FEATURE ARTISTS

I know its tough building your business and trying to find the perfect solution to having your work get the exposure it deserves and the sales that are wanted! 

Websites can be EXPENSIVE, time consuming and overwhelming!! PLUS-not everyone is good at that stuff, or really wants to do it! 

Because I am passionate about helping other artists, I have come up with an idea that will allow a platform and affordable solution to selling to artists of all levels. I have decided to open up part of my website in order to give some love & support to some of the other local talent we have in our beautiful community!

What will I get from being a Feature Artist?

• A personal page with your name or business name, under my "products" section that includes a small bio section
• Up to 10 products per month on your designated product page
• Usage of Mystic Mandala e-commerce platform to make sales across the globe.                           (CC and paypal payments -CAD)
• Technical knowledge and implementation of your product listings using info provided by you!
• Sales from your work paid out to you on a monthly basis
• Products include a full description, title, sale price and discount (should you choose to lower your price any time), up to three photos of your product and one video intended to show size and use, as well as any other details such link to any other websites or social media. 
• Email marketing campaigns

Building your own website to sell your product is another popular option. But as I mentioned above, it takes skills, knowledge and time to design a professional looking store website. Also, you’d need to bring traffic to the website yourself, which could be quite difficult in the beginning. While using my platform, you will be benefiting from my already established SEO and search optimizations! And you would be skipping the whole building process completely (until you are ready of course to build your own)!

Regarding other selling platforms like Etsy and eBay among the most popular, I have taken the time to do the extensive research when I was on my website journey, and let me tell you, its ALOT! 

Let me break down a couple of examples below based on my research:

ETSY

Etsy is an American ecommerce company focused on handmade items or craft supplies. These items fall under a wide range of categories including jewelry, bags, clothing, home décor, furniture, toys, art and craft supplies. While Etsy is a popular space, the high number of sellers make it difficult for your products to stand out! I have made a small list of PROs and CONs of this site:

PROs

• Growing number of customers that shop on the platform (Over 96 million buyers according to Statista). The number continues to grow and doesn't seem to be slowing down.
• Increasing Marketing from Etsy. They have been investing more and more in promotions, TV ads, social media ads and other marketing campaigns.
• AI tools to help you write to speed up process of writing listing descriptions. 
• Even with the recent increase in fees, Etsy is still lower compared to other platforms 

CONs

•  With the increasing competition, top Etsy sellers are becoming even more experienced. They fight for the same search page placement than you, and it could be hard to compete with them if you are new to the platform. 
• Increased marketing and advertising has led to an increased transaction fee from 5% to 6.5%. Together with other fees from the platform like offsite ads fee, payment processing fees, the cost of selling on Etsy can add up pretty quickly, leading to thinner profit margin for Etsy sellers. 
• Unexplained suspensions: A number of Etsy sellers, including some of my students, experienced sudden suspensions in 2023 without clear reasons. This unpredictability adds a layer of risk to relying solely on Etsy for your business 
• Building a successful Etsy shop takes time and effort.  It's not a get-rich-quick scheme, contrary to what some Etsy gurus may claim.  To increase your chances of success on Etsy, you'll need to put in the time and effort to learn different aspects of running an Etsy business, including photography, branding, SEO, marketing, etc. If you are looking for a side hustle that generates money without you lifting a finger, then unfortunately Etsy is not for you. 

I definitely recommend doing your own research however if you are looking for a start, I recommend this link: https://www.growingyourcraft.com/blog/is-it-worth-selling-on-etsy-pros-cons-fees-alternatives

eBay

eBay is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose California. They broker customer to customer retail sales through online marketplaces in 190 markets worldwide. 

PROs

• Reach a vast audience. One of the greatest benefits to ebay is the sheer number of people you can have viewing your products. eBay reached a total of 168 million active users in 2017
• You can sell literally everything! (Okay, except restricted illegal items of course) No matter your niche, there is an audience.

CONs

• Rules and policy restrictions. At eBay, you are operating under a set of enforced rules and don't have nearly as much control over aspects of business. If you go this direction, best to do your reading!
• Seller Fees!!!! Fees are one of the main caveats that discourage ecommerce sellers from expanding to eBay. If your profit margins are low, you might not benefit from selling certain products (especially if there is a load of competition) eBay has percentages of 13.4% on sales as well as insertion fees, final value fees per order ( For orders $10.00 or less the per order fee is $0.30, for orders over $10.00 the per order fee is $0.40.) and additional final fees if you violate the policy of buying or selling outside of eBay or if you are not meeting their performance!
• Much competition!  Remember that eBay has millions of active users, and with so many sellers you're likely to face stiff competition when selling popular products. You'll need to evaluate as to whether you can beat their prices or otherwise offer a better deal than your competitors.

I definitely recommend doing your own research however if you are looking for a start, I recommend this link: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822