Join Artizan Made

Interested in Joining Artizan Made?

We are a marketing collective of handmade shops from around the world. Most of our members are studio artists who make their own products, fair traders or vintage dealers.  Each applicant is evaluated based on the products they bring into the mix, their professionalism and their aesthetic. Our main focuses are on home décor, eco fashion and handmade supplies. Our members are not hobbyists. They seek to make a living from their studios or support communities making handmade products.

Artizan Made’s mission is to promote and support its membership.

Each member has a profile on the site and is promoted through our blog and social media sites, with Facebook as our primary place.

Learn more about our story on the About page.

The Market

Our marketplace was launched in 2016 as way to showcase our member products in a searchable manner. Each member gets one product listed in the market for free. There is an additional fee to participate fully as a Market Shop with 50 products that are uploaded to our site and link back to the member’s site. Many of them have shops on Etsy while others use Shopify, Big Cartel and other platforms.

The Market is basically a tool we can use to create collections of products based on their function, design elements, and provenance. Shoppers can explore based on their interests and we can also use these collections on our blog and on other pages on the site.

The Market furthers our goal in promoting our members. The internet has become an extremely competitive space making it difficult to penetrate and attract the right customers. Having a group with a high quality aesthetic invites shoppers who share these interests and helps them find products they want to support. Whether customers shop on our site or hop on over to our members sites, our goal of support is fulfilled with each purchase made.

How to apply

If you have not been approved as a member yet, use our Contact Page to tell us your story:

State why you would like to join us and include a list of your site and main social media links.

Describe what you do and what your long term goals are with your business.

 

Note: Do NOT pay for anything until you have been approved!

 

Pricing

There are three fees: A one-time set up fee for $125, a yearly subscription membership via PayPal for $12.50/month or $130/year (save $20 when you pay yearly), and a yearly fee of $25/year for 50 products in the Market.

Artizan Made Fees

Join Fee

$125/once

Profile Setup
Add To Social Media
One Free Market Product
Join Here
Monthly Membership Fee

$12.50/month

(Choose Monthly OR Yearly Plan)
Automatic Subscription
Social Media Promotions
Blog Features
Monthly Zoom Meetings
Member Updates
Sign up for the Monthly Membership Plan
Yearly Membership Fee

$130/year

(Choose Monthly OR Yearly Plan)
Same benefits as Monthly Plan.
Save $20 on Yearly Plan.
Sign up for the Yearly Membership Plan
Yearly Market Fee

$25/year

Have your own shop on our Market!
Access your products at any time.
50 Products for $25/year.
No commissions on sales (we do take whatever % PayPal charges).
Refer shoppers back to your site or use our cart.
Want 100 items? Just sign up twice.
Made to Order items are allowed.
Pay for 50 Market Items

Common Questions

What is a Collective?

A collective or a cooperative is generally made up of a group of people who pool together their resources in order achieve something they might not be able to do alone. In the United States, we see this often with food co-ops or shared buildings. Artizan Made can reach a wider audience because of the monthly payments members make and because the mix of products might attract a more diverse group of shoppers.

Can I cancel my membership?

Yes, at any time. If you have a monthly, just unsubscribe through your PayPal account. If you have a yearly membership, your products will be up until your year is up, unless you want them off for any reason.

How do I import my products?

Etsy and most other sites have an option to download your products to a CSV file. This is like an excel file with columns for the products texts, images, and other info. We adjust that to fit with what we need on Artizan Made and then I use an importer to pull them in.

The most time consuming part is assigning Artizan Made’s categories to each item. There are around 250 categories and the more you have on each item, the more that item shows up through category searches. For example, a pair of earrings might have To Wear, Jewelry, Earrings, Gemstone, Silver, Boho, Blue, For Women, Provenance, Europe, and Italy. as categories.

I will show you how to do it. If it is too complicated for you, you can hire me at $15/hour to do the file for you. It usually takes me about 3 hours to do 50 items.

If your site does not do csv downloads, you will have to load each one yourself.

How often do I have to change my products?

That is totally up to you. If you have a signature style that does not change much over time, you may be able to keep the same products for a long time. Each item that is linking back to another shop will have text saying something like “This is an example of something I have had in the past. Visit my shop to see what is currently available.” Most people will find something similar that they like.

You can change your products manually at any time.

Can I sell Made to Order items?

Yes! If you like to work directly with customers and take special orders from them, you can use your items to show examples of what you have done in the past.

Just make sure that your text is clear. Let them know how much time it will take to make it, what limitations you have, how much shipping will cost, and so on.

Does Artizan Made charge a commission on products sold?

No! Whether you use our cart, link over to your site or take Made to Order requests, we will not charge you anything besides your membership payments. The only thing we will charge are any PayPal fees that are deducted from the sale. (It’s a wash. They got the money and we just deduct that from the total.)

If I use Artizan Made's cart, how do I get paid?

I will send out PayPal payments immediately after I get the notice. If I travel or have some reason where I will be offline, I will send out a group announcement so that you know what to expect.

What happens with returns or unhappy customers?

Each member is in charge of their transaction. I expect our people to be mature, fair, kind and responsible. If there is a problem between a vendor and a customer, I will try to help. If it seems complicated, I will invite three other members to come in and help problem solve.

If a member consistently receives complaints and becomes a problem for the community, I have the option to terminate the membership.

What is the marketing strategy?

I have become disenchanted with social media and will continue to invest time and energy into Facebook and Pinterest, but not the rest. Instead, I am networking with peers of other organizations and will invest in memberships in like minded places that can broaden our reach. This has been a valuable decision as I can keep up to date with what other leaders are experiencing, new tools that are out there, and trends that we can highlight.

Our blog is used to feature our members and the posts get paid promotions on Facebook to increase our audience there.

How are we a collective?

This question is one of the most asked. The membership payments allow us to pay for this site, to advertise and to create a community of makers who share a commitment to high quality handmade techniques.

I have two driving quotes that bounce around in my head:

“Together we can do great things!”

and

“Not all that is handmade should be made.”

In other words, as a group, we have a wider reach than our members have on their own. By showcasing studio artists with fair traders and vintage dealers, we can expose people to products that they might not normally look for. And, we can help educate potential buyers about the importance of the handmade lifestyle, about the materials and techniques used and about the people we represent. We are an international community and with all the horrors happening in the world these days, we hope to offer beauty and meaning with our products and forge new friendships in far off places.

The second quote refers to all of the junk that is made, even by the handmade community. We are a throw away society and we are killing the planet. We can live with less “stuff” and choose to buy well made goods that last and that have a story. Most of our members make a concerted effort to engage in sustainable practices by upcycling materials, by re-using shipping supplies and by growing their own food.

We have a private group on Facebook where our members can interact but another goal is to help relieve the stress of marketing and spending so much time online. So, we are a passive collective in the sense that once a member is set up on our site, they do not have to do anything unless they want to. I do know that those who choose to interact enjoy our group tremendously as there are so many wonderful people.

Finally, I have found that it’s important to have a sense of humor and to make the best of what we have. We do have a lot of problems in this world, but we also have so much to be grateful for, so much to enjoy, so much share! This is the fun side of a collective.

-Rachel Biel, Founder

An Autonomous Collective Explained: 

If you are not familiar with the story of King Arthur, here is a short summary: The Legend

Some items from our Red Category

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