Amazon Handmade – What is it?

Amazon Handmade – What is it?

Amazon Handmade is basically Amazon’s answer to Etsy, an extremely popular platform for selling handmade and craft supplies.

Additionally, Amazon Handmade (or officially called “Handmade at Amazon”) is a store within the Amazon marketplace. It is designed for artisans to sell their one-of-a-kind, handmade goods. Naturally, it has categories that include everything from clothing to paintings, jewellery and even homeware products.

Unlike Amazon’s original marketplace where you can simply set up your shop and start selling right away, sellers have to actually be “invited” and approved by Amazon before they can start selling on Handmade.

How can someone get approved for “Handmade at Amazon”?

According to Amazon, “All products available in your Amazon Handmade store must be handmade, i.e. created, altered or assembled entirely by hand (not from a kit). Products must be handmade by you (the artisan), by one of your employees (if your company has 20 or fewer employees), or a member of your business (if your business has less than 100 people). Sellers are unable to offer mass-produced products or products handmade by different artisans in the Amazon Handmade store”.

The first step is to apply to sell on the Handmade shop. There, you can apply for the first time and check on the status on your application. You’ll need to enter your business name, website address, email and other basic information, as well as become a seller on Amazon.

If you’re a seller, when you sign up for Amazon Handmade, you can access more than 250 million customers worldwide, easily make custom orders and get quick and easy help with Amazon’s phone and email support. The site will charge a 15% referral fee for marketing, discounted shipping, payment processing and fraud protection.

Promoting your handmade products

Once your items are listed on Amazon, you can buy Sponsored Products advertising on Amazon, so that you appear at the top of search listings. You can run other promotions from Seller Central as well. These ads are pay-per-click, or PPC, which means you only pay when someone actually clicks on it.

Another option would be to purchase an “ad”. You can look at Amazon’s backend data to determine which keywords and popular search terms you can use. By placing these in your ads, you will attract customers to your store and target the right audience. It’s best to start small with Amazon ads, so that there is little to no risk involved. You can see if it works or not before you move forward and invest more into these campaigns.

Nice! But what’s the difference between Amazon Handmade and regular Amazon?

While it might sound like Amazon Handmade is a totally separate entity from Amazon – it isn’t. Amazon Handmade is actually its own category of goods within Amazon’s regular marketplace, just like “Books” or “Shirts”.

This means that when a customer searches for products on Amazon it’s done within all the categories Amazon has, including the Handmade category.

If, however, the buyer chooses to search through just the Handmade category, then the search results will only show items within this category or any of the Handmade sub-categories.

You’ve mentioned Etsy earlier, isn’t that better than Amazon Handmade?

Well, they both have their ups and downs, pros and cons. Naturally, Amazon Handmade is compared to Etsy due to the fact that the idea itself was inspired by Etsy.

In fact, Etsy is a long-standing favourite, establishing itself as the internet’s go-to handmade marketplaces 10 years before Amazon Handmade was launched.

Honestly, they are both excellent options if you want to sell handmade goods online. But, if you want a more comprehensive comparison:

“Handmade” on Etsy is defined as “being made or designed by a seller”. This means that sellers on Etsy are welcome to work with a production or manufacturing partner, but only providing that they disclose this information in their product listings.

Amazon Handmade, on the other hand, only allows “artisans” to sell under the Handmade marketplace. This means goods that are strictly handcrafted and not factory produced.

Any other differences?

The online shopping experience is also a bit different. To shop for handmade goods on Etsy, customers simply go to Etsy.com and begin browsing and shopping. There are also curated guides featured at the top of customer’s homepage showing recently viewed items. They also show the editor’s product choices, and recent buyer reviews.

Amazon Handmade is a little more hidden away. You either need to go to the drop-down menu next to the Amazon search bar or go straight to Amazon.co.uk/handmade.

On the Handmade homepage, you can shop through the various curated collections on display. You can also learn more about some of the “artisans” selling through Amazon Handmade, and explore “Interesting Finds” – so Amazon Handmade is like Etsy in that respect.

Regarding payment methods, there are even more differences. On Etsy, sellers can pick which payment methods they want to accept, so it’s common to see lots of different payment methods available in different shops. These payment methods include credit and debit cards, PayPal, gift cards or even Apple pay and checks. There’s also the option to speak with the seller directly if you need to work out an alternative payment method.

When you order from Amazon Handmade, you pay the same way that you would with a regular Amazon order. Amazon accepts major credit and debit cards, checking accounts, gift cards, Amazon Pay, and eligible rewards program points as payment methods.

Are there any fees involved?

Although you will need a professional Amazon account to sell on Handmade at Amazon, the monthly £25 fee is waived for eligible Handmade at Amazon UK sellers and you pay only when you’ve made a sale. Keep in mind that this is only applicable for Handmade merchants selling less than 40 items per month.

Also, you have to keep in mind that for all European sites – UK, Italy, Spain, France and Germany, there is a standard 12% referral fee (commission rate) on all Amazon Handmade goods. For the US site, however, the referral fee is 15%.

To sum up

Amazon is offering an amazing opportunity to all the crafters and artists of the world. Especially if you’re an existing avid Amazon seller, and you have a few handmade products that you love to create and share with the world, you might as well opt to sign up for Handmade by Amazon.

Remember, Amazon is the world’s largest e-commerce platform. As such, we can honestly say that it’s a great place to start selling your handmade and craft products. Go ahead, give it a try today!