- (Courtesy of Etsy.com)
Pacman-inspired pillows, vegan candles and nose magnets are just some of the many handmade commodities offered by unique Web site esty.com.
According to the site, Esty’s goal is to be “your place to buy & sell all things handmade.”
The Web site offers a unique variety of shops with categories ranging from knitting to photography to clothing or even “geekery.” All of the shops at Etsy are run similar to the way an eBay shop would be, with individual shops determining their own prices and purchasers being able to rank sellers. Unlike eBay, Etsy shops are almost exclusively handmade items.
Joy Memmen, 32, said she first discovered Etsy about three years ago through a friend and decided to create an Etsy shop.
“I had started getting into glass work; my store is full of handmade glass beads that I melt and make myself and I just wanted to see if I could market it, or if this was just going to become a hobby for myself,” Memmen said.
Memmen has sold almost 90 items since creating her Etsy store, BoulderGlassMonkey, in July 2007. Memmen said she spends between 15 and 20 hours a week creating her glass beads. She sells her items through Esty and local shops and estimates to earn between $200 and $300 a month.
Memmen said she believes the “sky is the limit” with her Etsy store.
“Someday I’d like (BoulderGlassMonkey) to be a full-time job,” Memmen said.
Thanks to her exposure on Etsy, Memmen’s creations are now being sold at Luminary Emporium in Louisville. Memmen said that Luminary Emporium contacted her after finding her store on Etsy to see if she would be interested in selling her items in their store as well. She said she has also been involved in local art shows thanks to people finding her through Etsy.
Amy Gosch, a 26-year-old senior ecology and evolutionary biology major, found out about Etsy through a LiveJournal community and likes the unique products that Etsy sells.
“I like that things are homemade and unique,” Gosch said. “You never know what you’re going to find.”
Gosch said she enjoys photography as a hobby and has created an Etsy store, MadisonPhotography, although she has yet to put anything up for sale in her shop.
“I’d like for people to enjoy some of the photos I’ve taken, instead of them just sitting on hard-drives,” Gosch said.
Michaella Rogers, a 19-year-old sophomore international affairs major, said she first discovered Etsy through photos on photo-sharing Web site, Flickr.
“I found out about Etsy about a year ago … through Flickr,” Rogers said. “A lot of the people that post photos on Fickr also have Etsy sites where they sell some of the things that they have pictures of on Flickr.”
Rogers said she has yet to purchase anything on Etsy but likes to browse.
“It’s fun to browse and look at all of the creative ideas that people have,” Rogers said. “Many of the things sold on Etsy are too expensive for my college budget, but they are hand-made so it makes sense.”
Memmen said she believes it’s Etsy’s individuality that sets Etsy apart from other retailers.
“It’s a hand-made community,” Memmen said. “In the world that we live in where everybody just wants mass-produced or throw-away items, Etsy’s different.”
Contact CU Independent Opinion Editor Ellie Bean at beanee@colorado.edu.
