I recently tried selling an item on a live auction site called Tophatter.com. Although it was interesting, and a little exciting at one time, it really isn't great for sellers. HOWEVER, and I capitalize however because if you are looking to buy handmade items you can find some for dirt cheap. Most of the sellers in the auction with me today have Esty shops, as I have. Most of the sellers of items in the auction were the people bidding on merchandise, not people who were in there to watch.
COMPARE:
COSTS:
Etsy is relatively inexpensive. It costs nothing to sign up and start a store. Each listing costs $0.20. That's not a typo, I said twenty cents!! When the item sells, they take a percentage which is around 3.9%. Tophatter is free to list your item. You do not have a "shop" per say, but you are able to add links to shops such as Etsy and other websites. Tophatter takes a 10% fee from the sale, with the minimum amount of $1.00. They only charge you if your item sells.
SETTING YOUR PRICE:
On Etsy, as the seller, you set your price as you wish, whether it is overpriced or under priced, that is your choice as a seller. On Tophatter, it's tricky. They want you to list the starting bid AT LEAST half of the retail value. I listed my votive candle holder in Home Decor auction (sections are coming up). I had this same votive for sale in my Etsy shop for $15 plus shipping. It's hand sculpted clay on a durable, thick glass votive. I decided $15 because of the cost of goods, but also the time it took me to make the product which was a few hours of tedious work. On Tophatter, they suggest starting the bidding at half the retail value but I didn't want to lose money on my item. I listed it at cost which was $9, which included the candle plus shipping. Someone did bid on it, but I only had one bidder and it sold for $9. There were not very many people at this auction, and it may be because it was 1pm on a Thursday afternoon. I did see some items that the starting bid was $1 when the product was worth well over that amount. The sellers used the low-ball strategy to get people to start bidding. I think it worked well for a few of the items but not so well for others.
CHOOSING WHICH AUCTION TO LIST:
With Etsy, it's pretty easy; you place your product in your shop, and you can have shop sections. That's all. Simple. With Tophatter, you list your item and you choose a category for your merchandise. I chose Home Decor. You're thinking simple, right? If you are a new seller on Tophatter, the staff chooses your auction day and time. Not ideal for people who have full time jobs during the day. You want to be in the auction when your item starts bidding so you can try and answer questions about your product. My item was listed at 1pm and I was able to be online to watch the auction.
I was not impressed by Tophatter. Like Ebay, the fees are quite high and there's no guarantee your product will sell. However, if you are clever enough to have your Etsy shop in your profile name, you may help direct traffic to your Etsy shop. You can sell items on Tophatter that have been popular in your shop and hope that it will generate traffic to your Etsy store. All in all, I think I'll stick to Etsy for regular selling. They've been good to me and my customers are fabulous.
