all your Logistics and returns. However, Amazon handles all that for you. That alone is a huge advantage over Etsy, but it will all depend on your business model.
Where can I get the most visibility?
When it comes to online retail, very few can compete with the Behemoth that Amazon is! 197 million people use Amazon on a monthly basis. Etsy, on average, has 39.4 million active buyers. That’s a big difference.
However, it’s also important to realize the kind of buyer that is on each of these two sites.
The typical buyer on Amazon is simply seeking convenience and impulse buying. It is very different from somebody that is shopping on Etsy. Although Amazon handmade is a dedicated section on the website featuring handmade items, it’s still only a subset of what Amazon mainly does.
Amazon handmade to does not really allow any sort of branding or marketing materials to be sent out with your products. It also doesn’t do quite as well on marketing sellers to buyers.
Etsy On the other hand does a phenomenal job when it comes to marketing its sellers to buyers. They sent out regular emails featuring products and trending search items. Whereas on Amazon, search results are usually coming from everywhere and not necessarily your handmade products.
Etsy Prides itself in connecting handmade sellers to buyers that are interested in these custom pieces. Amazon on the other hand it’s mostly catering to the typical online shopper that needs something very quickly.
Is Amazon Handmade Worth it?
Several sellers on Amazon handmade and reported doing significantly better on Amazon than on Etsy. Like anything else, there might be several factors causing this.
For starters, people inherently trust Amazon more than Etsy. This is simply due to the fact that Etsy it’s not as well-known and does not have robust policies that favor buyers as much as Amazon does. As a buyer, you really can’t lose with Amazon.
An example of this is, when something sells on Amazon handmade, Amazon withholds the money until the item is shipped. On Etsy, payments are released instantly. This is a bit worrisome when it comes to fraud or scammers.
With that said, Etsy has built quite the brand. It is the One-Stop-Shop when it comes to handmade products hands down.
At the end of the day, if you are willing to take on higher fees and margins for the benefit of being on Amazon, then it might be worth a shot. However, if you are just starting out and I want you to minimize fees and maximize your Prophets, You could also be a great platform.
Besides, you can always figure it out from there. Let me know which one you decide to go with oh, I am genuinely interested to know 🙂
