I love the idea of supporting small business and quality, handcrafted items. But Etsy seems to be more focused on drop shipping and it becomes a hassle to investigate every item I purchase to determine whether it ships from China or not.
Does anyone know of any alternatives with a good reputation?
The artisan’s cooperative is quite interesting. They require you to either pay in or donate time there to be able to sell on the platform, but you then are entitled to receive a share of the profits earned from the entire site.
They’ll have non-member options for sellers once it’s out of beta, too. Supporter members can also sell (lower buy-in cost), but the Coop commission is higher (not as high as non-member will be).
I’ve purchased several things there, and I’ve loved everything. (I’m not an artisan or crafter, just a buyer of art and craft.)
A while ago a friend at the time told me about Folksy, I have no idea how ethical or undropshippy it is but it might be good?
Edit: looks like they don’t allow vintage or mass manufactured work: https://blog.folksy.com/about so perhaps better than etsy in that regard?