Where Should Artists Sell in 2025? Etsy, Ko-Fi & Better Alternatives
All photographs are original works taken and created by dreamlikediana. All artwork and content are protected by copyright law. Reproduction or distribution without express written permission is strictly prohibited. ©DREAMLIKEDIANA - All Rights Reserved
When you’re a buyer on Etsy, it’s great! You have an awesome marketplace at your disposal, and you can literally find anything you want or are looking for. You are protected, whatever that means! As a buyer, you feel safer purchasing from Etsy sellers than other platforms, right? So it MUST be the best place for you to start your business, right? Mmmm… the answer is actually not that simple anymore.
As an Etsy seller, you find out very quickly some of the backhanded things Etsy does to the sellers that make the platform what it is. Today, I’m going to share with you everything I’ve noted since I tried to open my shop in August 2021. I say “tried” because well… I’ll get into it.
In this blog post, I cover
Where to start a business for artists?
As an artist & seller myself, I recommend…
You could also create a shop at
💖 Psst... I also run a small art shop! If you love cute, useful things like stickers, journals, or creative tools—check out what’s new in my store.
Etsy
Pros
Awesome SEO Marketplace
There is no search engine out there like Etsy’s. It is top notch. That’s why keywords & the title of your listing is so important. Think an AliExpress / Amazon type of listin name. Full of relevant keywords that are top hitters. It’s what helps your product get seen by the right people in the right niches. There is no other marketplace like Etsy’s because of their search engine.
The option of digital or physical goods
You can sell just digital goods, you can sell just physical goods, or you can do both. Creators, artists, and entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes. An idea for a digital good is Canva templates, website layouts, SVGs, personally in my shop I sell bullet journal and planner inserts for print. I’ve seen Twitch elements, stock photos, and so much more being sold as a digital product and sellers, artists really, doing so well because someone actually wants these items. A person’s items can make someone else’s life easier. You don’t have to just sell physical products!
There are plenty of physical products to buy on Etsy too, with adequate tracking information. But you can really also have both on one platform at the same time, and I think that’s awesome too. Especially if they’re in a similar niche or your branding is clear from the gecko that you’re going to scale up in other ways.
Simple UI & Storefront
If you don’t know how to code, you don’t need to. Etsy’s storefront is very simple, clear, and easy to navigate. All shops look the same besides the banner, and your banner really is what draws people in! Etsy in general is so easy to navigate someone who is technologically not adept could do it!
People trust Etsy A LOT
Thanks to years of word of mouth, Etsy has become a platform everyone trusts. They trust Etsy more than if you have a personal website–even if it’s on Shopify. There are even Etsy gift cards sold in stores. It makes sense for people to trust Etsy when they literally can find anything they want on Etsy for purchase. I’m sure they’ve had plenty of great experiences with shopping on Etsy too, so that’s why they keep coming back.
Celebrates your wins
Cheesy, I know, but when I got my first sale and they sent me an email about it, I was ecstatic! Even after my 5th, 10th, and 20th sale, Etsy reminded me on my dashboard about my wins! I really like that about the platform.
Print on Demand Integration
Not everyone has the space or the ability to create and ship everything from home, and that’s where print on demand manufacturers come in and help. Some examples are Printful & Printify.
Many many small business sellers that aren’t on Etsy outsource the majority of their products to manufacturers to make their washi tape, planners, etc. The only difference is, the print on demand company takes your design, prints it, and ships it to the customer. Which helps the designers, illustrators, small business owners, who do not have the means to create or buy in bulk to grow thanks to the help of these companies.
Bulk Edits
Want to edit a price quickly? Tags? Quantity you’re selling? Or even the section, it’s so easy to tweak a few things on multiple listings at once with the “Quick Edit” button. It autosaves for you, saving you time.
Vast options of payment methods
There’s so many different ways to pay for your items on Etsy! There’s so many different ways a person can pay for their items. It's an overall win-win situation for everyone.
Etsy is global
I get buyers on my digital products from all around the world. Everyone in the world knows Etsy, while only Americans and those in niched spaces know what Ko-Fi is.
Cons
Will suspend your seller account upon creation
This just happens to just about everyone. It’s not your fault, they won’t send you an email, you won’t hear from them. There’s literally no one on their support team, maybe a group of crickets. It’s literally non-existent. You’ll appeal it, and 2 weeks or so from the time you opened it, it will be reopened to you.
What I’ve learned is, for some reason Etsy’s bots think you're fake and suspend you. You can do everything right in the setup, it doesn’t matter, it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with Etsy. As I mentioned above, I tried to open my Etsy shop in August 2021, but then was hit with this. I learned it was such a common thing, that it made me distrust Etsy from the very beginning. I put off listing anything on Etsy once I got it back, only because of my distaste and distrust for it.
They will even suspend your account even if you’re an experienced seller, and lots of people don’t get theirs back. So this could very much so happen to you & anyone, and anyone saying otherwise is lying through their teeth.
Bots run Etsy
There’s no human behind the emails. There’s no support for the sellers or the buyers, not even someone you can call. Most places you call and you at least get someone from a foreign country, this website has NO ONE but bots. This isn’t even AI, they’re not smart bots. What’s even more annoying is, the CEO of Etsy, Josh Silverman, is saying how great Etsy is doing and giving out business advice but not listening to thousands of seller complaints! So if you’re a business website, do your research before you interview the guy. He has no good advice to give! Take it with a grain of salt and follow the #KeepEtsyHuman hashtag. You’ll learn the truth!
Also, if you get a listing taken down, it’ll usually be for no reason or they’ll have a reason but won’t tell you because a bot took it down. The only thing you can do is make a new listing and relist it, but do your research on anything or any word, term, product, or phrase that’s banned on Etsy. There are quite a bit! For example, if you put Disney in a title, you may land yourself in hot water with Disney themselves and not so much Etsy.
Etsy fees
The fees don’t even make sense. Not only did Etsy raise their fees in April 2022, but let me just note how many fees sellers are getting charged with EACH TIME someone places an order.
Processing Fee: 3.0% of the order total plus $0.25
Transaction Fee: 6.5% of item total
Another Transaction Fee: 6.5% of shipping total
Listing Fee: 20 cents
Offsite Ads Fee: 15%
PayPal Fee: 5%
You’d think the listing fee is a one-time payment. Nope, it is not. Every time someone buys from you, it charges you an extra 20 cents to “re-list” it even if you list you have 500 or 1000 available. It makes no sense. Oh, and this is truly the kicker, any traffic you bring in from outside the platform, you are being charged with the Offsite Ads fee.
Not to mention, your listings go through a renewal fee every 3 months from their listing date.
Of the $3 I charged for a digital download in the past, guess how much I was ACTUALLY making? 68 CENTS!!! Not even a full dollar with all these fees. You know, you’d think I’d be happy with a sale, but honestly, it costs me more to keep my products on Etsy than what I’m actually making from selling my products. Which is the point.
A seller’s goal is not only to make a sale but to also make more than what they are putting out. Otherwise, it is pointless!
Let’s just call it for what it is, Etsy just wants to line its pockets deeper. I don’t even know who the money is going to, probably Josh Silverman, considering there’s no human behind Etsy. It’s all bots
Out of $19.53 sold in products, in March 2024, I only made $6.61 and the rest was taken BY ETSY in fees. Make it make sense.
People only trust Etsy
I’ve tried to build my business on other platforms, but the number 1 problem is: people don’t trust anything outside of Etsy.
Especially, if you’re a small business, just starting out, don’t have a community, or social media following, they’re really not going to trust you.
It’s going to take you super long to grow a business outside of Etsy. Especially if you run a niched business. Therefore, it’s kind of vital to start out on Etsy, and then move to your own website when you have a community, are making enough, etc.
Etsy buyers don’t understand why Etsy sellers complain
I mean, why would they? They’re not selling anything, and they don’t have to deal with the messy ugly skeletons in the closet. But they also don’t seem to understand a lot of Etsy sellers. Only once in a blue moon a buyer will have an issue with a seller or an item, and the seller is unresponsive and then they find out Etsy is run by bots and unresponsive too.
The mass-merchandisers & drop shippers from China
Now I’m not talking about people who design things themselves and use print on demand services (see above in pros). I’m talking about people who sell things that have been mass produced already, acquired it from AliExpress or Temu, for dirt cheap, and are selling it for outrageous prices on Etsy. You can literally get those SAME items on Temu, Amazon, & AliExpress for cheaper than Etsy, which is the kicker!
Etsy used to be solely for people who made or designed their own products, and as I’ve come to understand, in the past you had to prove you made your designs.
What they’re doing now is illegal still to Etsy, but Etsy doesn’t care anymore which is why sellers are striking and are taking up arms to try and keep Etsy human. Try and make Etsy human again.
This practice hurts small business sellers and actual people who actually design their own products.
Make an offer
This is a new feature on Etsy. You don’t have to opt in, but it feels like Etsy is trying to make REAL humans into Amazon mean machines. That’s not realistically possible. Can you imagine doing your job 24/7? No, then why should anyone else just because our work is a little different?
Not everyone needs to be an office worker, and you wouldn’t have any of your products without designers and artists like us. Therefore, pay a seller what they’re pricing the item as.
This “Make an Offer” feature is super disrespectful. It’s trying to cheap out. If you want a cheaper product, go to someone’s website to buy it from them directly. Prices are usually 20% cheaper there if not more! Etsy sellers raise their prices or price things higher on Etsy because of Etsy fees.
Making this even an option is just stupid as fuck and blatantly disrespectful to the artists and sellers who made Etsy what it is today.
Oversaturated with AI Art & Products
It is 2025, and it seems like Etsy DID get worse! The market is overrun and over saturated with AI art and products. So now you’re not only competing with a bunch of sellers and trying to have 200+ listings to get seen, but also competing with pump and dump AI art. Random people with no imposter syndrome trying to make a buck or more on what is supposed to be a market for handmade goods and indie brands. So now you’re a needle in a haystack!
But what can you do?
Not much really. I think it’s absolutely vital to start educating Etsy buyers and even non-Etsy buyers on Etsy.
What’s going on with Etsy, the problems with Etsy, etc.
If we only talk to our communities about it, we’re only hurting ourselves. Keep talking about it even if people start telling you to stop talking about it, don’t. It needs to be so annoying to people that Etsy finally does something about it because without these crafters and entrepreneurs, Etsy wouldn’t be what it is today.
Try to shop small when you can because when you do you’re buying a piece of their heart. But I get it, everyone has different budgets. If you can’t shop small, find their social media accounts, give a follow, a like, share their items to your story, give them a shoutout. There are so many free options in supporting a small business!
The vast public needs to stop trusting Etsy so much for change to actually happen.
Ko-Fi
Just before starting this post I saw someone had asked in a comment of a video what a creator’s opinion was on selling on Ko-Fi. My friend, Dahlia of MixedMamaMusings, and I did try our hand at selling on Ko-Fi and I CAN tell your for sure what to expect and that it’s not on the same level as Etsy … yet. It still has a long way to go!
What is Ko-Fi, though?
For those that don’t know, Ko-Fi is a platform creators utilize for donations, memberships, freebies, and more!
It is really well-known in the gaming community, and is still getting the word out around artists and other Etsy sellers because of the shop section it offers.
Beyond that, it has its own version of Patreon where you can offer your community memberships with different tiered perks. You can also offer exclusive content, consulting services, commissions, rewards and more. It is a great platform for growing and existing creators, BUT I’m only going to be diving into the shop and selling capabilities of Ko-Fi and why it’s not up to par with Etsy.
Pros
No listing fees & Unlimited amount of listings
GLORIOUS! Just glorious! You can list as much as you want without Ko-Fi charging you a fee or a renewal fee 3 months later like Etsy does.
No after-sale fees
Unless you’re a free account, but even then only a 5% compared to how many fees attack you on Etsy.
More optimization and design-friendly space
You get a little bit more optimization than Etsy, but not a lot. It is still pretty easy to maneuver Ko-Fi.
About section is higher
The about section on Etsy sits pretty low, and most don’t even go down that far to read about you, the seller or your product, your teammates, etc. With Ko-Fi the about section sits higher and is much more noticeable. You can really call out what your expertise is in.
People kind of know what Ko-Fi is
Like I mentioned above, people, mainly creators in the gaming space, and some artists, know what Ko-Fi is. The same can be said with Gumroad. People are just starting to know what Gumroad is, but it’s still not enough.
Setting a Goal
I think this is a cool option! You can set a goal of what you’re raising money for. Whether your animal is sick or you need a new computer, people can know where their money is going. You don’t have to, but it’s an interesting feature!
You can add more than 1 category/section for each listing
I like the idea that you can add more than one category or section for each listing. But the way Ko-Fi organizes it, it isn’t very pretty or nice. So on one hand it’s cool, but on the other it can get complicated.
A place where you can be Patreon, Etsy, or even just sell commissions
That is if you have an existing following or community! It’s great, but it has its drawbacks which I’ll get into in the cons.
A place to offer freebies!
And grow your email marketing list in the process! I have had great success with offering freebies on Ko-Fi but no success at all with selling on Ko-Fi.
Cons
Search Engine sucks
The main issue with why Ko-Fi will never be Etsy, or why it’s currently not beating out Etsy is it doesn’t have search engine optimization. There is no way to find products, find other sellers, etc. You have to have an existing following and community who understand and trusts Ko-Fi to use and purchase from you on it. You can even offer them cheaper prices, if the people don’t know what Ko-Fi is, they won’t touch it! There is not enough traction about it for people to use it, and people won’t use it because of the lack of search engine optimization.
You have to drive your own traffic to Ko-Fi
As mentioned, numerous times, you really need an existing following to get any decent traction from Ko-Fi alone. That’s why mainly artists who have a following or Twitch streamers use it. Because they have that, and their communities know what it is. Your grandma and grandpop will know what “coffee” is but not Ko-Fi.
No embed shop widget
Etsy does have an embed shop widget, it’s just not very well-known to people and you have to know how to code to use it. You also have to have a website that will take it. It would be great if I could use singular links or embeds to embed products on my own personal website so people can checkout faster. There is no option, like this, on Ko-Fi or Etsy. But Ko-Fi has other embed options available, just not this one.
No add-to-cart feature. favorites button, or review system
It’s always “Buy it now” “get it now” or whatever and forcing people to check out multiple times for multiple items. It doesn’t allow a user or consumer to favorite items to come back to them later. With that being said, there’s no way to review items once you purchase them or review a seller. They could leave a comment, but then that gets lost and cluttered. The shop feature of Ko-Fi is therefore poor and bareboned compared to what Etsy buyers love about Etsy.
The reviews I get on Etsy, on the other hand, seamlessly import into my shop here on Squarespace. Giving potential shoppers more trust in me, my site, and my products.
No bulk edit
It gets hard to have to edit everything one by one, especially if you have SO MANY LISTINGS. With Etsy, the algorithm starts to favor you if you have over 100 listings, 200 is even better. Social media marketing is key if you don’t care to make over 100 listings or more. But on Ko-Fi, if you have to edit the same thing on multiple listings, everything is one by one. And the second you update one, the newly updated on saves to the top of the list pushing every single one down. It’s just a hassle!
Little to no support unless you purchase gold
Ko-Fi doesn’t have a support system in place either, unless you pay for their Gold tier. I once only got help because I kept tweeting them on Twitter. There are real people there, but they can’t do as much and won’t unless you’re a paid user.
Can't block or report fraud users prior to anything
So I actually had this issue a few months ago, which is what made me lose trust in Ko-Fi. I have people who harass me online. Who doesn’t? Any time I make a new platform, I am able to block their emails, account usernames that they use, etc. Or even block them when they do appear on this new platform. With Ko-Fi, there is now way to block or report someone. Even now, their profile image still sits there taunting me even though Ko-Fi said they did something, they barely did. It’s that kind of shit, that won’t make it a go-to selling platform.
It’s so vital to need a place to protect your peace from people who harass you. People I file reports against in the court of law and with the police district. There are always going to be assholes out there, and a website SHOULD have a way to block and remove users like that from existing in your line of sight. Ko-Fi does not.
Connection with Stripe allows buyers/supporters to use a prepaid Visa
How is this a con? Prepaid visa cards are the center of a lot of fraud. You get charged quite a bit when you’re dealing with Stripe and fraudulence. I would highly not recommend allowing Stripe connection at all. It’s harder to commit fraud with just a PayPal account. Anyone can send an invoice through PayPal, but to use it to purchase items, you can’t falsify banking information and details. PayPal is basically Venmo. Fraud is everywhere, I understand that, but every time you’re dealing with one on Stripe you end up in the negative for it. Do yourself a favor, and don’t set it up. It’s not worth the anxiety.
Payment methods are bleak
You really only have 2 methods: Stripe or PayPal. Once I removed Stripe, PayPal is the only one that’s left but I don’t even sell on this platform anymore. So PayPal is only needed to transfer your funds if you get any, which I get nothing because my following isn’t huge, and my followers don’t trust Ko-Fi because they don’t know enough people using Ko-Fi.
In conclusion, Ko-Fi COULD be great!
But it won’t happen overnight! There is so much that it is lacking that sellers require and consumers prefer to have that it is not competition for Etsy. Etsy isn’t going anywhere because they have no competitor in their system. You can ship out physical products through Ko-Fi, but the tracking system isn’t anywhere close to what Etsy’s is. Gumroad is the SAME way. Gumroad is mainly digital product listings because of what it lacks for a physical product sale and the word of mouth aspect.
Ko-Fi’s shop section is very similar to Gumroad that’s why I’m bringing it up, because I’ve tried it also and unless you have an existing following, people won’t purchase from it. And Etsy knows this, has no fear, and keeps mucking around because it’s still a great platform compared to everything else we are being offered.
What both are lacking that I wish they had
I wish Etsy & Ko-Fi both had separate sections for other things, not just the description. For example, a digital download may have instructions for how to print or how to use the product. It may have terms & agreements. Or a lot of people like to include a footer at the bottom of their descriptions where they note links, hashtags, copyright etc.
For example:
© Dreamlike Innovations
Website: www.dreamlikediana.com
Linktree: dreamlikediana.com/links
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/dreamlikediana
Instagram: @dreamlikediana @dreamlikeinnovations
www.instagram.com/dreamlikediana
www.instagram.com/dreamlikeinnovations
People don't read beyond the first few lines of the description box, and even if they do it may be hard to find certain things unless people use unique characters such as:
/// P R I N T - D I R E C T I O N S ///
to call out big important things for the customer to know.
Otherwise, they miss out on important information because all the info is cluttered together. There’s no option to bold or make things a different color or even change the heading sizes to differentiate all the information.
I'd also like it if people COULD NOT check out, unless they have fully read terms & agreements as well as print directions. Right now on Etsy, I have been using the customization box as a verbal agreement towards customers. They have to write “yes” so I know they know what they’re doing and not trying to scam me for free items.
You don't know how many times people have messaged me about the stupidest fucking shit when I have it in my description in fucking English. It’s frustrating, so I went in there and now you can’t purchase unless you know what you’re doing and have read everything.
I feel like people respond well to blocks and pop-ups in their face asking them a million times, “Is this correct?” “Are you sure?” etc. It’s annoying, but it gets the point across.
I get customer service is part of the package deal when opening up a business, but all the information is listed. I just wish it was easier to list it and call out important information. Otherwise it’s just jumbled, and I get it, because a lot of information can make my head spin too.
Another thing with Ko-Fi is, shoppers can't really leave reviews so potential buyers may be uneasy to buy something from someone without seeing that they're not going to get scammed.
You can't find new sellers or shops either, they don't have the search engine that Etsy has which is what makes selling on Esty so good because you can literally find anything you want! With Ko-Fi you need existing followers, and followers that already know what Ko-Fi is and trust it. A lot of people outside of the gaming & art community don't know what Ko-Fi is so they're uneasy with it.
It's a great donation platform, a decent Patreon alternative, great for offering free stuff and building your email marketing list, but they have a long way to go before they're a decent Etsy alternative.
Where to start a business for artists?
A lot of big Etsy sellers have been leaving Etsy and creating their own website, and while they recommend others to create their own websites as well. It’s not always realistic. Creating a website is VERY expensive, especially with the means to sell. Not every website host has that capability! And when you do find one, they cost a lot! $700 MINIMUM a year for Shopify.
When I was just starting out, I was like, "Yeah there's no way." Most are students or just hobbyists trying something new. The most affordable website plan & host right now is Squarespace. Especially with their newest plans. $192 a year, plus tax, which comes out to be about $200 for the Basic plan. Each month they release a 20% off code also, it’ll be listed on their banner or website. Or quick tip, go to the Honey browser, and find their 20% off coupon. It works! So you can get it for $153.60 ish your first year! If you want to sell on your own website. Each plan has the capabilities to sell physical products and digital products compared to their legacy plans which don’t exist anymore!
As an artist & seller myself, I recommend…
having an Etsy account.
Hear me out!
Raise the price of your products by 25% more than what you would list it on your site if you had no fees. If someone buys it, cool, if not, oh well. You are and aren’t losing anything. Your listings do renew every 3 months so each listing is 20 cents. And it does add up, you can give yourself a cut off date, but when I spoke to a contracted Etsy engineer he even said the search engine for Etsy is one of the most ROBUST search engines available anywhere right now. I met him by pure chance too! He is my boyfriend’s uncle’s childhood friend, and on the day I met my boyfriend’s extended family he was there. He is a contractor not a full time employee, so I honestly assume every who works with Etsy now is a contractor or on a contract.
I know this is deviating from the topic, but for the longest I haven’t been able to get hired for a full time job. Every place will say full time, but they actually want contract. Whether they don’t want to pay the benefits or they just want a trial period of you. I wonder if many are here reading this post because you’re in same boat as I am.
Need more money!
Need a better income.
Want healthy work life balance etc.
I started this blog because I have passion for the topics I write about. I don’t make money from my blog, unless you use my affiliate codes or shop my products. I don’t have ads because I want to have a clean reading experience for you, the reader. We’re bombarded with enough ads as it is!
So if you appreciate this info so far,
or simply share my blog with your friends and family! It would help me out a ton!
But it’s true what he said! The search engine on Etsy is one of the best search engines out there for a marketplace! I wouldn’t focus on trying to add 200 listings to get seen. In reality, if you go to any online shop, they have a select number of products. Not 100. Not 200. That’s unrealistic and quite frankly, confusing because you’re overloading your potential customer with too many choices. Choice overload is when customers are presented with too many options, leading to decision fatigue, customer frustration, and ultimately, potentially lower sales and satisfaction. I personally feel this when I shop, so why would I do this to my customers. You know? This is a great video about marketing yourself and making sales. It’s short and on Instagram. Click here to watch it!
Also, if you have 100+ listing, those fees add up too much, and you get charged that every 3 months even if you don’t make a sale. All you want is at least 1% of eyes on your shop. Even if it’s not an Etsy buyer, most are looking to see if you have an actual shop.
So do this instead: utilize your Etsy account, shop, listings, to cross platform market your shop and website. For example, put it in the description, on listing photos, your shop banner, shop note etc. I also let people know they can get freebies from my site, so even if they’re not shopping I’m converting potential buyers into growing my email list. That’s something you also want to do, grow an email list. Convertkit is a great email marketing website to start for free! Just to start growing an email list.
Social media marketing is going to be important in getting your shop out there. It’s not how it used to be where you can post on Etsy and people find it magically. Yeah, no. Pinterest is a great resource. Instagram or TikTok if you have the desire for it. Youtube is also an option. You’re going to want to choose 1-2 social medias to talk about your business, your products, share your products to, to help drive sales, covert, and help create a community that wants to support you! 1-2 social medias is doable, anything more than that you will start to feel burnt out.
You could also create a shop at…
Redbubble, Teepublic, Teespring, Society6, as an artist just starting out. I wouldn’t recommend Printful, Gelato, or Printify JUST YET. I have a more in-depth blog post about this, and you can read all about it here. But to sum it up, unless you have upfront funds and a solid plan these platforms require you to spend money to make money. With Redbubble, Teepublic, Teespring, or Society6, you can upload and earn without handling production. Too many new artists go into debt thinking POD means instant profit, but real success takes strategy, time, and investment. Whether you're investing your own time and money or relying on someone else's time and even more of your money, building a business still requires resources there’s no shortcut around the effort or the cost.
Another decent place artists could get their start is Storenvy. It's very underrated. I know a few artists who choose Storenvy as their shop of choice! But again, you need to do all the marketing yourself. The marketplace is pretty good though, but not to Etsy’s level. Ley me get into it a little further, and please note, I’m not sponsored. I have a Storenvy BUYERS account. Not a sellers account, but you can check out my store, here on my site instead.
Storenvy
If you're considering Ko-Fi but want more flexibility, Storenvy is actually a great alternative. especially if you're looking to sell both digital and physical goods. I haven’t fully tested everything out yet as a seller, but from a buyer's perspective, it was a smooth experience. I also know several small artists who use it and like it!
Storenvy offers a free plan with up to 20 products, which is great if you're just starting out. But their Artisan Plan is where it really starts to shine. It’s only $4.99/month for the first 3 months (normally $9.99), and gives you:
Up to 100 products
A personalized storefront
No external ads
Your own custom domain
Access to the Storenvy marketplace
Super Discounts & email marketing tools
If you’re choosing between Ko-Fi and Storenvy, I’d say go with Storenvy’s free or Artisan plan. It offers more robust e-commerce tools, feels more polished, and gives you space to grow as a brand or someone artsy just starting out!
Why I Don’t Recommend Gumroad
Gumroad is another platform that’s often recommended, but I personally didn’t vibe with it. Like Ko-Fi, it’s mainly tailored for digital products. While Gumroad does allow physical products, it doesn’t make the process easy. You’ll still have to manually figure out the shipping and backend logistics. It also lacks membership features or support-based donations like Ko-Fi offers.
The marketplace on Gumroad is a bit better than Ko-Fi’s, but it still doesn’t compare to Etsy or Storenvy. Overall, it’s not my top recommendation for artists who want to sell their art or goods.
Whatever you choose though, don’t expect to hit big overnight. You have to do the marketing yourself. So if you want to start, that’s something you’re signing up for. You’re essentially going to be wearing a million hats! Watch Monica Razak on YouTube, she has a lot of helpful insights and tips on selling your products and business. I’ve been really enjoying watching her content!
To sum things up,
You will need to do social media marketing to make any business happen these days, whether it’s Etsy or Ko-Fi or any of the other platforms I’ve mentioned. That’s just the reality now. Etsy is still a great resource though, for anyone just starting out, but it’s not the ideal or sparkly solution that it used to be!
The reason why people keep coming back to Etsy is because a lot of people already know Etsy and trust Etsy. Especially buyers vs sellers. Buyers don't really understand what's going on with Etsy and its issues, and don't really care as much as sellers do. How do we make them care? We talk about it, word of mouth gets around. Make them care by telling them what’s up. When I talked to my friends who shop on Etsy also, they’re in the dark nor do they care to Google it.
Consumers are uneasy to shop anywhere they don't know about or trust so you’ll want to reassure them. If you do create a website, make sure you’re choosing a host that is safe and secure, and something people know about already: Shopify, Squarespace, Weebly, Wix, etc. And cross platform market your site.
This blog post is long I get it, but it’s really important to know what you’re getting yourself into and if this is the right path for you!
I implore you to try regardless! Whether with Ko-Fi or Etsy. I have no use for Ko-Fi. I get everything that I would get on Ko-Fi on Squarespace, the host of my site! It’s all under the price I pay and no fees, but I am still an Etsy seller because it is a great way to be found even if by 1% of shoppers or start a business with low barrier to entry. Like I said, the search engine is unlike anything else out there! But it's not as amazing as it was 10 years ago!
As a buyer, I enjoy it, but as a seller, I'm only using it to try and get more eyes to my site or other social media accounts. In the end, what I make on Etsy after fees is the same amount I would make here on my site. But people do trust Etsy more and I don't blame them! The buyers unfortunately have also gotten ruthless, they expect things to be a whole lot more like Amazon when in reality it takes us small owners, who have other jobs to make ends meet, time to create and process their order. I guess you just can’t win!
Hope this post helps you in your decision and understanding what’s what. I would still choose Etsy despite all the cons, and throw a lot of time into cross-platform social media marketing.
If you have any comments or questions, let me know in the comments section down below!
Till next time!
Diana~
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