Ebay gets almost no exposure in the artisan category.
Unless they changed it, without a subscription, you could not get access to vacation mode. This was a necessity for me rather than ending individual listings. I have been subscription for several years now and I basically break even but I keep hanging on in case something changes. I slowly make improvements and add listings as I can.
There’s plenty of alibaba on Ebay as well still getting subsidized Postal Union shipping rates.
Yeah that’s madness. We (the USA) are subsidizing the shipping cost for the Chinese e-commerce companies to beat American e-commerce companies (us). The subsidized postal shipping rate should have been abolished long time ago.
Lately we have been doing quite well on eBay. Of course our product is more of a commodity than art so it may depend on what you sell.
-Ana
To clarify, for jewelry, there are some jewelry categories that have certain requirements. If you list handmade jewelry in the handmade artisan selection, finding them is worse than finding the Handmade section on Amazon. If you list as fashion jewelry, it’s a race to the bottom.
I also have not had much luck selling handmade jewelry on ebay even when I used their paid advertising. Instead I use ebay to list excess craft supplies, restrung assorted beads, etc., and I don’t pay for anymore ads.
Marilyn
Just a mod note, we do have an entire SAS category for Etsy at Etsy (clickable link). I’m going to move this topic there.
Ultimately, as someone noted upthread, Etsy is especially effective for handmade items, vintage* items, and art.
As an Etsy shopper, personally I immediately filter all searches for “shop is located in US” (but have favorited shops in Canada and UK) and a delivery window that corresponds to that. Etsy has the same problem as Amazon, where some Sellers claim to be located in the US but are not.
Again, as a shopper, it’s a struggle to weed through all the “sponsored” results. On the mobile website (not app), results are in 2x columns, and every other row is ads. So if I see 4 results in 2x2, 2 of them are ads that evade my filters and match my search query about as well as Amazon search results.
Therefore, most of the time I find specific Etsy shops through social media, which is much more user-friendly for me and results in tight, high-quality targets to my interests.
I used to use Etsy to source supplies or products to add to my proprietary bundles for resell, with the dedicated Wholesale or Bulk filters. The sellers and brands were awesome to work with, and it turned a nice steady profit, but post-pandemic those bundles are no longer part of my business.
*Vintage = used, over 20 years old (even if NIP), out of production, and/or actual antiques or collectibles, etc. Not “vintage” as in “retro style” but a current production.