The Handmade Venue Update: ArtFire Partners with Jo-Ann, DaWanda Turns Three, and Folksy Publishes a Newspaper
December 08, 2009 | By
Welcome to HandmadeNews’ Handmade Venue Update! Here, we summarize all the recent events for the week of the top most used craft marketplaces on the web. That way, whether you sell at one site or several, you need only stop in here to get the news you need.
The venues listed below are all arranged in alphabetical order with links to each to the news updates on each of these websites’ news blogs. If we’ve missed anything please let us know!
There have been no need updates for iCraft, Zibbet, ShopHandmade, WinkElf, or MadeItMyself this week.
1000 Markets
1000 Markets has added the new Giftshipper Collection, which consists of products which include free direct shipping, gift-wrapping and personal card. This allows buyers to browse one easy place to find items with these added perks.
ArtFire
ArtFire has just brought on a new Common Good Partner: Jo-Ann Stores. Jo-Ann will serve was ArtFire’s general craft preferred supplier, and members who are fans of Jo-Ann can become a Jo-Ann Artisan to receive updates and deals in their MyArtFire panel while having their items appear in Jo-Ann’s gallery. This is the fourth Common Good Partner ArtFire has brought on, including Delphi Glass, Lion Brand Yarn, and Fabric.com. ArtFire’s Common Good Program is designed to help artisans bridge the gap between where they purchase supplies and where they sell their finished craft projects.
ArtFire is also holding a Common Good Contest for the month of December. To enter, all members have to do is become a Common Good artisan of one of ArtFire’s four Common Good partners. In January, ArtFire will randomly select a Common Good artisan and award them a $100 gift card from whichever partner they prefer.
DaWanda
DaWanda celebrated their third birthday last week. Since their launch December 3rd, 2006, DaWanda has grown to 50,000 “creatives,” 2 million visitors a month and 60 million pageviews. To celebrate, DaWanda is giving away a handmade DaWanda keychain to everyone who comments on their birthday post.
DaWanda is also holding a Wish List Lottery to celebrate the Christmas season. Every day until Dec. 24th, DaWanda will award one member an item from their DaWanda Wishlist. To enter, members need only forward their wish list to one or more people through email for every day they’d like to take part in the contest.
Etsy
Etsy has just posted their statistics for November. Sales are up 24% since October, with 22% more items sold. Listings have increased by 16.4%, and members increased by 21%. For the month overall, Etsy received 680,742,203 total page views.
Folksy
Folksy has announced its featured items for the week, which are another top selection of Christmas gifts. They’ve also released a newspaper for the site: The Folksy Festive Sampler, which is seven pages full of Folksy gift collections, information about the site, statistics, and a tutorial. They’ll be sending out copies to different Folksy people later this week as well as craft fair organizers. Members are welcome to email Folksy if they’re interested in receiving a copy, or download the PDF.
Folksy is also wrapping up their Upcycle Competition, and encouraging members to “Favourite” which ever item they prefer the most. The judge’s picks will be announced shortly, but members still have until Dec 10th at 8 pm to nominate their favourite for the “People’s Choice” award. Each of the five winners will be able to showcase their portfolio at the Sue Ryder Care Camden in February. The auction part of the Upcycle Competition will be December 8th and take place through eBay.
SilkFair
SIlkFair has posted eight points for sellers to help them promote their shops without spending too much money. These ideas include making use of blogs and forums, creating pre-packed deals or discounts for bulk orders, and starting an email marketing campaign. To provide examples, the posts also showcased a few artisans already offering special promotions.
Sara Moore is the Head of the Content Department on ArtFire.com.
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