Amazon Handmade and the Handmade Community

Amazon Handmade and the Handmade Community with aftcra - handcrafted goods made in America

Over the past couple of weeks there has been chatter about Amazon and their potential move into the handcrafted arena with Amazon Handmade. Several of aftcra and Etsy’s top handmade artisans were hand-selected from Amazon to participate in a survey to both learn more about the handmade industry and gauge interest from sellers to see if this venture would be something artisans would be interested in pursuing.

It’s a bold move from an e-commerce goliath, especially in light of Etsy’s struggles since they went public in April of 2015. The current assumption is that Amazon would host a separate handmade marketplace for artisans, which beckons back to the day of Amazon’s replication of a bidding site similar to Ebay (Amazon’s venture was eventually closed).

But what does it all mean?

As of the day this post was published, any details about Amazon Handmade haven’t been released leaving the handmade community reeling with speculation – will it be a juried marketplace? Will artisans have similar fees to Amazon.com? Will Amazon’s Prime members have access to purchase handmade goods to be delivered in two days? So many questions, so many extreme points of view, but no concrete answers.

One thing that is sure is that Amazon is an even bigger organization than Etsy. That means that on Amazon Handmade there will be an incredible amount of products in a (assumed) worldwide handmade marketplace – which is a positive and negative for both buyers and sellers. Regardless, it provides artisans a new marketplace to sell their wares in a small industry.

At aftcra we are different. aftcra is the proverbial farmers market – we are an online marketplace where you can buy and sell handmade-only products that are made in America. This has been our goal since we founded aftcra. By featuring handcrafted goods that are American made we naturally create a smaller community where shoppers can purchase goods from artisans in their cities, towns or states, or they can choose to explore products from other areas of the country. And, with smaller communities, the aftcra team is also able to develop meaningful relationships with our artisans, which creates a strong community of artisans.

aftcra is one of the newest handmade marketplaces, but we are a privately-owned, family-owned, and woman-owned business who ensures that our users are our number one priority. As we’ve shared in the past, the only influencers of aftcra are our American handmade community. We allow for open feedback from the aftcra community so all artisan’s and shopper’s needs are being heard and met. For any artists looking for an alternative handmade marketplace, we’d love to work with you.