Simply Shiny Life

The development team at Artfire is nearly finished with the development of Coupons for sellers. In the next few weeks, Artfire sellers will have access to a customizable application that will enable them to set the type of discount or special offer they’d like, determine what items or categories to apply it to, set the time period of the code, and even set exactly what the code would be. Sellers will be able to specify discounts for customers such as 15% off all items in a particular studio category for the next ten days, and then name that discount code something like “10daysale” or “necklace sale” or whatever the seller desired.

Enabling sellers to set their own discounts tied to a particular calendar event, buying group or advertising campaign is going to be fabulous. I’m practically giddy with excitement.

Stay tuned to Behind the Beta for the announcement of the roll out.

I’ve blogged previously about Artfire and my experience utilizing it as a selling venue. You can check out those posts

http://shinyadornments.com/wordpress/?p=243
http://shinyadornments.com/wordpress/?p=300
http://shinyadornments.com/wordpress/?p=257
http://shinyadornments.com/wordpress/?p=263
http://shinyadornments.com/wordpress/?p=303
http://shinyadornments.com/wordpress/?p=316
http://shinyadornments.com/wordpress/?p=317

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If you missed it previously, here is my list of venues to sell handmade online.  I’ll be updating it with June’s numbers soon.

Artfire has rolled out yet another upgrade for its seller base: customizable store fronts. Sellers are now able to choose the size of their shop banner, text colors, navigation colors, and add all sorts of plug ins to their shops in the form of widgets. Things like slide shows, live streaming video of artist’s studios, links to other venues, advertising, etc. You name it, you can probably add it.

Here is an  example of my new Studio front, with customized text colors and new, bigger, improved banner.

Here are some examples of other Artfire customized seller studios. Nice, huh?

What is Artfire? You can read more about it here

Don’t miss a single post.

In a previous post, I provided a list of venues for artists, artisans and artisan crafters.

This week I’m profiling another of those sites. I asked Emma, from MISI, to tell us a bit more about the venue. 

What is the site name and where can artisan sellers find you?
Our website is called MISI, which stands for Make It Sell It. It’s a website that brings together people who make hand-crafted items with people who want to buy.

Our main location is the website, www.misi.co.uk, but you can also find us at:

Blog: misiuk.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/misi_uk
Facebook Group: http://tinyurl.com/dbdqhc
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/misimeuk

Tell us a little about your site’s history. What are its origins?
The idea for MISI started early in 2008. I have always been a keen crafter, although by profession I’m a web developer. Early in 2008 I decided to join the two sides of my life together and create a top-notch, online, craft marketplace for the UK.

There followed nine months of blood, sweat and tears because I was determined that the site had to be absolutely exceptional. It was worth it in the end because when MISI was born in September 2008, the general response was massively positive.

It fills a gap in the market and does just what the sellers and buyers need it to. And I love it!

Tell us about the site’s staff
My name is Emma Hogg. I’m the boss and techie-in-chief. I previously worked as a professional web developer so it makes sense for me to do all the geeky stuff. I’m a work-from-home mum and a keen crafter – you can find my own crafty creations for sale on MISI too!

Ian is our Marketing Manager. He masterminds our publicity machine and helps to spread the MISI word.

Linda is our Accounts Manager. She beavers away behind the scenes keeping our finances firmly in order.

I should also mention my husband who does a great job at reminding me to eat and sleep so I can continue to function on MISI!

What is your plan for the site? What are your goals?
When we were developing the site, we set ourselves the goal of becoming the UK’s leading site for buying and selling handmade. Since launch it’s taken off faster than we dared hope and I think we are very close to achieving that goal already. I think that the difficulties in the economy have helped us, plus people’s concern about issues such as product miles, sweatshops and the blandness of the corporate high street.

We’ve been lucky to recruit a good number of high quality sellers in a fairly short space of time. We were recently joined by our thousandth seller, which we’re very excited about. And there’s room for many more!

The next steps for us are (1) to keep on growing in a measured fashion, (2) to keep developing the site so it stays one step ahead of the game and (3) to keep delivering what our community of sellers and buyers wants.

MISI Front Page:

Who is your target seller audience?
All crafters are welcome at MISI. Our sellers offer a very wide range of creations – everything from jewellery, to toys, to furniture, to edible gifts. Prices start at just a couple of pounds, all the way up to a couple of thousand pounds.

MISI Gift Guide Example:

Who is your target buyer audience? How will you drive buyers to your venue?
We have a perpetual PR machine generating visitors to the site. We target our efforts at bringing in people who are likely to be interested in buying unique, good quality handmade products.

Is this an international, domestic US, Far East or European focused site?
Our main focus is on the United Kingdom and we aim our marketing at a UK-based audience. Listings are in UK pounds. We do however welcome international buyers and sellers as long as they are happy to transact in UK pounds.

What differentiates this venue from other online selling venues?
MISI is so much more than `just another place to sell’. MISI is also a social network for crafters with our lively forum at its heart – a place where you can chat with a growing community of like-minded crafty souls

Why should artisan sellers consider utilizing this site as a resource instead of other, older sites or their own sites?
A good question! Here are the ways I think MISI stands apart:

1. At MISI you are part of a friendly crafting family.
2. MISI is specifically aimed at consumers who appreciate handmade products. This means you can be sure that your products are being showcased to the right target market. This also means a community of buyers who will appreciate the value of your creations.
3. MISI offers low commission and listing fees for the crafter. It’s cheaper than listing on auction sites and you get a super-long, five-month listing.
4. MISI allows links to the crafter’s own website in the shop front and profile pages which help boost your own site traffic.

How have your structured your seller pricing?
MISI is free to join and free to set up a store. Item fees are 20p per listing (irrespective of the quantity) and 3% of sale price (when your product sells).

What else should we know?
We have regular buyer promotions based around forthcoming events such as Mothers’ Day. Check out our homepage to see what the current promotion is. Top tip – it’s a great way to make some crafty extra sales!

Thanks Emma!

Stay tuned over the next weeks as I will be profiling more artisan handmade selling  venues with interviews from the site owners. You can find this site’s traffic rank according to Alexa here

In a previous post, I provided a list of venues for artists, artisans and artisan crafters.

This week I’m profiling another of those sites. I asked Mathew, from Coriandr, to tell us a bit more about the venue.

What is the site name and where can artisan sellers find you?
The site is called Coriandr. You can find us in a few places:
http://www.coriandr.com
http://blog.coriandr.com
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38703352126
Also, I’ve recently become a twitterer so feel free to say hi! http://twitter.com/matw

Tell us a little about your site’s history. What are its origins?
What seems like a long, long time ago, I was trying to find a place to sell a range of vinyl toys I had started designing. I couldn’t find anywhere to sell them except eBay, and the idea of trying to sell something creative and handmade amongst all those second-hand electrical goods left me completely cold!
Originally, Coriandr was going to be a marketplace solely for vinyl toys, but the more time I spent developing it the more sense it made to open it up to anything handmade. It took roughly a year to build the site and get everything ready, and has been entirely self-funded to date. It’s probably the biggest thing I’ve done, so I’m incredibly excited and a little terrified all at once!

Tell us about the site’s staff.
At the moment Coriandr is just me (Mathew). I used to be a character artist for computer games so I love illustration, vinyl toys, paper art and sculpture; anything that has some character to it and a sense of fun. I’d love to say I spend most of my time drawing or coming up with paper monsters (http://www.coriandr.com/free_stuff) for Coriandr, but I actually spend most of my time programming these days. Not that I don’t enjoy that side of things too, but I have to admit that I’m more than a little sad my HB pencil is starting to get dusty!

What is your plan for the site? What are your goals?
From the start the plan has been to give crafters an easy-to-use, accessible way to sell their handmade creations to rest of the world, and build a great community in the process. I love creating and admiring other people creativity, so I can’t imagine that plan ever changing.

As for goals; the handmade movement has been enjoying a rebirth over the last few years, which is fantastic, but I think that handmade marketplaces such as Coriandr are still further from the forefront of most shopper’s minds than they deserve to be. I talk to so many people who haven’t heard of any of the handmade marketplaces, but can’t stop raving about how great buying handmade is once they see them! That’s why Coriandr’s main goal this year is to convert everyone to buying handmade and most importantly, convert people who aren’t already connected to the crafting scene.

Also, towards the middle of this year we will be launching a more community-focused craft project which will be entirely separate from Coriandr. It’s main focus will be sharing information and ideas, and basically inspiring each other, but there are some significant (and fun) additions that should make it a really great site to use!

Who is your target seller audience?
Anyone who likes what we’re doing, can make something beautiful, owns a camera, and can access the internet! There is definitely a female bias in the crafting world, but I didn’t want to build a “seller profile” then aim Coriandr at that profile in the traditional marketing sense. I think the most important thing to do is to build a good service and a develop a strong relationship with a community; the sellers you end up with as a result are your target audience!

Who is your target buyer audience?How will you drive buyers to your venue?
Everyone! It sounds a little cheesy I know, but I really think that everyone can find something in a site like Coriandr. I’m a big believer in inbound marketing; attracting buyers (and sellers) by blogging, getting involved in the larger crafting community, and utilising the ever-popular social media sites (Digg, Technorati, etc). Doing things this way means that momentum builds more slowly compared to traditional advertising / marketing methods, but it builds a stronger community and most importantly is much more productive in the long-run.

Is this an international, domestic US, Far East or European focused site?
Coriandr is an international site, but English language only. There are plans to open things up across different languages, but that’s more of a long term aim due to the tremendous customer support issues that would create.

What differentiates this venue from other online selling venues?Why should artisan sellers consider utilizing this site as a resource instead of other, older sites or their own sites?
For buyers we’ve got an secure, quick checkout process, and what is probably the most flexible item search of any handmade marketplace. Most marketplaces only let you browse categories or search for keywords within a chosen category. With Coriandr you can search price bands, shipping destinations, seller locations, keywords and payment methods at the same time, all whilst moving back and forth across categories. For sellers we’ve got drag-n-drop shop management features, Paypal bill payment and a one page listing process. One seller (http://alibalijewellery.coriandr.com) managed to list 32 items in one sitting!Because buying handmade is all about a personal touch and the connection between the buyer and the creator, I would always encourage sellers to run their own site (such as a blog) in tandem with a service like Coriandr. Even those sellers who have their own ecommerce site can use Coriandr because we have a bigger presence than an individual shop, and every time we promote ourselves, we are promoting our sellers (or should that be the other way around!)

How have your structured your seller pricing?
We’ve kept Coriandr away from complicated fee structures found on other marketplaces. It simply costs 20p for each quantity of one listed, and a 2.5% commission when a sale is made.

Thanks Mathew!

Stay tuned over the next weeks as I will be profiling more artisan handmade selling  venues with interviews from the site owners. You can find this site’s traffic rank according to Alexa here

ArtFire calls itself “the premier online marketplace for handmade products designed by artisans around the globe.”  I profiled it here and posted when I joined in November, here

So, what do I like so far about my Artfire studio and the site?

1. Artfire has an advertising plan
2. Listing your products is completed on ONE page
3. Google analytics and other site statistics are available for your studio
4. Current listings appear on the site’s front page as soon as they are loaded by the seller. They are also randomly rotated in a feature front page spot as the Item of the Hour
5. The site administrative team is active, approachable and responsive. Site member feedback is really utilized to make site changes, and those changes/improvements are made QUICKLY
6. The search functionality just gets better and better, and your items are randomized in category searches. This means no need for relisting your items to stay “on top”.
7. Studio items are automatically submitted to Google Base by the site. Nothing further is required of the studio owner to do so
8. Traffic to the site is increasing
9. Fixed flat rate of $7 a month promotion going on right now for the first 5000 studio owners that sign up as verified members. $7 a month and no additional charges for final value fees or additional listing fees, sweet.

Plus, if 10 handmade artisans sign up at the $7 level using your studio name as a referral, Artfire will convert your verified membership to FREE for LIFE. Free is good, right?

So here’s the giveaway I mentioned in the title.  I’d like to be FREE FOR LIFE, but I still need 3 artisans to use me as a referral when signing up for verified studio owner status on Artfire. I’m giving away a pair of earrings of your choice if you use me as a referral when you join Artfire at the $7 a month verified seller level.

All you need to do is use my shop name and sign up using this link, and then let me know you have done so. Once I verify your status with Artfire customer service, you can have your choice of any one pair of the following earrings:

Bling for a referral? I hope its a good trade.

In a previous post, I provided a list of venues for artists, artisans and artisan crafters.

This week I’m profiling another of those sites. Artfire is relatively new to the online handmade selling venue catalog, but their growth has been phenomenal over the last few months. (See the graph from Quantcast below).

Alexa ranks them at 87,085 overall, but take note of the more recent traffic ranking numbers from the last week or so below.

I asked John Jacobs, the President of Artfire, to tell us a bit more about the venue.

What is the site name and where can artisan sellers find you?
ArtFire can be found at http://www.ArtFire.com

We maintain a social media presence and can be found on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, and Myspace. We are also developing features to help our members manage their social footprint using these sites as well.

Tell us a little about your site’s history. What are its origins?
Our parent companies have an e-commerce background and we have been in the trenches and abused by huge online market places and venues for years as sellers and business owners. The ArtFire site was born out of a need to offer a better alternative for sellers of handmade to represent themselves in a fair and equitable manner. Many of us over the years have been challenged with the ever changing environment of the Internet frontier and have very little time after performing our core business functions, to build a web site, market and advertise our wares, and keep up with the changing social media landscape.

Up until this point sites like EBay were able to prey on small businesses and artisans and charge incredible fees for their venue and traffic. In fact some calculations put the actual server and bandwidth cost of a listing on eBay as low as just .02 cents and falling! So after years of abuse, and repression, we decided that we would not take it anymore. So we built a better community with a focus on supporting its members and a spirit of service. We think that the future of the internet is aggregation of micro segments and we want to help support this movement while nourishing a unique market segment that is close to our hearts, and that often lacks adequate respect; the artist community.

Tell us about the site’s staff.
I don’t code, and can barely even spell PHP ;o) , but I do know a couple guys that can! Here are the people we owe our success to: The Team:  Kyle, Matt, and Aaron are some of the best programmers I have ever met. That is important, but you know what’s really impressive? Their attitude, drive, and dogged commitment to making the community better! These guys never stop, they never sleep, and they are always innovating and adapting!

I am not sure how we were lucky enough to find such a talented team, and this really rings true in the case of our lead site designer Jen. I am certain we would not be where we are today without her insight and holistic understanding of not just aesthetic design, but function and User Interface.

Those of you that track us on Twitter at http://www.Twitter.com/ArtFire have met Sara, one of our super fast, multi-tasking, gen-Y cyber editors who is an all around riot to have on our team, and Twitters circles around me! In fact she is ranked in the top 250 “Tweeters” on the internet! She also reminds us to have fun and laugh at ourselves, which is refreshing after a long 14 hour day!

And then, there’s Tony Ford. When Tony and I were in our Master’s Degree program together we always challenged each other to perform better and eventually found that when we tackled projects together we reached even further and could not be beaten. Tony Ford is perhaps one of the brightest marketing guru’s that the Internet has ever seen. During the development of ArtFire, we brought in consultants, SEO, SEM, development, and marketing companies. You know, we fired every one of them, and do everything our selves now. Tony is always right there on the front lines, not just pushing the proverbial ArtFire cart, but pulling it, and the rest us, up the hill along with it!

What is your plan for the site? What are your goals?
Our mission is to support artists and their businesses. We approach this goal in a little different manner however as compared to other sites. We don’t worry about what venue an artist sells their item on, we offer tools to increase success in general and even on sites that some may see as our competitor. Take for example the new Market Hub feature (see image below) that displays an artist’s full social footprint for a potential buyer to explore. This tool allows a buyer to fully understand, discover, sample the depth and efforts an artist employs to sell their wares.

Who is your target seller audience?
ArtFire supports handmade artists. We also have additional categories to list supplies, vintage, and media items. Our site is designed with small business in mind and aims to reduce the time spent by designers in establishing and growing their business on line.

Who is your target buyer audience? How will you drive buyers to your venue?
There are many affinity groups that purchase handmade, from the environmentally conscious to those who desire unique quality items crafted with meaning. We run an extensive traditional and online media and viral marketing campaign that adapts to successes in near real time; changes to suit the shifting market almost constantly; and employs emerging techniques and strategies that maximize reach. You will see us in national publications and hear us on small town radio stations around the US. But our marketing extends beyond traditional and even new media to viral, community driven promotion of the handmade ethic. We understand that a market place must bring buyers and invest substantial resources in growing a robust buyer base. We want to bring not just bulk traffic to the site, but qualified individuals that appreciate the values that make handmade items so unique.

Is this an international, domestic US, Far East or European focused site?
Our market is global, though most members are creating from the US. We always keep an eye out for better ways in which we can support international transactions, buyers, and members. We built the site with a currency converter on every page and offer extended support for non-US based members. As we grow we will remember that the US may have borders but artists and great art do not.

What differentiates this venue from other online selling venues?Why should artisan sellers consider utilizing this site as a resource instead of other, older sites or their own sites?
We coined a concept we call Community Directed Development (CDD) which puts the community in the driver’s seat of site direction and features. This requires us to move very quickly, put our leaders on the front line of service, and this allows us to adapt to the needs of our members in real time. For example on Christmas eve we decided to roll out Google Analytics and within 120 minutes of sitting down to discuss rolling out of GA, we were up and fully functional, site wide. This feature and many others are absolutely free to the community, including instant and automatic submission to Google Shopping (Google Base).

We encourage and offer tools to increase your social footprint, teach members to promote their business and their personal brand, and challenge sellers to manage as many channels as they comfortably or effectively can. You never know which channel will bring in the most buyers and we believe that members should embrace an ArtFire AND ETSY approach to selling handmade items, not an ArtFire OR ETSY position.

How have you structured your seller pricing?
After many years of paying insertion fees and final valuation fees, we chose a simple straight forward plan that puts the member (seller) first. List 10 items at a time, when several sell, put more up in their place, absolutely free. If you would like access to enhanced features, and want to list UNLIMITED ITEMS, it will only cost you $20.00 a month! We are currently offering the next several thousand members a $7.00/month upgraded “Verified” account, which will never increase in price, ever. (Note from the editor:  Right now, as a reward to join and help work out all the bugs in the beta version of the site, you pay $7 a month. That’s it. No additional listing fees, no final value fees, no sales commissions. Ever. And it’s $7 per month. As long as you own your shop. And, if you refer 10 individuals to the site that open Verified accounts, your shop fees will be waived FOREVER. Very cool! More information here )

What else should we know?
We roll out new features constantly, adapt quickly, interact in our own forums, and I can be contacted directly on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/ArtFireJohn

Thank you John!

Author’s note: I posted when I opened my Artfire shop here. If this sounds like a venue you might want to utilize to sell your handmade items, click here to join.

Stay tuned over the next weeks as I will be profiling more artisan handmade selling  venues with interviews from the site owners. You can find this site’s traffic rank according to Compete.com  here

In a previous post, I provided a list of venues for artists, artistans and artisan crafters. This week I’m profiling another of those sites on my blog.

I asked Janice & Danielle, Proprietors of HandmadeFuZion to tell us a bit more about the venue.

What is the site name and where can artisan sellers find you?
Handmade FuZion can be found at http://handmadefuzion.com
http://handmadefusion.com/network
http://handmadefuzion.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/handmadefuzion

http://shophf.com

Tell us a little about your site’s history. What are its origins?
Handmade FuZion was created and developed by women who just happen to be blessed by being sisters. We have no intention of being like any other online venue, nor do we wish to compete with any of them. We believe that there is an abundance of talent as well as those seeking the workmanship and personal connection you get when buying from a handmade specialist. With years of knowledge, experience and selling our items online, at craft shows and at B&M shops, we have come to understand the needs of the artisan and also what we like to see as consumers.

We started research and development in 2005 and then we launched the beta version wwcrafters.com. There was much to learn and many modifications were needed to step up to the selling venue level we are at now with Handmade FuZion. We launched the site September 15, 2008. We combined the Social Networking aspects of Handmade FuZion because we realized that many artisans love to showcase, promote and express their talents to family, friends and peers. There are thousands of blogs, photo sites and other social networks out there, but Handmade FuZion’s Network is unique because it is a network designed specifically for the opportunity to be a part of an artist centered network!

Tell us about the site’s staff.
Janice-Proprietor
Danielle-Proprietor
Debra-Attorney
Jose-Selling Venue Developer & Programmer
Phillip-Network Programmer
Bert-Graphic Designer and 5 volunteer jury teams.

What is your plan for the site? What are your goals?
We plan to keep the site juried and never allow resellers of mass produced items in. Our goals are to keep our site respectful to the handmade community, to continue to grow and expand and to provide our artisans with the best tools that will enhance their online experience for their overall success. Advertising is at the top of our priority list and will be more aggressively advertising now that the bugs have been worked out.

Who is your target seller audience?
Anyone who creates an item with their own two hands, has good photos and excellent customer service is welcome to submit an application.

Who is your target buyer audience? How will you drive buyers to your venue?
Buyers are anyone who appreciates a handmade item. There’s a special feeling that comes from knowing what you purchased came from the caring hands of another thoughtful and talented individual. We are finding more and more people are choosing to purchase a handmade item for themselves and as gifts for others. Our artisans are so creative that you will find accessories to woodworking pieces and everything in between. We have been advertising on Project Wonderful, Google, Yahoo, Zines, Newspapers and on Jan 9th our first talk radio commercial will air.

Is this an international, domestic US, Far East or European focused site?
We wish to reach out to people worldwide. This is why we have currency converters right on site to aid them in their listings and sales. Talent has no boundaries and neither does Handmade FuZion.

What differentiates this venue from other online selling venues? Why should artisan sellers consider utilizing this site as a resource instead of other, older sites or their own sites?
First of all, we are a juried site. This helps keep resellers out and also keeps a cap on how many vendors are accepted for each category. This makes listing more gratifying and selling a much more pleasant experience because there are not thousands of one particular type of item. We have several features for our sellers such as a Newsletter, Vouchers, Discount Mode, Vacation Mode and a Network with which they can provide their buyers a special touch. We also submit every listing to Google Base, have RSS feeds and have a “Handmade-to-Go”, seller stats and an exclusive artisan interview page we will be rolling out early 2009. Our listing fees are very affordable and we choose to always keep it this way as we are artisans ourselves and know that the cost of doing business can sometimes take a big bite out of one’s profit.

Buyers coming into to the site can enjoy a simple and clean interface. They can also enjoy marking items and stores as favorites to make shopping easier. We have a keyword notification feature that allows a buyer to put in specific keywords of items they are searching for and when that item is listed they are notified via email immediately!

What else should we know?
We will continue to expand and find cutting-edge features, tools and networks to bring to our venue. Just a few mentions of handmadefuzion.
http://glasstastreasures.blogspot.com/2008/11/whats-so-great-about-handmade-fuzion.html
http://www.killerstartups.com/Site-Reviews/handmadefusion-com-shop-for-handmade-items

Stay tuned over the next weeks as I will be profiling more artisan handmade selling  venues with interviews from the site owners. You can find this site’s traffic rank according to Alexa here

Thought I would share a post from the ArtFire marketing dude today regarding traffic numbers for Artfire.

Visits                Dec.  184,068         Nov    62,151      196% increase
Uniques           Dec.     83,648        Nov    32,482       157% increase
Page views      Dec. 1,953,583      Nov     730,975    167% increase
% repeat visits Dec  57%               Nov      50%           7% increase in repeat traffic

Total members, buyers, basic and verified is 9,582 (working towards 10,000 trees!)

Total items listed 49,327

Total items sold  1495

Editor’s note: Sold to listed: 3%  Sold as a percentage of sellers: 15.6%

We continue to see solid growth in all areas, despite the economy.  Our focus for the next few months is improving and promoting the buying process and the handmade ethic.

Nice little bit of growth there. I’ve been very pleased with Artfire to date, both in support, functionality and the rate of improvement. 

If you would like to see how Artfire’s traffic ranks against other handmade selling venues, you can find its rank according to Alexa here

In a previous post, I provided a list of venues for artists, artistans and artisan crafters. This week I’m profiling another of those sites on my blog.

I asked Chris from MadeItMyself to tell us a bit more about the venue.

What is the site name and where can artisan sellers find you?
Well obviously the site url is www.madeitmyself.com, but we have several different pages set up for groups and as social networks on ning.com and indiepublic.com. Once in a while you can catch our admins on live chat there and clear up any questions you may have.

We also have a flickr group called the madeitmyself photo album, where you can find works from our artisans on the site. Here are the links.

http://www.indiepublic.com/group/madaboutmadeitmyself
http://madeitmyself.ning.com/
http://flickr.com/groups/860071@N25/

Tell us a little about your site’s history. What are its origins?
Madeitmyself was originally an idea set forth back in 2000, by, who is now, our current CEO. The idea was tinkered and toyed with in many different ways, but was not made an official business entity until 2006 when Oznola, L.L.C., MiM’s parent company, was formed.

Originally, the site was supposed to bridge the gap between other countries where handmade items that are sold for $0.50 there, are sold for $10.00 here. In short, we wanted to make a way to balance the economies in “poor” countries.

After many attempts and trials, our first public launch date was June, 05 2007. As you can see, we have conformed with today’s demand for online venues for the purpose of establishing a foundation for the site. There will be many changes to come in the future, however, that will set us far apart from the others.

Tell us about the site’s staff.
Madeitmyself.com is both operated and owned by only close family and friends. We try to run a fun and friendly environment that different generations can all enjoy. I personally stay active in our forums and external groups as often as I can spare it to take ideas and help our members. If I can’t, at least, check the site that day, I call for help from one of the other staff. I consider that to be a 24 hour job, and while we can’t always keep everyone happy… We do try non-stop.

My email (chris@oznola.com) is made available to our members and future members for any reason. A lot of times people just want to tell me about their day or see how I’m doing, which is cool with me .

What is your plan for the site? What are your goals?
Our plans and goals for the site are pretty straight forward… Do anything and everything to take the site to the top, while keeping our morals in tact. Many of the sites that started out as handmade only, and claim to be handmade only, are not. They’ve allowed resellers and mass production to run over the little guys’ businesses. I find it unfortunate that is what makes them so successful.

We consider MiM to be the little guy taking on the big guy, just as most of our members are on other websites. We’re still very young and we are privately funded. We don’t have millions of dollars at our disposal to instantly put up a program that will put everyone else to shame, and everyone that reads this will know who I am talking about.

Our promise to our patrons is: Someday MiM will be a successful international venue, as big as any of the others out there, but instead of simply taking our members money, we will give back to the site and the rest of the world.

MiM is meant to help a lot of people. I’m talking about Implementation of members ideas so they may further their business; Constant interactive admins and site support; Occasional free services, just because; International youth scholarship programs; Little league sponsorships; Buying our own user’s products and donating them to those that can use them for holidays and birthdays; Advertising on behalf of our members to boost sales; National MiM craft shows featuring our members; etc. etc.. The list does go on with our plans, but you get the idea for now .

Who is your target seller audience?
Our target seller audience consists of artisans and hobbyists around the world. This doesn’t include resellers.

Who is your target buyer audience?  How will you drive buyers to your venue?
Our target buyer audience is anyone and everyone. Since there is such a wide array of handmade products out there, there is, in turn, an equally wide array of buyers for those products. We just need to match them all up.

Our marketing plans are very extensive, but detailed plans is something I can’t discuss due to them being trade secrets. In fact, I may have already hinted at more than I should have lol.

In the most basic of words, without giving away too many details, we look to get our name out there by any means possible. Have you ever heard of a little site called eBay? Of course you have. We’d like Madeitmyself to be as much of a household name as they are. From there, we can have the luxury of worrying about who we’d like buying
on our site.

Is this an international, domestic US, Far East or European focused site?
As of right now, we are geared towards the domestic US, but we do plan on moving to a full blown international scale when we come out of our beta phase.

What differentiates this venue from other online selling venues? Why should artisan sellers consider utilizing this site as a resource instead of other, older sites or their own sites?
I think the biggest difference is our management team. We give more personal attention to our users and always try to see their side of things. We hold a higher moral standard than any of our competitors and I think that reflects on the site’s environment. People are always friendly in our forums and we always try to maintain a collective
positive attitude. I think most of our members would tell you the same thing.

But aside from that, one of the things we have implemented and will be fine tuning throughout beta, is the ability for our sellers to send electronic coupons to their buyers allowing for their own personal discounts and promotions any time they please.

And rather than featuring one person or none on the home page, we try to fit everyone in on a randomized schedule. Also, users have the option of showing their products on the home page for, typically, a small undetermined fee, but right now, everything is free.

Here’s a youtube link of one of the free services we do, and will continue to offer to our members:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpO98v5TX4g

We also have MadeIt(tm) magazine planned out for our members to showcase their products and themselves. You can find a link on our homepage to sign up for a free copy in advance. This won’t come for a while, but it’s definitely a perk to look forward to.

We are very young and we do have a lot of similarities with competitors. It will take some time for us to grow into our own before I can give more site
functionalities and services that do set us apart.

How have your structured your seller pricing?
Throughout our beta, everything is free. No listing, commission, or membership fees to deal with like our competitors…

When we do start charging, you’ll find that our fees are very minimal.

Listing fees per item:

$0.10 = 30 days
$0.15 = 60 days
$0.20 = 120 days

Commission fee is a flat rate of 3%.

We’re also going to be researching a way to implement a flat membership rate to allow unlimited listings and sales with no additional charges for the users that would prefer that option.

What else should we know?
One thing I did want to mention is our special “donation accounts”. Any certified, charitable, non-profit organization is welcome to apply for a donation account, which will allow users to donate money to their favorite organization. This is something that will continue to expand as the site grows and we can recruit more organizations. It is, and will remain, a free service simply to help the greater good.

Stay tuned over the next weeks as I will be profiling more artisan handmade selling  venues with interviews from the site owners. You can find this site’s traffic rank according to Alexa here