Alternatives to Not on the High Street: Handmade Nation

Not on the High Street is a high end online online marketplace for sellers of quality handmade goods to sell their products and crafts online. The downside of this is that no matter how high the quality of your handmade goods, you can’t just sign up and start selling.

In addition to having to prove the quality of your goods, there’s a hefty fee to sign up with Not on the High Street – something that’s offputting to all but seasoned and well financed, confident makers of handcrafted and hand produced products.

Many sellers then try Etsy, but if that site doesn’t suit your needs then what would be an alternative to Etsy?  There are a number of sites you can use instead of Etsy, there’s a list of Etsy alternatives in the UK here: Etsy Alternatives in the UK  but who will be the next big thing?  Which alternatives to NOTHS and Etsy will work in the UK and the US?

In looking for alternatives, one alternative to Not on the High Street will shortly be Handmade Nation. Handmade Nation isn’t a faceless organisation, but a proactive community with a large following, that’s been raising the funds through GoFundMe to launch their website, with a beta version of their website available to early adopters. The beta website sets out their Mission Statement as:

“Handmade Nation is a unique and supportive community full of amazingly talented crafty folk from around the world. Our single goal is to champion each and every home-grown crafty business, by offering a unique selling platform, professional support and advice from a personal perspective. We understand your drive and we’re committed to helping you nurture your talents and become the blossoming success that you deserve to be.”

Handmade Nation is already active on Facebook and Twitter – as well as reaching out to the buying market through programmes on community TV.

UK and US Friendly
They operate actively in timezones that are good for people in the UK and in the US. For example, they use Twitter to organise a #HandmadeHour that runs every Wednesday at 7:30-9:30pm BST (British Summer Time), then runs again as #HandmadeHourUSA 7-8pm EDT.  Other organisations are usually only present a strong presence in one region, again this sets them apart.

But, Handmade Nation won’t just be a marketplace for you to advertise and sell your goods, they’ll also be working the other end of the supply chain and finding retailers and shop owners who are looking for stock.  They’ll be running webinars and compiling a database of craft fairs where sellers can go to sell their goods.   Handmade Nation plan on being a one stop shop for the serious craft seller and all producers of handmade goods.  They’re also already proactively putting together a great package of discounted supplier deals for members.

Once the website is live, there’ll be a free membership option.  In the meantime, you’ve got the opportunity of getting in at the ground level by buying a membership, available from £25-£99 (US$40-150), through GoFundMe.  For more information on that, check out their page: http://www.gofundme.com/3crtbk

This is an innovative market entrant who needs to be watched!  Maybe Not on the High Street’s finally got some real competition!

If you want to discover who are Handmade Nation, then check out the web addresses below:

Website Registered: http://www.handmade-nation.com (in beta April 2015, still in beta March 2017)
Handmade Nation Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hmadenation
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hmnation

^{Last checked: March 2017}