I thought it might be interesting to compare traffic rankings of available venues for artists, artisan crafters and designers. It could quite possibly just be my opinion, but it seems as though a myriad of new sites have appeared over the last several months proclaiming themselves to be the next great selling venue. Are they? Time will tell I guess.
I used Alexa.com to generate traffic rankings for several dozen handmade goods selling sites. Per Alexa they “compute traffic rankings by analyzing the Web usage of millions of Alexa Toolbar users and data obtained from other, diverse traffic data sources. The information is sorted, sifted, anonymized, counted, and computed, until, finally, we get the traffic rankings shown in the Alexa service. ” So, while not a 100% statistically correct collection methodology, the number comparisons are interesting to note. There really seems to be a big divide between what I consider the top tier of selling sites vs. those in the second tiers.
Is traffic the be all end all to guarantee sales to the indie artisan? Not necessarily, as evidenced by my experience on Ruby Lane (see my experience here) and as also evidenced by the thousands of etsy sellers that are selling little to nothing.
You need to be able to clearly articulate your intended audience, your expectations of service from the venue you are considering and do your research. 
I’ve sorted the sites in from most to least trafficked. Remember, the LOWER the number the HIGHER the number of visitors a site receives. LOWER numbers are BETTER.
What others should be added to this list?
| Site Name | Traffic Ranking |
Note |
| ebay | 20 | |
| etsy | 708 | |
| cafepress | 938 | |
| zazzle | 1,443 | |
| dawanda | 5,664 | |
| ecrater | 5,989 | |
| bigcartel | 7,410 | |
| rubylane | 15,850 | Blog post here |
| imagekind | 17,364 | |
| artfire | 36,991 | Site profile here |
| shopify | 51,919 | |
| silkfair | 60,218 | Site profile here |
| hyenacart | 61,473 | Site profile here |
| yessy | 76,773 | |
| Supermarkethq | 100,458 | |
| 1000markets | 110,477 | Juried site |
| indiepublic | 140,475 | |
| elsewares | 148,211 | |
| shophandmade | 172,891 | |
| folksy | 175,247 | |
| erayo | 216,986 | |
| artsefest | 223,521 | |
| winkelf | 277,037 | Site profile here |
| trunkt | 277,660 | Juried site |
| smashingdarling | 328,506 | Juried site |
| ebid | 362,080 | |
| lollishops | 394,061 | Site profile here |
| madeitmyself | 439,786 | Site profile here |
| mintd | 461,970 | |
| plumdrop | 474,245 | |
| icraft.ca | 523,305 | Site profile here |
| seekingdesigners | 553,326 | |
| misi.uk | 615,825 | Site profile here |
| lov.li | 642,797 | |
| handmadecatalog | 760,788 | |
| handmadefusion | 1,382,301 | Site profile here |
| girlshopspot | 1,211,500 | Site profile here |
| youcraft.org | 1,908,499 | Site profile here |
| Coriandr | 1,964,966 | Site profile here |
| craftersbuzz | 2,044,704 | |
| gozabo | 4,407,610 | |
| fuzzb | 7,098,996 | |
| crowsoup | 10,011,323 | Inactive? |
| youcraftylot | 11,561,107 | |
(Note: these rankings change and I will periodically update the listed metrics. Last update 3/1/2009)
Stay tuned over the next weeks as I will be profiling some of these venues with interviews and giveaways from the site owners themselves.
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Just checked iCraft.ca Love their home page banner. Looks awesome! Off to check other sites. Thanks for this post!
Hi Kristy,
I stumbled across this blog and I am just blown away by the wealth of information you have provided. Thank you so much for the time and effort you have put into this little project, which helps crafters and artists from all different areas…. I design and build puppets. =)
I have posted a link to your blog on a popular puppetry forum and I just know that the information here will help so many of us in our search for online market places to sell our designs.
Best & Thanks again!
-Michele
thanks for your comments everyone. I’ve updated all site numbers today and will be adding another site profile next week.
thanks for reading.
Hi Kristy! What fantastic info!! I wonder if you noted which sites’ ranking changed the most (up or down) since your last update? In particular, I’m wondering how Artfire changed — I have a shop there and on Etsy and am considering consolidating into one shop. I like Artfire’s setup, promotional tools and stat features — but I also like Etsy’s traffic and, of course, the SATEAM is fun too.
Thanks again for all the info!
Good question Maureen. I haven’t noted that in the past for all the sites. Artfire in particular has moved from about an 80k ranking to 30k, which is pretty phenomenol.
If you go to the Alexa site, you can see the rank change over time for each site I’ve listed.
Soon, I’m going to add another column to my table that includes a site’s launch date. I think it will be interesting to see how long each site has been around as compared to the competition.
Wow, what a wonderful post! I have a blog/sites, etsy store and was looking for more venues for my handmade soy candles and natural soap. Thank you for all the places to check out.
Hi,
I would love to advertise my my different shops on here, but it seems as you are no longer updating the pages.
When will you be updating the Alexa rates for these venues?
Thanks
As usual, a very helpful blog posting. Thanks so much for the info. It’s interesting to see how far up ArtFire has moved and that it’s not that far behind Etsy. I’ve noticed in my own views that ArtFire traffic has picked up substantially. I’m hoping to generate some sales there soon. I’d love to get some advice in that regard.
Anne
hi i love this in info…i just want to know if which one of this site which you can say that if we try to sell we can sold even just less than 5 listing per month?
I decided to help and sent the post in your social bookmarks. I hope to rise in popularity.
I like blog posting very much
Thanks for good work
Wow, thanks for the information of valuable resource will be checking some of these websites over the weekend. Thanks again brilliant job – Sam
[...] a previous post, I provided a list of venues for artists, artistans and artisan crafters. This week I’m profiling [...]
[...] December 1, 2009 A while back, I created a list of sites to sell handmade online. You can find that original list here: http://shinyadornments.com/wordpress/?p=205 [...]
[...] a previous post, I provided a list of venues for artists, artisans and artisan [...]
[...] a previous post, I provided a list of venues for artists, artisans and artisan [...]
[...] a previous post, I provided a list of venues for artists, artisans and artisan [...]
[...] Stay tuned over the next weeks as I will be profiling more artisan handmade selling venues with interviews and giveaways from the site owners. You can find this site’s traffic rank according to Alexa here [...]
[...] Stay tuned over the next weeks as I will be profiling more artisan handmade selling venues with interviews and giveaways from the site owners. You can find this site’s traffic rank according to Alexa here [...]