by Joan Collins

Created on: December 23, 2009

Talented artisans can make money selling their crafts and designs on-line.  It is more than sign up, upload and sell, more difficult than the sites make it sound, but it can be done. 

Before you get ready to sell, create a copy of each craft or design you hope to sell.  Write a marketing plan.  Investigate the different ways you can advertise your crafts, then prepare to sign up.

Etsy.com is a company that was created to help artists sell their homemade crafts.  Sign on to Etsy.com and click on Your Etsy.  This will take you to a site where you can sign up.  Etsy charges you twenty cents for each item you list and three and one-half percent of the total sale price not including the shipping fees.  You will list your items in the categories it best fits.  You will have to take care of the advertising and bring people to your products.

Cafe Press is another site that an artist can use as a venue to sell homemade craft ideas.  On Cafe Press  is for the artist that creates on paper.  Draw your designs and, after signing up, upload them onto the site.  Choose the types of products that you want to sell.  There are no upfront costs.  Cafe Press prints the items as your sell them.  You are given a free on-line stop to display up to 80 your products.  You can open as many stores as you want as you can only have one type of product per store.   You can also pay $4.95 a month for a premium shop if you pay for a year, $6.95 for month to month.  They take care of the shipping, returns and payments.  Then they send you a check.  Cafe Press sets a base price for your product.  You mark it up and get anything over the base price.  You can also sell on their marketplace and earn 10% of the sale price.  Again, you will want to advertise on your own.

Zazzle.com allows you to sell your designs on their site in much the same way Cafe Press works.  Upload your design into your account that you will set up at Zazzle.com.  After you sign up, you will get a store that you can customize with your own theme and style.  You can even choose real life models to wear your shirts in the pictures.  They feel they have so many customers that, if your products are above average, the customers will come to you.  Be patient though; it takes time.  Their pay is structured so that every item has a set price with a built in 10% for the creator of the product.  If you want to earn more, you let Zazzle know what percentage you want to earn and they will increase the price of the product to accommodate you. 

The Craft Mall.com has a different program.  Craft creators pay a set price each month, depending on the amount of items you wish to list.  When you sell an item, you keep the total amount of the sale.  Visit Craft Mall where account costs vary from a basic store at $9.95 to a premier store at $54.95.  They offer unique possibilities such as product coupons and discounts.

Selling your crafts and designs on-line will allow you to work from home or earn extra money without quitting your day job.  Choose the company that best fits your needs and sign up today.

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