A Look at Amazon Handmade Vs. Etsy
It's been a little while since Amazon launched its handmade section, so I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how far its come along, and compare it to Etsy, the latter which of course has had a huge lead.
To be considered for Amazon's handmade area, you need to receive an invitation. But, you can also request an invitation from their Handmade at Amazon page.
When I looked at the Handmade at Amazon shopping area, I got 215 results. Many of these are artisan jewelry items. There are also some whimsical "Mistaken Lyrics Coasters" and an attractive porcelain red flower mug, along with a matching red flower design bowl. These cost $38.00 and $36.00, respectively.
In general, prices in the Handmade category are going to skew higher than those in Amazon's regular category; this is to be expected for handmade, quality items. The same can be said of Etsy, where prices tend to be higher for items than those on eBay.
Right now on Amazon Handmade, I saw:
- 145 Jewelry Items
- 70 Home & Kitchen Items
and
- 8 Handbags and Accessories.
(Right now on Etsy alone, there are some 8,339,000 jewelry items).
Jewelry items on Amazon Handmade include funky necklaces such as a cat sculpture pendant and some Chevron-designed disc pendants; there are also several "Druzy," raw gemstone-encrusted looking pieces.
While there are of course tons more items on Etsy, a big reason Etsy sellers may want to look at applying for an invitation is for more customers, and specifically the draw of the "two-day shipping" Prime offers.
If you are a seller of handmade items, check out the invitation request on Amazon. If you are a buyer, don't neglect looking at Amazon handmade as an up-and-coming place to buy unique handmade gifts.
In a subsequent post, we will take a look at the eBay handmade offerings.
What do you think of handmade items on Amazon, and would you buy any of them? Do you look for handmade items when shopping for gifts or yourself? Post a comment here!