‘My Community Made’ – New Online Marketplace to Compete with Etsy, Amazon Handmade

‘My Community Made’ is a new ecommerce destination by the tiny (their words, not ours) web development company Fisher Tech Solutions LLC in Wales, MA, trying to compete with Etsy in attracting artists and crafters to join its startup online marketplace.

The web development company is run by Edward Fisher JR and Emma Johnson, which builds websites and helps small businesses with digital marketing.

Now they are embarking on a new venture with ‘My Community Made’ by publically launching an online marketplace for artists struggling to sell their products on ecommerce giants like Etsy and Amazon.

Emma Johnson knows the frustration of ecommerce as she is an artist herself trying to sell her pottery and jewelry online.

‘My Community Made’ is endeavoring to solve the challenge for artists to break through the saturation of semi-handmade or even mass products on sites like Etsy or eBay, while ever-increasing transaction fees and poor seller customer support cut into profits and sales.

It is very costly for artists and craftspeople to run their own sites and handle their own marketing to build traffic.

Online marketplaces should be a perfect solution. But finding one-of-a-kind truly handmade products becomes difficult as small sellers are often getting lost in search algorithms, especially by sellers who purchase on-platform ads to drive traffic to their listings.

One way ‘My Community Made’ is standing apart from its much bigger competitors is by allowing artists and crafters to list their products for free.

Instead of charging transaction fees or listing fees, the site generates revenue through subscriptions, advertising, and professional services.

Since its private launch, ‘My Community Made’ has already attracted about 1,000 registered users and grown its inventory to nearly 700 truly handmade products.

Of course, compared to Etsy or eBay, that is a tiny drop in the bucket, but the marketplace is focusing narrowly on truly handmade items, not mass-produced products cloaked as handmade.

How is ‘My Community Made’ Different?

1. It is really possible to sell on the site 100% for free. Sellers can open a free account and list up to five products at a time. No transaction fees or listing fees of any kind.

2. The site is moderated. Sellers must be based in the U.S. and produce or design their own products without infringing on anyone’s intellectual property rights.

3. Vendors have complete control over their brand and can use our internal (Search Engine Optimization) SEO tools to rank for specific keywords and control how their products/store appears in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

“Because we don’t rely on transaction fees, we are free to focus on what makes art interesting to enjoy and shop for,” said Edward Fisher JR, owner of Fisher Tech Solutions LLC.

“Rather than an algorithm that sorts products based on potential transaction volume, our site is focused on showing customers novel products regardless of price or sales volume.

“Our product cap of 50 products per store also prevents users from flooding the market with similar products.

“Each of these differences, while small, promote a healthier marketplace, with less incentives for lowering prices just to appear higher in search results.

“Our future goals include providing more advertising opportunities for vendors/sellers as well as to expand into additional professional services, providing advice and management services to vendors on how to continue to grow their art/crafting business.”

Small Artist and Crafters Opportunity

My Community Made appears to be trying to capitalize on the grievances voiced by a group of Etsy sellers during the Etsy Strike last year, when “striking” sellers set their shops to vacation mode.

This isn’t the first time an alternative marketplace for artists and crafters is trying to get a foothold in the marketplace space.

In 2018, a marketplace called Our Village tried something similar, except they offered unlimited listings for a $5 per month fee. Apparently, it shut down recently, as today, the site appears gone as of this writing (The Our Village website was still alive in the summer of 2022).

Another site called The Grommet made news around the Etsy Strike as it was trying to lure unhappy Etsy and Amazon handmade sellers.

While the site features unique products, including handmade or low-production items, it is more of a directory and doesn’t cater specifically to artists and crafters creating truly unique items.

Since ‘My Community Made’ was launched by web developers with an understanding of the needs of artists and crafters, there appears to be a reasonable foundation for them to carve out a niche in the online marketplace space.

And with the marketplace offering free listings for sellers, what do small artists and crafters have to lose?

Obviously, ‘My Community Made’ will have to bring traffic to make it worthwhile for sellers to thrive, and since it is still in the early stages, it may require a little patience.

Seller sign-up is now open here. ‘My Community Made’ purchases are processed through PayPal or Stripe.

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