You’ve spent hours mixing and melting candle wax, days baking and decorating a cake and weeks waiting for your pottery to dry. After all of that hard work, where do you sell your handmade crafts?
It’s hard to get started with a craft business, whether you want to establish a real brand or just sell a few items as a hobby. In our guide, we explain how you can start to make money selling handmade goods and where you can sell crafts in the UK.
First off, let’s chat a little bit about the legalities of making and selling handmade crafts. We know that a lot of people worry about selling their goods legally and want to ensure that they follow all of the regulations necessary to their craft.
In a basic sense, yes, you are legally allowed to sell your handmade crafts provided that you follow any guidelines relevant to how you are creating and selling said items. We have a dedicated blog article on how to sell crafts legally, so you can look into what you need to know before you start selling.
Once you understand the legalities, you may be wondering how you get started with creating your own crafting business and brand before you can even consider selling goods. Check out our ultimate guide to starting a craft business for help and establish your brand!
Now you’re ready to sell, where exactly do you sell your handmade crafts?
If you’re looking to sell your handmade crafts online, there are a vast number of websites that help small businesses sell their goods with relatively little effort. These sites each have their advantages and disadvantages, so let’s look into them a little further.
CraftCover can also offer online craft sellers a discount on their insurance package, so let us know about your online shop when setting up your insurance.
Folksy is a wonderful marketplace for crafters to showcase and sell their handmade goods online. Folksy is the largest UK-based, online marketplace for handmade goods and offers a lovely sense of community support through advice columns and Facebook groups.
It’s free to set up your shop and you can either pay a low monthly rate to receive extra benefits or maintain your free shop and Folksy will take a small percentage of your sales.
Here at CraftCover, we actually partner with the team at Folksy and can offer all Folksy sellers a discount on their craft insurance. Get in touch with us and let us know about your Folksy shop to take advantage of the discount when securing great crafting insurance with us!
Etsy is by far the most well-known online marketplace and is used by millions of shoppers each year. It’s hugely popular and crafters often have great success utilising this platform when selling goods.
Etsy does charge a small fee for listing items on your shop and will take a percentage of each of your sales, so it’s worth considering this if you are only starting out small and selling a few items as it may not be initially worth it.
If you are wondering whether you need insurance to sell on Etsy, or any of these online marketplaces, have a look at our blog post on whether you need insurance to sell crafts online.
Amazon Handmade is another online platform that is exclusive to crafters that make and sell fully handmade items. You can list your products online and even take advantage of Amazon’s fulfilment centres to support you with shipping your sold products.
Amazon does take a larger fee from your individual sales than the other sites do, so it’s definitely one to look into in more detail to see if it’s right for you.
Not On The High Street is a little different to the above marketplaces. With this outlet, you have to apply to sell on their site and be specifically selected by their team. You are then required to pay a relatively large ‘set up’ fee and NOTHS will take a 25% commission on your sold products.
The site is, however, very well established and has a good reputation amongst shoppers, meaning that you could potentially see lots of sales from it.
There are a lot more ways in which you can sell your handmade crafts online. Some people choose to sell on apps such as Depop – this marketplace is largely for clothes and jewellery but small creators often set up shops to make sales and only pay a small commission fee.
Facebook Marketplace is another commonly used platform as it is completely free, though it doesn’t offer sellers any protection or support if an issue arises, so it comes with added risk.
There are plenty of sites that are bespoke to individual crafts, so you may be able to sell your specific handmade items on these platforms.
Thortful is a platform that allows you to upload and sell card designs, with the company printing and posting the products for you and paying you a percentage of the sale. Redbubble operates in a similar fashion, allowing designers to upload their images to be added to a range of products, made and sold by the company themselves.
If you don’t fancy using any of the above sites, you could always set up your own website. This is a big process that often requires the help of an experienced agency or freelance expert if you want to do it right.
There are ways for you to set up your own basic website, but unless you already have an established brand with loyal followers, it is unlikely that you will get many sales this way initially.
Technically, the only platform that is completely free is Facebook Marketplace, but sellers can’t really establish a real brand or shop on this site and they are offered no seller protection.
Most sites will take a percentage of your sales from you as their fees, some will make you pay a set up fee upfront and others will simply pay you a percentage of the sales made.
Due to the fees involved in selling crafts and the risks that some online platforms and events involve, it is so important that crafters have insurance in place from the start. Crafters need insurance to protect their business, their handmade goods and their sales.
So, you’ve mastered selling online and now want to spend some time promoting and selling your crafts in person. Maybe you just prefer face-to-face selling. Either way, you’re in luck. There are plenty of craft fairs, shows, events and exhibitions going ahead throughout the UK every year.
Craft fairs are a great way to promote your handmade crafts, meet other crafters, get inspired and sell lots of your products! Craft fairs can be seasonal (think Easter and Christmas), specific to a craft (jewellery fairs) and themed (vintage craft fairs are hugely popular).
Most craft fairs will be organised by an events company who allow you to register online to sell at their fair. You’ll more than likely pay a flat fee and will be allocated a stall to set your shop up on.
One hugely important factor to keep in mind however, is that most organisers will require proof of insurance before they’ll allow you to sell. Luckily, our craft fair insurance is fully comprehensive, allowing you to be fully covered for all crafting events in the UK. Your shop will be fully protected should you experience any issues with customers, damages to your goods or problems with selling at an event.
This is not a guaranteed way to sell handmade crafts, but some crafters are able to sell a selection of their products within a local shop. Keep an eye out for (usually independent) shops that are advertising selling spaces, or chat to your local shop owners and see if they would be interested in working with you.
We specialise in supplying crafters and small businesses with comprehensive insurance packages, protecting your brand from damages, theft and loss whilst also supporting you through customer issues and legal challenges.
Our craft insurance provides crafters with peace of mind knowing that they can sell their items without hassle online and in-person at events. Our crafters work so hard on their products, so we want to be sure that they are fully protected when it comes to selling goods and making money in return for their talents.
Get in touch with us to discuss how you can get an insurance package tailored to your craft and start selling today!
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