Handmade at Amazon goes after Etsy market

“All of these products have to be handmade and hand-manufactured”, Amazon Marketplace vice-president Peter Faricy said.

In the works since at least May, it has a lineup of more than 80,000 items from around 5,000 sellers, according to the New York Times (paywall).

Similar to Etsy and Custommade.com, and different than the regular Amazon site, the Handmade at Amazon artisans have a profile page that describes how their products are made. More than 600 Handmade items are now available for Prime shipping, and Amazon says more will be added every day.

Jessica Dickson, a Dunwoody based maker of jewelry, said she wanted to join Handmade at Amazon because it offers customers a one stop shop for quality goods.

Amazon sellers will pay a transaction fee of 12%, almost four times that of Etsy’s 3.5%, which includes a listing fee of 20 cents. Amazon also discovered many of their Handmade vendors at craft fairs. Online retail giant Amazon is entering the world of indie goods with a new subdivision called Handmade.

“Artisans fill out an application form, where we ask them about their items, production methods, workspace and their business”, an Amazon representative told Business News Daily.

As per reports, Amazon has been sending out invitations since May to artisans, including those on Etsy, asking if they want to apply to sell on Handmade.

But in an effort to broaden its market share, Etsy has pivoted to allow larger companies and now has a serious problem with mass-produced and even counterfeit goods that have upset its sellers, buyers, and investors.

For now, Etsy’s selection dwarfs Amazon’s – the company had 29M items listed on its site at the end of 2014, whereas Amazon’s marketplace (has set strict listing rules) currently has 80K+.

In June of this year, Etsy made a big change to their policies again, by banning the sales of metaphysical services.

However, CEO Chad Dickerson is confident Etsy will remain a strong contender in the hand goods marketplace.

“Sellers may value Etsy as a sales channel, but many of them lack a sense of loyalty to the marketplace”, Luria wrote in the report.