ArtFire – Handmade Sellers Review the Website

When HandmadeMarketing.org decided to review ArtFire.com, we put out feelers to current ArtFire sellers.  We had heard buzz around this selling platform and wanted to review the site to help handmade sellers make the pick between ArtFire and other sites like Etsy, 1000 Markets, etc.  Sites like Etsy exist, but are they right for your handmade items?

To look for more feedback from sellers regarding using Artfire as a selling platform, our team visited the Etsy.com forums and contacted ArtFire sellers directly.

On the ArtFire website, the company says, “It is always free for buyers of handmade products to search through our listed artisans, buy, or request for items to be specially made.”  What about seller fees on ArtFire?

“To be quite honest, I jumped on Artfire because of the flat monthly fee,” the shop owner of ArtFire’s (and Etsy’s) SalvageNation.  “I even paid the $7.00 per month for several months with nothing in the shop. I wanted to have that fee for lifetime. I’m in the original group of Ebay sellers and I know how fast it grew and how glad I was to be there from the beginning. The impact isn’t so much for me but for my customers. I can charge less per item on Artfire knowing the fees or less, it might be a few cents or a few dollars but its something I can do when its possible.”

Interestingly, we came across a post by an Etsy and ArtFire seller regarding a change of fees once ArtFire launches officially, “ArtFire is $7.00 a month if you join now. That is permanent for the 1st 5000 sellers. After the 5000 spots are gone, it goes to $20.00 per month.”

When we asked sellers what they liked most about Artfire, the answers varied.  The shop owner of SalvageNation pointed to shop promotion as ArtFire’s strength – and the Etsy search as a weakness.

“As a vintage shop, how I am promoted on a site is very important,” said the shop owner of SalvageNation.  “Artfire is about the handmade community but from their very first day they opened their pages to the public the vintage category was there,” she said.  “I found them very, very early in the beta stage and they couldn’t have been more accommodating about the vintage shop. Their search engine is easy and people find me quite easily.   Etsy in comparison had vintage from the first also, but over the past two years has made it incredibly hard for anyone to find vintage items in the Etsy search engine. In the first few months I was on etsy, my sales were amazing, then when the big change to search happened, I have had to work and work on promos, google searches, etc.”

The shop owner of BeansThings (on both Etsy and ArtFire) said help with photos and site design were strengths of ArtFire.

“I love that ArtFire allows more than 5 pictures of our items. I also love that the site will upload your item onto Google base for you. I find ArtFire’s website very cluttered and difficult to navigate around.”  As for the site’s weaknesses, “I have yet to sell anything on ArtFire,” said the owner of BeansThings.

“I do not have much of a presence on ArtFire as far as the forums go,” the seller continued. “I cannot figure out the forums actually!”  This seems to be a common compaint among ArtFire sellers.  Our team saw time and time again on the Etsy.com foums that sellers found the ArtFire forums “complicated” or never even visited the forums like they do on Etsy.com.

SalvageNation thinks selling on Artfire and Etsy is the best bet.  “I like Artfire for its one page listing process and I like Etsy for the amount of traffic it brings. I am quite pleased to be on both sites.”

Another benefit to ArtFire is the freedom to link to other sites, “On ArtFire you can put in your links to Twitter, a blog, Facebook, etc. for people to click on,” a seller said in the Etsy.com forums.  “I have my blog listed on my shop profile, but people have to cut and paste to get there which of course means they are far less likely to stop by than they would if it were a mere click away.”

Here are additional thoughts from sellers what we came across:

• Time to Promote.  Some sellers think that promoting on Artfire as well as other handmade sales sites takes too much time.  However, some think ArtFire is a great place to promote because competition is less of an obstacle on a newer site. 
  Interestingly, promotion doesn’t seem to get a seller on ArtFire too far based on one seller’s experience, “I haven’t closed my shop but pulled my inventory for now, I may give it another go around the Holidays. I had an item “featured” on the front page of artfire, which got me all of 10 views. Compare that to 300 plus for an item landing on etsy’s front page for 5 minutes. I just don’t think it has the traffic,” the seller said at Etsy.com forums.
• ArtFire is Too Competitive. As far as Etsy vs. Artfire, the seller of SalvageNation thinks the online handmade market shouldn’t be limited and each site should welcome competition.  “I don’t like people who bash one site or the other and I don’t think it is good for any business to do that type of work. As a matter of fact, I actually suspended my account at Artfire for a while because of all the “we’re better than etsy” type ads they were running,” the shop owner of SalvageNation said. 
  “It is my opinion that there is plenty of market space for many, many web sites,”  the seller continued.  “The web isn’t called the world wide web out of folly, we are literally in touch with everyone, everywhere. As a person in business, you have to put your best face out there and you can’t belittle one place or another,” said the shop owner of SalvageNation.
  Others on the forum seemed to agree with the comments made by the seller.  “I understand “competivive” but lets be adult about it,” said one Etsy seller in the Etsy.com forums.  “I went into the forums there once and it was a total Etsy bash, and even the sellers were getting bashed,” another seller added.
• Stock. “I am on ArtFire and have had no sales I believe for the same reason I haven’t bought anything there,” said one Etsy.com seller in the Etsy forums.  “All my favorite Etsy sellers have most of there stock on etsy. I don’t like shopping in a poorly stocked shop and at the same time I say this my artfire shop is very poorly stocked.”
• Give ArtFire Time. What do sellers think of the growth potential for ArtFire?  As one seller put it on the Etsy.com forums, “For a year for $84, or 2 years at $168, its definitely worth it to see how it goes. You’ve got to give a new site like that at least one year. I’ve been there since just before Christmas and just got my first 2 sales. I get a good amount of hits over there, too.”
  SalvageNation agrees.   “In the beginning, I had very few listings and of course, I wasn’t noticed at all,” the shop owner of SalvageNation told us.  “In the past two weeks, I’ve tried to put in something new every few days and devote more time to Artfire. I had three sales in the first week of listing five or more items. I think the community is growing daily.” 
  Another seller at Etsy’s forums also thinks ArtFire needs time, “The thing is, ArtFire is in Beta right now. It’s growing very fast, though. I have a good feeling about the site, honestly.”
• Competition Helps Everyone. When we see many websites in competition with one another, the results are an increase in the overall industry.  “If nothing else, Artfire sure keeps Etsy on their toes! We’ve gotten GA and a new search since Artfire has started,” said one seller at the Etsy.com forums.  In a different thread, another seller added, “I believe artfire will end up being the best thing that ever happened to etsy. They do so many things right and competition is such a good thing. If it weren’t for artfire, we’d probably still be begging for Google analytics.  I’d love to be able to put an active link to my blog in my etsy shop announcement.”
• RapidCart. Some Etsy sellers thought ArtFire’s use of RapidCart was a huge benefit.  “The Rapid Cart feature is AWESOME on ArtFire. My items come up automatically on Google searches and I have more views there than I did here. I like it much better,” the seller said on the Etsy forums.  For sellers, it seems the best part about RapidCart is that the checkout doesn’t require ArtFire sign up in order to buy. Plus, the checkout can be added to a seller’s blog!

In the end, the shop owner of SalvageNation put it best.  “Each site has its pros and cons and just because one site does something one way doesn’t make it “the place to run to” and try to bandwagon others to do it. I can’t be a chain store if I don’t have many locations. I don’t one to sell just one widget, I want to sell many widgets. Basic marketing shows when you limit your selling audience, you limit your product.”

“Selling, actively selling, on any site is advantageous,” the seller continued.  “It only takes one customer looking for you item to make a purchase. I don’t think I’ll ever limit myself simply because of the traffic on a site.”

What do you think of selling on ArtFire?  How does it compare with Etsy or other online handmade markets?  What are the site’s strengths and weaknesses?  What advice would you give to an online seller considering selling on ArtFire?

Tell us about your favorite selling platform!  Share your thoughts with HandmadeMarketing.org about how to sell handmade online.  If our editors include your thoughts in an article, we’ll link to your shop as the source!