Etsy alternatives for handmade jewelry sellers

Looking elsewhere can feel disloyal to the place where you made your first sales. It's just good business to know your options.

On a $25 sale, Etsy takes $2.83, or 11.3% of the price. When the sale comes from an Offsite Ad, it takes $6.58, or 26.3%. Some makers want a second place to sell, so one shop's rules and fees aren't everything.

The options fall into two kinds. Marketplaces bring shoppers and charge on each sale. Website platforms charge each month, and you bring the shoppers.

Where each number comes from is listed at the end of the page. The website guide compares the website platforms in more detail.

A website can feel like the way to stop paying fees. It moves the work, rather than removing it.

• A marketplace has shoppers already searching. You pay a share when you sell.
• A website has no shoppers of its own. You pay each month, and send people there.
• A website suits makers with a following: market customers, Instagram followers and repeat buyers.

You don't have to leave Etsy to try somewhere else. Some makers sell in two places.

• Keep a piece's price the same everywhere, unless one place's fees force a change.
• Keep count of your stock, so one piece isn't sold twice.
• Start the new place with your best sellers, not your whole shop.

The real question is what each sale leaves you, after materials, time and fees. That's easier to see with your own numbers.

The free pricing calculator counts Etsy's fees or card reader fees in your price. Enter one piece, then switch where you sell to see the difference.

Moving can be exciting. These mistakes are easy to make, and each one is easy to avoid.

• Closing your Etsy shop before the new place brings any sales.
• Choosing by monthly price alone, without counting the fee on each sale.
• Expecting a website to find buyers on its own.
• Keeping old prices that were set for a different set of fees.