Sal Dambra has sold more than 20,000 items on eBay over the past decade. He has a positive feedback rating of 99.9 percent and he currently has more than 2,000 items listed for sale on the site under the handle “drstrangegoods.”
But even Dambra isn’t content to stick with eBay. Since signing up for Etsy.com, a fixed price e-commerce site launched in 2005 with an emphasis on crafts, he’s sold 136 items.
Etsy shop metroretrovintage offers this bold and chunky vintage 1940s green marbled Bakelite stretch bracelet with shiny golden rose beads for $125. The Art Deco beaded bracelet is comprised of triangular 1-inch blocks of ‘end of day’ Bakelite in a vibrant lime green color with marbled swirls of yellow and brown. The bracelet also has round gold vermeil rosette separator beads and double stretch cords. Photos courtesy metroretrovintage.
“The fees on Etsy are only a fraction of the fees on eBay,” he says. “I have some concerns about the long-term viability of eBay as a venue for small sellers and would like to get established on another site as a safety net.”
Part of the allure of Etsy is the transparent fee structure. A 20-cent fee gets your item listed on the site for four months, and then the commission is a flat 3.5 percent of the sales price – not including shipping charges.
It’s no secret to readers of the letters to the editor page in Antique Trader that many full-time dealers are looking for alternatives to eBay. Turned off by a long-term trend of rising fees and a perception that eBay’s sense of community has been replaced by a more corporate model, there has been a cavalcade of challengers to the eBay throne in recent years. But in the world of antiques and collectibles, no other outlet has made as much headway as the Brooklyn, New York-based Etsy. The “Vintage” category on Etsy currently boasts close to 2 million listings, and the antiques and collectibles categories add another 400,000.
Laura Milera, who operates an Etsy store under the handle “metroretrovintage,” left eBay completely after more than 10 years on that site and has since sold more than 500 items on Etsy.
Vintage 1960s modernist triple leaf sterling and guilloche pin by Albert Scharning, $65 in Etsy shop metroretrovintage.
“Where eBay has moved away from the unique to low priced and mass produced, Etsy has instead fostered uniqueness,” she says.
In September 2011, Etsy had sales of $46.4 million. That was good for a year-over-year increase of 75 percent, but it’s still a small fraction of eBay’s $11.6 billion in annual sales.
And while vintage finds still aren’t Etsy’s specialty, there are a few categories where the site is rapidly becoming the go-to platform. An Etsy search for “vintage fabric” yields 93,703 listings; that search will only get you 31,046 hits on eBay.
Both Dambra and Milera agree, however, that certain items still do better on eBay. Extremely rare items whose value is not easily established generally command higher prices at auction says Milera; and Dambra, when asked what items don’t sell well on Etsy, gives this reply: “Almost anything for men.”
This article originally appeared in Antique Trader magazine
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An elegant daffodil brooch, $40, listed by Etsy shop metroretrovintage.
Because Etsy began as a site for handmade objects sold by small-time crafters – and that’s still the primary focus – the functionality of the site is less than ideal for antiques and collectibles-focused sellers. Dambra cites the “limited demographic of buyers, lack of proper categories for most vintage items and a heavy emphasis on handmade [that] neglects vintage sellers.”
So why leave eBay? The biggest draw at Etsy may be the sense of community.
“There is more of a relaxed atmosphere and friendlier culture,” says Milera. “It is not unusual for a buyer to ask to have an item held or reserved, or for individual shop owners to do trades.
“It’s all part of the charm of buying and selling in what is by and large, a close-knit and well rounded community. Where ‘speed of sale’ and moving product quickly is more of the norm on eBay – on Etsy, shop owners can pretty much set a reasonable price for their items, and then wait for the right buyers to come along.”
Zac Bissonnette is the author of “Warman’s Antiques & Collectibles 2013 Price Guide, 46th Edition” and “Debt-Free U: How I Paid For an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching Off My Parents.” He has appeared on “The Today Show” and CNN, as well as a contributing editor to Antique Trader on WGBH and NPR. Everything he knows about money was learned yard-saling with his mother.
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I have been selling vintage items on Etsy for almost a year and find it to be an excellent platform. I had intended to sell on eBay but the fees are exceedingly high. Also, eBay has changed their policy so they now also take a percentage on the cost of shipping in an attempt to encourage sellers to offer free shipping. However, not being a large multinational company, the majority of sellers on eBay are unable to offer this service. I feel this detracts from the original idea and intention behind eBay.
The community on Etsy is wonderful with many teams offering advice, guidance, tips and support which is non existant on eBay.
I know where I will be focusing my time!
True, the pricing is among the best among the various marketplaces out there. However, there are some good reasons for that one should be aware of, such as ETSY’s complete lack of actual support. They provide no way and decline any request to directly speak to someone, and from my experience do not keep a record log of communication which when every time you reply to their support email it goes to someone different who replies with general information completely glazing over any specifics you might have.
I say this as I used to operate a dozen or so stores on etsy until randomly one day one store was suspended out of the blue. On my request for the reasons for the suspension i have yet to receive valid information. Originally they claimed i didn’t respond to their attempts to contact me, to which I had to forward them my email logs twice. Weeks later, I still have yet to receive valid reasons and have speken to 8 different people via email. Worst part is each new person neglects to read email logs so starts over from the beginning providing inaccurate information due to their flawed support system.
If however,you never need support from etsy it’s a great venue. Should they ever fix their viewpoint on service and actually begin providing it I will definitely return.