5 Best Marketplaces to Sell Handmade Items in India

India has an incredible history and culture of arts and handicrafts irrespective of region. Every region in India has a particular craft as its specialty – from Rajasthan miniatures to Kalighat in Bengal. Apart from these traditional arts, there are many talented individuals adept at making some of the most interesting and beautiful works of art and craft around India. Online retail gives all of them the chance to showcase their art and earn a living using them. Of course, these talented entrepreneurs sell on marketplaces such as the Amazons and Flipkarts of the world. Flipkart and Amazon due to the sheer size and scope of the platform. But there are platforms available, which not only facilitate, but also celebrate them. These handmade, handcrafted items are a niche category.

Initiatives to promote the artisan from India have been taken up by not just eCommerce marketplaces but also common folk. Like the student from Rajasthan by developing ‘Mittihub’ a platform where local artisans from Rajasthan, Delhi, Agra, and Haryana can sell their handmade items. Besides this, Lal10 is another such online wholesale marketplace. Built to allow customers and even designed to connect with the local artisans of India.

Let’s check a few similar marketplaces out!

Online Marketplaces for Handicrafts in India

1. Esty

Etsy is an eCommerce company that deals with handmade and vintage items as well as art and craft supplies. All handmade products include jewelry, bags, clothing, home decor, furniture, toys, artworks, and more. As for the vintage items they can be anything that is at least 20 years old. This marketplace has around 2.1 million sellers on their site and approximately 39.4 million buyers. Therefore, making it a good place for you to set up your online retail shop.

• As an artisan, you can create a shop on Etsy for free but the listing you post will cost a minimal fee of around $0.20 (approximately 14.68 Rupees).
• This fee will allow you to list your products for a maximum of 4 months or till they are purchased.
• However, keep in mind that Etsy claims 5% of the final price of each online retail product sold.
• Besides this, you can also avail of offsite ads that Etsy pays you for, but you would need to pay a 15% fee for each product purchased from the ads.
• Lastly, you have to register for the online retail shop, which is easy to do, just follow the guidelines mentioned.
• If at all you encounter any issue you can always reach out to the support staff via email or request a call.

2. Amazon Karigar

Amazon Karigar is an initiative taken up by the eCommerce marketplace giants, where they offer any talented artist a slot for their handicrafts to be sold online. This is one of the marketplaces for local folks from India to sell traditional handicrafts to the rest of the world. Touching the lives of more than 12 lakh artisan by selling their product; currently having almost 1 lakh variety of handmade products to choose from. Any type of local handmade retail can register and earn profits from the sale of their product from all over the world.

The eligibility criteria are simple for this program:

• Firstly, all your products being sold should not be machine-made, is the baseline. 
• Secondly, you should have all the required documentation. Such as proprietorship details, contact details, bank account, GST, and PAN.

With everything in place, you can then start the registration process. After you register, you will be notified regarding a training session. You also will be assigned an account management support individual to help set up and handle your Amazon account for the first 30 days.

Besides this, Amazon also revealed that they would have a ‘Karigar Mela’ to further promote these artworks from talented individuals from all around India.

3. Authindia

AuthIndia, allows you to step into the world of handicrafts and artworks of India. Like this, you can discover and sell all Indian handicrafts worldwide via this online retail platform. AuthIndia has more than 15,000 craft items on display which brings in more than 30,000 website visitors per day. They have an aim to provide an online eCommerce platform for all artisans without the interference of any middleman. This ensures that all your profits are earned and handed over to you without any deductions.

They deal with traditional painting, silk thread jewelry, home decor handicrafts, hand-painted crafts, and folk art paintings from all regions of India. You name it, they have all those interesting beautiful works! All you have to do is list your product on their site and have consumers come to you.

• Unlike any other site, this one does not charge for any registration neither for commission. They offer their services to you for free. 
• Moreover, the registration process is easy for you to fill out. 
• This eCommerce marketplace doesn’t make having GST mandatory and leaves the pricing to you. 
• Besides this, they also offer you with banner space ads on home pages or blog pages. That is, if you wish to advertise and increase the product reach with the potential buyers.

4. Craftsvilla

CraftsVilla proclaims that it is an online marketplace to discover India. The website sells products like traditional apparel like sarees, hand-crafted gift items, home decor, and accessories. The products come from individual suppliers and artisans who are working with traditional Indian handicrafts and arts. While big conglomerates are always on the lookout for smaller marketplaces to swallow, CraftsVilla has been maintaining its niche. Since they have over 25,000 artisans and designers selling over 4 million products on CraftsVilla.

This online marketplace aims to remove middlemen, increase the livelihoods of the local artisans and designers, and also help these folks to create and promote their brand. Most importantly, help to keep these traditions alongside the culture and values of India alive. 

• Therefore, with this marketplace, you have a free registration process, low commission rates on the sale of items, and have no limit on the product you can upload onto this online marketplace. 
• However, when you are looking to register make sure you have all the needed documents: 
  • PAN
  • GST registration
  • Identity proof
  • Trademark registration certificate (if applicable)
  • Also all other related documents about your company/shop
  • And lastly, all bank details are readily available, so as to fasten up the process.

5. The India Craft House

TheIndiaCraftHouse is one of those rare websites that represent the rich folk and handcraft heritage of India in a contemporary format. All the products are sourced directly from artisans or NGOs working closely with folk and artisan communities from all corners of India.

This eCommerce site has around 320 Indian artisans and over 2000 indirectly connected to the site. What’s even better with this site is that The India Craft House ships internationally as well; moreover, they handle the shipping and warehousing process. Therefore, enabling artisans to focus on their work instead of this technical aspect of eCommerce. This site offers a few unique features which include:

• They let customers place a bulk customized order for a particular product or an assortment of multiple craft items. This lets you as an artisan have a guaranteed demand and earn larger profits.
• Another interesting thing about this website is the ‘Shop by State’ option, which lets you explore the traditional and folk craftsmanship from different states of India.

6. Kreate

Kreate is another such platform that deals with authentic handmade products all crafted by local artisans. You could be the creator of the product or you could be a seller that sells handmade products, it works both ways.  The product category they deal with is right from paintings, home decor, accessories, skincare, clothing and even gifting items. They aim towards supporting Indian artisans and even small businesses. Kreate has more than 6000 creators and caters to around 18000+ products. From which they clock transactions worth almost 13+ crores.

This marketplace removes the need for a middleman to empower local artisans especially women. They proudly proclaim that they have around 85% off on-board sellers as women.  Recently this eCommerce site has gained undisclosed funding from multiple sources which include We Found Circle, Ankesh Sagar – head of Marketing, Workato, and more.

If you too want to be a seller on this eCommerce site sign-up here. The process encompasses just 2 steps. To do this they will not charge you any registration fees, and also promise to provide you with lighting fast payouts.

Selling to Other Sites

Besides the above alternatives, as a craftsman or a local handmade items supplier you could approach already existing well-established brands to sell your items for you. This way you could earn profits without having to deal with most of the selling process. However, a small commission will be charged to do so. Here are few online retail stores that might help you out with this:

1. Ikea

Ikea, a well-established international brand have partnered with local talented folk from India and other countries to produce local handmade products. These products are later sold on their platform to the international marketplaces. Although sold from the platform your items would be sold and the profits earned from your art would be handed to you. The catch being that your brand name wouldn’t be featured instead your product would be featured in their collections.

2. Itsy bitsy

Itsy bitsy is popular for its baby products, art, and craftwork items in India. Now you can be a part of the store as well. Since they also have a section dedicated to handmade items where artisans and other talented individuals can come up with their own items and sell them to earn from the marketplace.

Create Your Own eCommerce Marketplace

While you are searching for an online retail site you can consider setting it up yourself. Before you skip this section, creating your own website doesn’t have to be as difficult as you might think it is. There are ample of CMS (Content Management Softwares) to help you start your online marketplace. Here are a few:

• Shopify
• Ecwid

These two sites, Shopify or Ecwid, can help you create your own website easily. They both are suited for even those who have little to no knowledge of coding and other technical aspects. These sites help you manage, market and grow your local craft business into an online eCommerce site.

• Magento

Magento is another platform that you can use to build your site. Like the previous two this one as well works almost the same. Although you will need a bit of technical knowledge to build your site here. Besides that, you have a tonne of features deal display your handmade products here once you have started your eCommerce platform.

• Bigcommerce
• SquareSpace

If you plan on venturing your eCommerce business out to the international markets, here are the sites you can use, Bigcommerce or SquareSpace. For all modern businesses these sites can help you display your art all throughout the world. Along with any category of handworks, home decor, cultural arts, any regional handicrafts or any other works you can build your own eCommerce website.

• Instagram
• Facebook’s marketplace

Social media, such as Instagram and Facebook Marketplace, is the best place to create, sell and grow as a brand. Since on these platforms you would have a wider reach, with everyone on these sites. As an artisan, you will have the reach and are bound to sell your products.

These are some of the best online marketplaces for handicrafts in India. Along with some alternative options to sell your handmade items online. To know more get in touch with Browntape. We are India’s leading online retail solutions providers and we are always happy to help!