Window Shopping: Etsy

 

Etsy was started to bring together handicraft makers and artists from all over the world. Before you let the term handicrafts put you off, all that means is that the products are literally handmade.

And that doesn’t mean crocheted. The shop is free for sellers to use, meaning they’ve got no over-heads and it makes it viable for them to sell their wares even if they’ve got a tiny range.

 

Because you’ll be supporting a small business from somewhere around the world. But, if you’ve got a specific place in mind you can search shops by location (you can search shops by many, many different categories of cross-referencing).

 

Searching items from all around the world by colour is a pretty unique way to do things. Not only this, but you can
search for orange, then peach, then red, then yellow, and all of the pictorial options that popped up for your first colour stay there. Being able to compare many items at once is a wonderful feature for an online shop to have.

 

You will need a pay-pal account, even if you’re paying by credit card. It doesn’t take long to sign up, however, and all of your details are remembered for next time. Not
only this, but you can use pay-pal for lots of other online places too.

Prices are all in American dollars, which may seem annoying at first but it does make for a consistent experience. Shipping will vary according to whether you want registered post and where in the world it’s coming from. Many of the sellers, however, will discount or even waive the shipping on subsequent items.

 

The alchemy feature. Alchemy is the process of turning things into gold, and here it means that you can place a request for the item you want and how much you’d like to pay. For example, if you can’t find a dog lead to walk 5 dogs at once, you can place a request, state that your ideal budget is $30 and then the sellers bid for your business. One girl even requested 'a birthday present for my narcissistic boyfriend. $30'.

 

Decorette is the first shop I bought from and I stumbled across it by searching via ‘location.’ It’s a Melbourne-based business, so the postage is relatively cheap and fast. Decorette sells vinyl wall decals. It may sound like an odd proposition, but imagining having a stencil of birds perching on a blossom tree, a New York skyline or a chandelier silhouette and painting it onto your wall or window.

They’re a cheap, innovative alternative to wallpaper and they won’t damage your paintwork (perfect for house-renters). They start quite small in size and price- $8USD for their smallest item. Which I bought just because I loved their store so much- so I can personally vouch for how INCREDIBLE this idea is and how great it is in reality.