Buyindie UK Marketplace
In my previous post Options for UK Sellers I talked about Marketplaces and Standalone Websites for UK Sellers. You can read that post at https://www.sarahloucrafts.co.uk/blog/options-for-uk-sellers.
One of the suggestions I made for marketplace options was the Buyindie platform and wanted to give some more information about this site as it is the one that I chose to use for my shop when I launched my website in July 2023.
Buyindie is a relatively new platform, started in October 2022 and is a fresh and exciting marketplace to sell handmade crafts, art and supplies in the UK. It is still quite small at the moment but is growing well, the fees are affordable and could be better than hosting your own website.
You can choose from two subscription costs, either £6 per month or £60 for the annual package (so 2 months free). There is 0% commission on sales and only 1.5% +20p Stripe payment processing fee. See the graphic below and head over to Buyindie.co.uk for more details.
The Fall of Etsy
When I rebranded and relaunched my small business in March 2023 I did so on the Etsy platform. I had used Etsy with my previous biz and felt comfortable there. I decided I didn’t need a website. I was only going to be micro and didn’t have the budget for a fancy website.
I quickly discovered that Etsy had changed massively in the time I had been closed. Hundreds of thousands new shops had opened that completely diluted the original handmade artisan aspect of the original platform. The majority of new shops are now POD, AI generated art and sadly non-handmade drop-shippers.
Scams are a huge issue on Etsy at the moment, especially targeting new sellers, pretending to be from Etsy support telling the new shops they need to verify their information but unfortunately the links are scam sites that harvest banking data and take fraudulent payments.
Etsy has finally acknowledged that this is a major issue and they are desperately trying to control the issue with little success.
All of this convinced me that Etsy is not a place I wish to be any more so I began researching other options for UK sellers and that extensive research led me to create the blog post that I mentioned at the start of this post to try an help other sellers who were also falling out of love with Etsy. I do still have a small shop in Etsy but do not promote it at all and use it to drive traffic to my website.
Why I chose Buyindie
Going through the process of looking at other places that I could sell, I discovered a new platform called Buyindie. It is run by the same amazing founder of The British Craft House (TBCH) and it launched in October 2022. I already knew and followed TBCH which is much larger and is an application only platform for larger UK sellers. I was excited to see that Dottie had set up a sister site that is pay as you go and no application needed so perfect for smaller sellers like myself.
I did seriously consider going with Shopify as it is the market leader for standalone ecommerce websites but the £25 a month fee was a huge stumbling block for such a small business like myself who doesn’t yet make that many monthly sales.
Instead, I am happy to pay £6 a month, for what is effectively a standalone website with a chance of organic traffic and Stripe fees at only 1.5% +20p is considerably cheaper than Shopify at £25 per month or £19 p/m (billed annually) plus 2%. I am therefore happy to drive my own traffic with the added bonus of some organic sales and an awesome seller support group too.
I get a beautiful shop front with full ecommerce features, secure checkout, plus analytics and reports. I love the platform, my only regret is not joining sooner. I love the genuine human support team behind the scenes and it is also a lovely shopping experience for buyers looking for genuine handmade products from UK small businesses. It is a wonderful craft collective.
Reasons Why I Love Buyinde
1. Shoppable links on Instagram.
2. The options of upsells & cross sells on each listing.
3. The option to allow back orders for products.
4. A beautiful shop front.
5. Easy to rearrange your listings and change layout.
6. Shop Categories and being able to have your listings in more than one category for ease of shopping.
7. Wish lists.
8. Reviews.
9. Seller community help group.
10. Amazingly low fees.
More Details
Genuine handmade. Although there is no application process, your listings are checked to be sure to be handmade only.
No application process. Choose your subscription package and start listing.
Free Listings that don’t expire or need to be renewed.
No commission fees. Only pay a small monthly subscription and tiny payment processing fee.
Transparent pricing. There are no hidden or extra fees or bills for transactions.
Community Support Hub. A private sellers group hub for help and advice.
Flexible subscription plan. You can easily switch from monthly to annual or back to monthly from your account dashboard.
Secure payments using Stripe which allows customers to use all standard debit and credit cards for payment plus Sage, Apple Pay, Mastercard & Visa.
Responsive support team. Actual human beings that deal with queries by a dedicated support email and also in the support group.
Free Etsy import service. Just download your Etsy CSV file and email it to the Buyinde team when you open your account.
Quick and easy to set up. A user friendly interface plus help files and video tutorials that enable you to fully set up and start selling the same day.
No hold of funds. The customer pays Stripe and Stripe pays you directly to your chosen account at set up. Buyinde do not hold any funds.
Fully optimised site for Google and other search engines.
Shoppable links on Instagram using their ‘Tag Products’ feature.
Gift Mode. Go to buyindie.co.uk and click on Gifts then you can browse by Occasion, person or price and shop beautiful handmade gifts from UK artisans like myself, all made with love.
Buying Basics
A few buying basics for new buyers that may not have heard about BuyIndie before.
You can buy with confidence knowing that your transaction is secure and you are buying directly from the small business that you are supporting.
You can create an account or check out as a guest and all credit or debit cards are accepted, you can also save items to your own wishlist to purchase later too.
You can also leave reviews for the small seller which helps build their brand trust too.
Over To You
Are you tempted to try Buyindie? I am happy to answer any questions you may have about the platform and you can connect with me on social media @SarahLouCrafts.
