Have you heard of ArtFire? I discovered it through an ad on one of my most visited websites, Craftcult, where you can put in your Etsy user name and easily see who has hearted your shop or items. A very useful tool indeed...but, back to our main topic...
If you don't know anything about ArtFire, from what I have gathered in the few months I have been familiar with it, it is a website, similar to Etsy, where artisans and other sellers can sell their handmade items, supplies, and vintage items. The big difference that I see, is that ArtFire has a flat rate monthly fee ($7 if you get in as one of the first 5,000 members, $20 if you join after that - as of today there were about 850 spots left) and Etsy charges a per listing price to list and a small percentage of each sale. There is also a free membership, but I think that at this level you are limited to listing four items. I won't go into it much more than that - I really want to hear what other people think about it.
I joined with the intention of trying to sell my collection of vintage patterns (which has really outgrown the space I have for them in the past few months), thinking that I could do a whole lot more listing for $7 a month than if I were paying for each item. Of course, with school and such I haven't done much with the shop, but I did list a few patterns last week. You can see my shop here. I haven't had many views (I also haven't listed much yet), but I'm trying to decide if I should even try with ArtFire. What do you think? Is there really room for another Etsy, especially with the current state of the economy? Are the advantages of ArtFire really worth it? I'd especially love to hear from anyone who has already joined ArtFire or has seriously thought about it. The truth is I keep going back and forth - ask Ryan. About a week ago I said to him, "I think I'm just going to cancel my subscription," and two days later I got on the stick, took some pictures and got a few things listed.
And if you do decide to join because I my post (I think it's obvious I'm not trying to convince anyone one way or the other here), please use this referral link or the link on the image at the top. If ten people join at the $7 level because of me, then my membership is free and I won't have to make a decision about whether to stay or not!
You know, I hadn't even heard of it. I'll do some research and it sounds like something I may be interested in. (I'll use your link for sure if I do it.)
I guess the more places your things are listed the better, right? I just wonder if it'd be worth the time/money (Even though $7 isn't much, if nothing sells it's a loss.) or how much traffic it gets.
hmmm. Things to think about.
Posted by: Missy | March 09, 2009 at 12:24 PM
I just read this blog about Artfire: http://u-handbag.typepad.com/uhandblog/2009/03/artfire-a-lower-cost-serious-contender-to-etsy.html
Posted by: Ellie | March 09, 2009 at 01:01 PM
I just joined with the free option. I was able to list more than 4 items. It seems okay, we'll see....
Posted by: beki | March 09, 2009 at 01:04 PM
I hadn't heard of it yet Jessi. If I were to join though, I'd certainly use you as my referrer! Hopefully you'll get the 10 and not even have to worry about it!
Posted by: Penny | March 09, 2009 at 01:31 PM
Hi
I've set up an artfire account. So far, traffic is lower than my etsy shop, but I've had 7 sales. Artfire is only about 6 months old, and has grown leaps and bounds since inception. I've been extremely happy with the amount of enhancements the site has rolled out, including Rapid Cart, a widget you can install on your blog to sell your items. Using Rapid Cart (which is free to verified sellers) your buyers don't need an Artfire account to purchase your stuff. Very cool. The Artfire admin team is extremely responsive as well. I like it there. :-)
A while back, AF's president, John, was interviewed for my blog. You can find the interview here http://shinyadornments.com/wordpress/?p=243
I've also put together a list of sites to sell your handmade items here
http://shinyadornments.com/wordpress/?p=205 if you are interested.
Good luck with your AF site.
:-)
Kristy
http://shinyadornments.com/wordpress
The Simply Shiny Blog
Posted by: Kristy | March 09, 2009 at 04:17 PM
Looks interesting. I may have to give it a try!
Posted by: Beth | March 11, 2009 at 11:04 AM