#goimagine

Goimagine is a 100% handmade marketplace. They don't allow vintage, print on demand, or drop shipping

They're completely human run (no pesky bots causing problems and taking your stuff down with no explanation)

A portion of all the sales made through their website goes to charities supporting children (you can see the specific ones on their website)

Whether or not you offer free shipping doesn't effect your search visibility

There are three membership tiers that include a monthly flat rate and a transaction fee. That's it. No other fees

All of your products are listed on Google so people don't even have to be on the site to see your stuff

They seem to be really focused on giving their sellers the best experience possible and the one video I watched talked about them having an election to vote two of their sellers onto the board of directors

They remit sales tax and calculate shipping for you (I'm not sure if you can print labels from their website or not)

They only operate in the US and there's an option on their website to shop by state so you can buy from local vendors

Really the only complaint I was able to find is that people weren't getting as much sales traffic on there as on Etsy. The company has only been around since 2020 though, so it's a much newer platform than Etsy and still in the developing phase. This means there are a lot fewer sellers and therefore a lot fewer customers, but it also means you have less competition. I found people who did really well on the platform and people who didn't make any sales at all, but I feel like that's probably just as true for Etsy, there are just so many more Etsy success stories because they've been around longer and had more time to build.

Also they don't seem to be trying to compete with Etsy so much as fill a gap they feel Etsy has left open. There's even an option to import your Etsy listings onto their site.

FOUR DAYS UNTIL MY ANNUAL BLACK FRIDAY SALE BEGINS! Featuring some fiery orange handmade pieces from my shop! All of the jewelry except the last necklace in the reel are one of a kind pieces looking for a good home! The blanket, scarf, and last necklace are part of my Jungle Book themed collection, representing Shere Khan the tiger 🐅 and "Man's red flower" 🔥 respectively. I will make the necklace again once it sells, but the tiger stripe items are probably not coming back. (Real talk: crocheting tiger stripes is hard. I'm proud of the results but would rather send them off to someone who will love them and not make them again. 😂) So take advantage of these amazing deals and make them yours!

On Etsy: https://eruvandicrafts.etsy.com

On Goimagine:

Hello!

Some of our members are working tirelessly to develop the Marketplace Accredidation Program (or MAP), which will function as a thorough and user-friendly database for finding the right marketplace for you -- but in the meantime, we do have a few alternatives I can list that a number of our members would recommend!

There's the Artisans Cooperative, a user/member owned cooperative which is very new and currently member-only, and which has quite a few members in the ISG. It may be worth keeping an eye out for when they open to non-member sellers if your grandma isn't able to become a member by either buying in ($1,000) or spending time earning "member points".

There's GoImagine, which Kristi wrote a blog post about in her Etsy Alterative series. This one donates all of its profits to charity and was the first marketplace to apply for accreditation (once we're ready to begin accreditation) with our MAP. This one isn't member restricted, but it is only available to sellers in the US.

The second marketplace to apply for accredidation is Mayfli, which is based in the UK. I couldn't tell you much else about it, but it does boast its sellers' handmade products.

There's also Ko-Fi, which doubles as a donation platform. We have an earlier blog post about it that goes over and rates it in comparison to Etsy. I myself have used it for tips, sales, and commissions; the fees are low to nonexistent, but you'll have to connect it to PayPal or Stripe to receive payments.

Then there's WooCommerce, which isn't a marketplace, but many of our members use it and have described it as a very good tool for setting up your own website if you're sufficiently tech savvy. This may only be useful for your grandmother if she has outside means of bringing customers to her shop.

3 DAYS LEFT UNTIL MY BIG BLACK FRIDAY SALE!

Today is about bright, happy 💛yellow💛 items!

Featured in this reel (and where in my shop to find them:

🧜🏻‍♀️The yellow/mint crochet mermaid tail hair bandana. (Shop section: The Little Mermaid) This already sold once this month and I’m currently halfway through making another! Pretty confident it should be back by the start of the sale, but if you would rather crochet your own, the crochet PATTERN is always available in my shop!

⭐The crochet yellow brick road infinity scarf. (Shop section: Wizard of Oz) Machine wash and dry and very soft and cozy while also bringing a whimsical pop of color to dreary winter days. There are matching yellow brick fingerless gloves that are currently sold out, but as soon as the mermaid tail scarf is restocked, I’ll set to work on the gloves. HOPEFULLY I’ll get them back up by the end of the sale. FOLLOW ME here because I’ll post when they’re back!

🐝Beaded honey bee earrings, available as both ear wires and clip ons. (Shop Section: Winnie-the-Pooh) Featuring glass beads and metal bee charms, I just had to make these to go with the Winnie the Pooh collection because bees and their honey are very important to Pooh. They will add charm to any outfit.

🧚🏻And finally, the beaded double strand Tinker Bell fairy necklace. Featuring a pewter fairy pendant and glass beads. I knew I had to used these yellow beads when I saw the gorgeous way that light reflects inside them, creating green and blue flashes that remind me of fairy dust! A perfect Christmas gift for any fantasy lover.

My shop-wide 25% off Black Friday sale begins in my ETSY and GOIMAGINE shops THIS MONDAY November 24th and runs through December 3rd! Thanks for supporting my woman-owned small business! I also appreciate follows, likes, and especially shares of my posts to help me spread the word of my handmade bookish merch to all my fellow bookworms who will love it too!

Goimagine: https://goimagine.com/eruvandicrafts

5 days until my annual Black Friday sale begins!

Check out some pieces from my collection themed around The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling!

Featured here are the beaded leaf earrings (available with ear wires or clip ons). There is only one pair left before I will need to redesign them slightly due to these exact leaf beads not being available anymore, so if you love them the way they are now, grab the last pair before it’s gone for good!

There are also the crochet vine and leaf fingerless gloves, which have been some of my shop’s best sellers. I will keep making these as long as people still love them, just bear in mind that I am the solitary owner and crafter (and marketer and customer support and…) of my shop so if you want to guarantee you get any particular item before Christmas, your best bet is to go on and grab it since I may not be able to restock it before then if it sells.

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/EruvandiCrafts?ref=seller-platform-mcnav&section_id=35387509

Goimagine:

Which of these colors options is your favorite? Tell me in the comments!

These handmade shell necklaces (with matching earrings, I just couldn’t hold them all at once!) were once among my best sellers, but one day, a customer left a 3⭐ review with no comment. When I reached out to ask if there was anything I could correct to earn 5⭐ (I do accept returns), she said no, the earrings that come with it (which you can go see in my shop) simply felt “bulkier” on her ears than she was expecting. She didn’t want to return the set, and this was back before Etsy let sellers publicly post a reply to a review to give context to other shoppers, so I was stuck with the review.

🐚

Please know that I am NOT complaining about the customer by sharing this. She had every right to give an honest rating, and we all have different tastes. I’m simply sharing this as an explanation for the one 3⭐️ review I ever received on any product, LOL.

🐚

Ever since then, these beautiful shell necklace/earring sets stopped selling. I don’t know if the 3⭐ made Etsy’s algorithm stop pushing them in search results, or if shoppers saw the 3⭐ with no explanation and feared something was wrong with the product.

🐚

SO, I just wanted to share that the review was simply a matter of personal tastes, and also point out that the beads I used for this set are indeed REAL glass and REAL shell, so yes, there is some weight to them. However, it's not enough to bother me personally and I had other customers buy this set who were not bothered.

🐚

These sets will go ✨️ on sale ✨️ with the rest of my shop for 25% off from November 24 through December 3rd. They are LIMITED EDITION because the crystal beads (which are Sw@r0vski) are no longer available, so once my current stock sells out, I can’t make any more. Be sure to snag these while you can! The earrings can be pierced or clip on, your choice!

🔗 in my bio, and head to shop section: The Little Mermaid 🧜‍♀️

BEHOLD! The product links:

Etsy: https://eruvandicrafts.etsy.com/listing/1859384333

Goimagine: https://goimagine.com/handmade-crystal-and-abalone-shell-statement-necklace-and-earring-sets-in-4-colors/

In addition, these results are being used to accredit marketplaces who understand that when the sellers succeed, the marketplace succeeds.

So far, six online marketplaces have applied for ISG accreditation under these findings. Each one will be interviewed during the virtual convention. They are:

The Artisans Cooperative

Goimagine

Artizan Made

Mayfli

Indie Untangled

The Virtual Market