People are often surprised by the lack of competition when it comes to selling on Amazon Handmade.
When you think of Amazon, you think of a huge marketplace with millions of products and that’s true, but Amazon Handmade is its own restricted category within Amazon and it plays by different rules.
Amazon Handmade is far less competitive than Etsy which is a much more mature marketplace in terms of number of sellers.
There are actually only 1 million products listed on Amazon Handmade compared to a whopping 60 million products listed on Etsy.
Amazon Handmade
1 million products
Etsy
60 million products
Why is Amazon Handmade less competitive than Etsy?
This is down to Amazon Handmade’s strict rules about who can sell on the marketplace.
When you apply to sell on Amazon Handmade you have to complete an application process which verifies that you are a true handmade artisan and all your products are made by hand.
This keeps the marketplace exclusive.
Etsy is far less restrictive about who is allowed to sell on its platform.
Etsy allows sellers to outsource the manufacturing of their products and you don’t need to pass a verification process to sign up.
As a result of these relaxed rules there are increasing numbers of Chinese companies on Etsy selling mass-produced items at very cheap prices.
It can be hard for small handmade artisans to compete and get their products seen.
Why low competition is so good
In order to make sales on any marketplace your products first need to be seen by potential customers.
If you’re competing with millions of other sellers all selling a similar type of product, it’s going to be tough to get your product to stand out on the page and be found by shoppers amongst the thousands of competing products.
If your product isn’t seen then you won’t get sales and this will push your product to the back of the search results which no shopper ever goes to.
The more competitive it is, the more you need to spend on advertising to help your product stand out and be seen by customers.
This is why selling in a less competitive marketplace can be such a great opportunity.
Amazon Handmade is still a relatively new category – at some point it may very well be as competitive as some of the more mature categories on Amazon but right now it’s still in its infancy and this offers sellers a fantastic opportunity to get in early.
Search for “chopping board” and you get these results:
| Etsy | 18,723 results |
| Amazon Handmade | 879 results |
The application process
Amazon has its own definition of handmade and it’s quite a bit stricter than Etsy.
But provided you are a true handmade seller then you shouldn’t have any problem getting approved.
Amazon accepts 3 different types of handmade products:
- Handcrafted: Made entirely by hand.
- Hand-altered: Existing products altered or adapted into a new design, for example, a denim jacket you paint or draw your designs on.
- Handmade customized: For example, if you make jewellery and hand stamp initials on them per the customer’s request.
To get accepted onto Amazon Handmade you will need to show that you are responsible for between 75% and 100% of your product creation ( you’re permitted to outsource a very small percentage of the production process).
You will also need to choose what kind of maker you are.
Amazon accepts independent workers (working alone or preferably, with fewer than 20 friends, family members, or employees to create products) as well as collaborative groups and cooperatives.
Etsy on the other hand doesn’t have an application process.
You simply need to register for an account, if you don’t already have one, and then you can set up your shop and upload products immediately.
Summary
Amazon Handmade offers a great opportunity for handmade sellers to get access to Amazon’s huge customer base while also enjoying the benefits of being in a low competition marketplace.
Whether you are a new handmade seller or an established Etsy seller looking to expand your business, Amazon Handmade is an opportunity worth considering.
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