Handmade Venue Update: The Handmade World at Your Fingertips
June 23, 2009 | By
Welcome to our second installment of the Handmade Venue Update! This time around, we’ve included updates from a few more venues (thank you everyone for letting us know which ones we missed last time!). Now, no matter where you sell, you’ll be able to find out what’s new in the craft marketplace in one easy location!
The venues listed below are all arranged in alphabetical order for the easiest possible browsing, with links to each to the news updates on each of these websites’ news blogs.
1000 Markets
On Monday 1000 Markets was mentioned by Handmade Marketing in a special post on how to sell on 1000 Markets. The article includes 10 tips from successful 1000 Markets seller Ronnie Schultz, MyThreeJewels. To read the full article, click here.
ArtFire
Yesterday ArtFire announced a new partnership with major glass supplier Delphi Glass. This partnership will give Delphi artists on ArtFire access to Delphi promotions and features only available on ArtFire. Artists will also have their items placed in a Delphi Art Glass Trend Page and be able to set up a co-branded ArtFire Delphi Fusion Studio. In addition, Delphi will be supplying instructional guides to HandmadeNews.org for glass artists.
ArtFire expects this to the first of many such partnerships with major suppliers. To read the HandmadeNews article covering the partnership, click here, or to read the ArtFire announcement, click here.
Dawanda
As of Monday, Dawanda is offering a Discovery Sale, in which buyers receive 15% off all participating shops in which they’ve never made a purchase before. Shoppers can note which shops are participating by looking for a little palm tree icon on sellers’ products. The sale only lasts until Sunday, June 28, so sellers are encouraged to promote as much as possible during the week. You can read more about the sale on DaWanda’s homepage.
DaWanda is also offering a blog contest in which all members are eligible. To enter, all bloggers need to do is pick out a favorite item on DaWanda and post a blog about it. The three bloggers with the most creative, funny, and unusual posts will win the product they feature. The contest started on June 16, and a winner will be announced on the 30th. For more details, click here.
Etsy
In response to sellers’ uproar last week over SEO changes, Etsy has altered their headlines and titles once again. Now, all products’ titles read as, “Item title by username on Etsy.” Etsy also reports that they will be changing their meta keywords for item pages, so to give more weight to tags. With these changes in effect, Etsy traffic should be back to normal in 2 to 3 weeks.
Etsy included a formal apology for the initial SEO switch and the lack of communication on their part, stating that they’ll be better at alerting their members of major site changes in the future. To read the full post in the Etsy forums, click here, or to read the HandmadeNews article, click here.
Folksy
Folksy has announced its Fashioning Technology Winner! Folksy seller Hatastic will be receiving a 2GB iPod Shuffle and the Craftzine Fashioning Technology book. Runners up will also receive a copy of the book, so members are encouraged to check their mailbox regularly. To read more and view the winning product, click here.
iCraft
According to Sellers’ Bootcamp Program Creator PillowThrowDecor, the number of participants in the upcoming Bootcamp may be limited, so members are encouraged to sign up now! Those considering joining iCraft are encouraged to contact PillowThrowDecor to find out about special membership deals. For more information on the Seller’s Bootcamp, click here.
Madeitmyself
According to a note posted by their founder, Ray Victors, Madeitmyself is currently taking steps to move the site out of beta. While the note doesn’t really go into what new features they’ll be adding to the site or when these features will be implicated, all listing pages now display a countdown to selling fees. Currently members on Madeitmyself can sell their items for free, but in a little over 3 months’ times, selling fees will become active on the site. To read Ray Victor’s note, click here, or if you’re a Madeitmyself member, click here to view the Selling Fees Countdown.
ShopHandmade
There have been no new updates on ShopHandmade, click here to read last week’s update.
SilkFair
On Friday SilkFair updated their Custom Shops to include Google Analytics, so sellers can now track their statistics and views. Members can also add in snippet and widget codes to their Custom Shop. Click here to read more.
Winkelf
Members on Winkelf can now control the listing order of items in their studios. Custom Sort Order works by allowing members to drag and drop items in members’ storefronts to arrange them in any order they so choose. Click here to learn more.
Those are all the updates for this week, but be sure to check back next Tuesday for the next edition of Handmade Venue Update!
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