alternative venues: sell your stuff online

Kate Lightfoot a.k.a. scarlettcat on Etsy always seems to post helpful stuff in the Etsy forums. (Visit her blog here.) The topic of selling online, of course, is always of huge interest to entrepreneurs - at least in the sense of those of us on Etsy, etc. Kate put together a long list of venues online where such an entrepreneur could sell their stuff. I've gone through the list, visited each site, and hand picked the sites that I feel would be worthy to look into as an alternative to Etsy. (Don't worry Etsy, I'm still yours.) Just a little heads up, my picks are either for those of us in the United States or for everyone and I didn't even consider a site if I didn't find it aesthetically pleasing ... so many standards!

First of all 1000 Markets. It's free to open shop, just like Etsy. Unlike Etsy, 1000 Markets only caters to those of us in the United States at this time. There are no fees for listing, hosting or setup, although when you make a sale a small, all-inclusive fee is deducted from your profit. 1000 Markets calls it MarketSimple pricing wherein you are charged 5.5% + 50 cents on every sale. Etsy charges 20 cents to list an item, or relist an item. Etsy might be the better way to go if we're going to compare it to 1000 Markets. Depends on how many times you like to relist items.

Art Fire. It's free free free. For a basic seller account. If you upgrade to a verified seller's account you'll have to pay $12/month (no contract), but you'll get access to Art Fire's Facebook Kiosk, coupon codes and gift certificates, the Global Product Editor, craft guilds, artifact recognition awards, increased search exposure, etc. When you sell an item, you're not charged a dime. There are no fees. As a basic seller you're allowed to list unlimited items (for a limited time), with up to 4 images on each item. You may also participate in the forums and enjoy a few of the perks on the site, such as automatic Google Base submission of your products and Google Analytics stats on your listings. Cool!

Big Cartel. You'll need a PayPal account to sell. Other than PayPal fees, you won't be charged for anything...if you're on the Gold Plan (which is free). Otherwise, you can pay $9.99/month or $19.99/month to upgrade your plan and sell up to 100 items. With the Gold Plan you can only sell 5 items at a time, and unfortunately you can only have one image per item. Although with that said, I don't have many items listed on my Etsy shop so a free account would be perfect for a seller with small inventory. With any of the plans, you basically get your own website - so you have more control over how you present your "brand" to the world - awesome!

PapernStitch. You won't actually be selling through PapernStitch. The site acts as an exhibition space for your shop (whether your shop is on Etsy, 1000 Markets, etc.) The site is free to join. Why not sign up?