Should I sell my products on Amazon Handmade?
When you go on Amazon, you can see that there is a separate Amazon Handmade category but if you look closely you’ll see that you can also find handmade products that are sold in different categories on Amazon and not in Amazon Handmade. Therefore unsurprisingly a lot of sellers get confused about where they should sell their handmade items.
So should you sell on Amazon Handmade, general Amazon or both? The quick answer is you should sell your handmade items in Amazon Handmade OR general Amazon.
Although Amazon doesn’t stop you, there’s not much point listing your products in both. It’s more work as you have to create and look after 2 listings. On top of that Amazon Handmade listings also appear in general Amazon results so you would end up competing for ranking against yourself.
Benefits of selling on Amazon Handmade
If you are a handmade seller and your products and business type meet Amazon’s requirements for Amazon Handmade then Amazon Handmade is where you should list your products.
There are a number of benefits to selling on Amazon Handmade which you just don’t get when you sell in other categories on Amazon:
- Lower competition than on general Amazon – this is something I talked about in a previous video. The competition is so much lower on Amazon Handmade and it’s still a relatively new category so if you get in now you have a chance to establish yourself before the category gets bigger and more competitive.
- No monthly selling fee – this can be really helpful for new makers who want to keep their costs down.
- Superior branding opportunities – Amazon Handmade sellers automatically get an Artisan profile. This is your chance to promote your business and show customers why your products are special. Regular Amazon sellers have to get a trade mark into order to apply for extra branding space.
- You can set your production times and customisation options – this isn’t possible on general Amazon. This is a really important point – Amazon understands that handmade products often take longer to make which is why they give you the option to add production times so that you have plenty of time to create and ship your products.
- You can add customization options – A lot of handmade sellers offer customisation such as engraving. On Amazon Handmade you are able to create a wide range of customization options – this isn’t possible on general Amazon.
- Amazon Handmade sellers don’t require UPC codes to list products – sellers on general Amazon have to purchase UPC codes or apply for an exemption. This is another expense which sellers on Amazon Handmade can avoid.
- Dedicated help and resources specifically for Amazon Handmade sellers – being able to speak to a specific team when you have issues is a great help. It can help you resolve issues much quicker.
So as you can see there are a lot of perks to being an Amazon Handmade seller.
But if, for whatever reason, you are not accepted to Amazon Handmade or your products don’t quite fit the requirements, then don’t panic.
It’s still worth selling in other categories on Amazon – remember Amazon gets nearly 6 billion visits per month (for context Ebay is the second biggest marketplace with 1.6 billion so Amazon blows every other marketplace out of the water). Plenty of sellers (including handmade sellers) do extremely well selling in other categories on Amazon.
But if you do qualify for Amazon Handmade I would recommend selling in that category so you get all the benefits I’ve talked about.
The application process is really very simple so don’t let that put you off. You can find a step by step guide for filling out the application in this Amazon Handmade guide.
Good article. I will be dealing with many of these issues as well..
Thank you for the information you provided for us. I have just enrolled in Amazon Handmade. I am sort of confused in terms of using that category, I don’t even know if many people know the fact that Amazon has a “Handmade” category! As a result, sales in that category may not be profitable! What do you think?
Thanks for the question Rownak! Congrats on enrolling in Handmade. Your products will still be shown in the main Amazon searches, so actually its great because you get double exposure.