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Even though the traditional place to sell crafts is at local fairs or shows, many seasoned crafters will tell you that those venues are becoming more expensive to sell at, and provide less profit due to flea market mentalities of shoppers making bee lines to the Avon, mass produced, imports, and Tupperware tables. Even juried shows have become flea markets where a crafter can not make a profit if even able to make back the booth fee. Last year (2008), a major quilting show had a booth fee of over $300! Most local fairs require $65-75 for a booth. So where is a crafter to go? Online!

The most established website for selling crafts is Etsy. With over 200,000 shops, more than millions of items, and 2 million members, Etsy has the largest community and most built-in traffic for setting up a webstore for your wares. A listing costs twenty cents for 4 months with a transaction fee of 3.5% based only on the sale price. Each listing has space for up to 5 pictures, has a chance of front page exposure upon listing, and there are on site promotions available. Among the handmade items are supplies and vintage, making for a diverse marketplace attracting many buyers from all over the world, though prices are given in U.S. dollars. There is also a large community behind Etsy, willing to help with anything from your Etsy shop, to business and crafting questions, to personal support. An internal conversation system, forums, and chat room allow you to have discussions without disclosing your email address. Etsy depends a lot on user feedback including inappropriate item flagging, ideas for improvements, newsletter discussions, and email support. (The information is up-to-date as of early 2009).

A new competitor for Etsy hit the scene in late 2008 - Artfire. By advertising outside of its site and the craftcommunity, offering discounts to the earliest members, Artfire is attempting to increase traffic and membership in order to compete with Etsy, which has a 3+ year head start. There are free shops on Artfire, allowing members to try out the format before becoming premier members. Premier shops have no limits on items, have community options like guilds, allow for a linking hub in all listings, and cost from free to $20 per month. There is no transaction fee and no listing fees. The monthly cost depends on what promotions or referrals the seller participates in. Each listing has up to 10 photos and currently does not expire though a 4 month rotation is planned once the site

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