ok, i’ve had a lot of people asking me suddenly why i switched from etsy to big cartel. i think this is mainly because etsy is soooo well known and big cartel is, well.. not. i thought it would a good idea to post exactly why i switched over and what the pros (for me) are. also, be prepared for lots of screenshots!
first off, etsy is good. it’s a great site and it’s just right for a lot of people. i’m not hating on etsy. it just wasn’t right for me, was not easy for me to use and was a little restricting. i like things a certain way. i love really clean design without a lot of hoopla going on. as you can see, this is what my etsy shop looked like with lots of text and info. that’s great for some, but much of that info just seemed unecessary to me. i don’t think it’s important or helpful for people to know how many views each item has had, how many pieces i’ve sold, when i listed it, etc etc. (also, do you like how you can see the tab for ‘capture screen shot with…’. i’m computer retarded sometimes and google has become my best friend. no joke.)

here is a screenshot of my new shop on big cartel. for me this is a lot cleaner. all of the links that are in the right panel only show up IF i want them there. the shop is very simple, but if you were someone who likes a lot of flash and craziness going on, big cartel is completely css/html driven, meaning you have tons of control on how it looks. you’re not tied down to a pre-set format like etsy. big cartel feels like a real shopping cart or can even be used as a self standing website if you want. if you already own your own domain name, you can use it for big cartel. as far as i know – that isn’t an option on etsy.

when you want to look at an item on etsy, it brings you to a page like this. i felt like it was a little redundant to have an ‘add to cart’ button on both the top and bottom of the page.

below is what it looks like on big cartel. it’s actually not that much different. i just like the format better. one small difference though is that if you want to zoom on the image, all you have to do is click on it and a larger picture opens up on the same page. with etsy, it will open the image in a new window or tab.

now THIS is what was really the big ticket for me. what do people do if they have a question or want to contact you? with etsy, if you or a customer wants to email you, they have to set up an etsy profile in order to do so. one thing that i hate more than anything is having to set up profiles and dole out my email knowing that i’ll probably never visit whatever site it is again. yes, it only takes a minute, but it just seems silly to me. you always have the option of listing your email on your profile or shop message, but i think most people would agree that that kind of information should be kept private if possible.

now let’s look at big cartel. what do people do if they want to contact you from here? they click on the contact link, or in my case the ‘give me a shout!’ link, and it brings them to this page. yes, a real place where you can send an actual message. none of that ‘creating a profile’ stuff. and the best part is that it comes straight to my personal email. i don’t have to list it or worry about giving it out yet i don’t have to deal with logging into big cartel in order to reply or correspond. wonderful!

there are lots of other reasons why big cartel works better for me. they have more payment options (you don’t HAVE to have a paypal account to pay for something), i can create my own pages, the etsy banner/logo is not splayed all over the site and i can embed links. i think why this works better for me is that big cartel is really tailored for artists, musicians and designers. it has more of a professional feel. etsy is fantastic, but it really is meant for crafters (and i’m not knocking on crafters either. there are some really AMAZING people on there). i’m going to be honest though – i’m not a crafter. i don’t consider what i do crafting and i always felt weird posting stuff on etsy because technically, not all of my stuff is handmade… by me. yes, i paint everything, but i’m going to other companies for my prints, merch, etc. i don’t have time, energy or the creativity to hand make all that stuff.
there are cons to switching over as well, but i suppose i’m willing to deal since the pros outweigh them in my eyes. anyway – that’s it. maybe that was helpful for you? maybe not. but now you know why i switched. etsy – you treated me well, but i’ve moved on. i still love you though and will visit you and your amazing artists, crafters, designers and shops often. please don’t hate me.