career

Crafty selling for side income

Cabbagetown Craft ShowOne of my coworkers is thinking of opening an online shop for the various arts and crafts she makes. She’s really talented…I’ve seen her make everything from pillows to purses to screen prints. It’s enough to fill a whole shop if she had one. (And yeah, I’ve bought some things from her…they’re super cute!)

She figures, as long as she has fun making this stuff anyway, why not make a little extra cash doing it? Maybe one day it can become a full-time business!

But there are so many options for selling your crafty designs online. I know Etsy is the big one everyone thinks of first, but there’s also eBay, Shopify (which lets you set up an online store and accept credit cards online), and I don’t even know what else. Not to mention setting up your own website to feature your products.

The internet makes so much possible for people looking to start side businesses or turn their hobbies into income, which is fantastic. You no longer need to set up a physical store or try to attract customers at a flea market or craft fair. But it also offers so many choices that it can be hard to figure out sometimes what’s best for you.

I’d love to help my friend out, but I don’t really have experience in this area, so I thought I’d turn to my best source of great information…my lovely readers!

Do any of you sell crafts online, or know someone who does? What sites do you recommend? Any tips for my friend just starting out?

~Heart,

Em

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photo credit:  Christine Urias

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4 Comments

  • It would probably be a good idea to start small and local before jumping into an online business. That way, she could get a sense of which items are the most popular and what it’s like to manage her business on a small scale. I LOVE Etsy! I have to exert a lot of willpower not to get too sucked in, both in terms of spending hours browsing Etsy and buying too much!

    • I’m the same way about Etsy. Half my house is decorated in stuff from there. Not only is it super cute and unique, but I like knowing that I’m supporting individual artists.

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