Our 2023 Marketplace Tech Plan utilized hosted e-commerce to get our marketplace launched in only seven months, using off-the-shelf technology to get us to revenue as fast as possible.
Exactly three years later, today we launched A better handmade marketplace.
Instead of renting our marketplace and functionality from corporations, we own it. We purchased a copy of the code, run it on a server hosted by a fellow cooperative (MayFirst), and can make feature improvements and bug fixes ourselves.
What Makes It Even Better…
The general public can now both sell and shop their unique, handmade creations!
Unlike other platforms, our sellers don’t compete with mass-produced drop shipped goods or the increasingly volatile rules and fees that have made it nearly impossible to survive in other marketplaces. Skill and judgment must be so critical to the creation process of listed products that experienced industry peers can verify the artisan could have potentially ruined listed products in the process, but they didn’t.
Simple, transparent commissions from free listings keep authentically handmade goods available at reasonable prices for shame-free shopping by customers who value the story and artistry behind the piece.
Sellers: 12% sales commission + 3.49% + $0.49 payment processing fee
Artisan Sellers: 8% sales commission + 3.49% + $0.49 payment processing fee
Supporter Sellers: 9.5% sales commission + 3.49% + $0.49 payment processing fee
The new Artisans Cooperative marketplaces offers sellers over 300 categories and subcategories for their products, with new additions available on request from members.
Member Benefits…
Members who have been handmade verified can now receive exclusive, personalized marketing promotions of their story and products:
- Shops can be easily identified as “Verified: Handmade” , “Co-Founder” , and “Blog Featured” by the badges on their shop pages and indications on their listed products.
- Can be features on Marketplace homepage
- Carousels & Videos, featured on social media
- New Gift Guides
- Blog Post
- Social Media Highlights
- Searchable on Marketplace
- Team favorites featured on landing page and blog as Brook’s Buys
- Searchable gift guides
Craft has always been the refuge of the disadvantaged: a way to earn income outside of a system that makes participation difficult for so many. It’s paramount that the space we create reduces barriers to entry and is democratically led by many voices, to benefit the full spectrum of artisans who are struggling to make a living in the digital platform economy. As we grow, we put more profits into the pockets of artisans and give autonomy back to the handmade community!
Things To Know
Not – Safe – For – Work is welcome.
Products that feature human nudity, crude language, drug paraphernalia, or are intended for private sensual use are considered Not Safe For Work (NSFW). These products must feature a cover image that excludes the product’s human nudity and coarse language, and must be categorized as NSFW in addition to any other categories. Sellers may use this if needed:
Print – On – Demand is limited.
We actively encourage, promote, and support artisans who produce their products using in-house production. Print-on-demand is a type of outsourcing only allowed for primarily two-dimensional paper-based materials that already reach intended audiences through written words or illustrations, such as zines, stickers, greeting cards, posters, books, fabric, and canvases.
Registration requires two forms: for safety.
The Seller application on the marketplace creates an administrator on CS-Cart. We will not collect and store tax-identifying information necessary for shop related payouts on this form, for security purposes. Upon completion, potential sellers should receive an email moving them to step two.
The Marketplace Registration Form registers a shop’s storefront and secures the necessary tax information appropriately. This can be completed multiple times, for different or identical business identities, under a single seller.
Sellers who are not members are also required to complete a handmade verification before their shop can be activated.
You can still redeem gift cards!
Our Beta marketplace is still active and functional at http://artisan-co-op.myshopify.com. Gift card holders can redeem them on the beta marketplace until further notice.
We’re currently working to create a custom add-on so that gift cards can be migrated from Shopify, properly built into CS-Cart, and reissued as appropriate.
The Marketplace is a creative work in progress…
Members built the new marketplace by hand, together and imperfectly. We anticipate offering an imperfect experience, iterative improvements, and intermittent feature expansions.
Now that we have launched, we’ll be prioritizing these developments in response to the needs of Teams, members, sellers and shoppers. Funnel any found issues or proposed improvements through Service@Artisans.Coop for routing to the appropriate Team.
Artisans Cooperative Still Needs Your Support!
| As we grow, we put more profits into the pockets of artisans and give autonomy back to the handmade community! Tell a friend about Artisans’ better handmade marketplace: share our posts, send an email, or use the Grow The Co-Op Campaign        |