Sat, Jul 19, 2008
 Tucsonan Sara Sacks sells handmade stuffed animals, like this goat, through her Etsy online shop, Woolies. More Photos (6):
     
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Special to the Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.26.2008
Sara Sacks says she'll never get over the thrill of selling one of her handmade items online.
"It's so exciting!" says the 53-year-old, with her knitting needles in hand.
The Tucsonan is one of some 150,000 people from more than 80 countries to turn her crafting hobby into a business with the help of Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade goods.
The eBay of the arts and crafts world, Etsy allows computer users to buy and sell handmade items online — everything from jewelry to soaps to clothing to fine art.
Sacks, who sells hand-knit pieces in her Etsy shop called Woolies, has sold more than 100 items since becoming a member of the site nearly a year ago.
"It's a wonderful outlet. It's more than a hobby," Sacks said. "It's amazing to have a global marketplace for handmade items."
Sacks, who holds a day job as a media buyer, said she's sold her handmade stuffed animals to buyers as far away as Canada, Australia, England and Slovenia.
Before discovering Etsy, she'd sold a few of her items in shops, but she says the online marketplace has become her biggest source of business.
Based in Brooklyn, Etsy was started in June 2005 by Robert Kalin, the son of a carpenter, who says he grew up in a wood shop.
Upon graduating from college, Kalin decided to return to his woodworking background. He briefly considered starting his own furniture company before going in a new direction.
"I liked the idea of craftsmen and people who make things, so instead of just being one of those people, the idea extended into making a platform that would help other people start their businesses," the 27-year-old said in a phone interview.
And so Etsy was born. It was named for Kalin's favorite "nonsense word," used in the 1963 Federico Fellini movie "8 1/2."
In three years, Etsy has grown from four to 47 employees. The site gets about 10 million page views a day, Kalin said. Around 15,000 items are sold daily, and more than $5 million worth of merchandise was sold in December alone, he said.
While some sellers use the site as a hobby or side business, others have turned it into a full-time job.
"Our big goal is to enable as many people in the world as we can to make a living making things," Kalin said.
Many Tucsonans have found their way to the site, including 29-year-old Melanie Thornton, a mother of three who sells hand-sewn children's items through her online Etsy shop CC For Kids and through her own Web site, www.ccforkids.com.
Thornton said she sells up to 10 items a month through Etsy, priced anywhere from about $6 to $45.
"I like the feeling of the community and the idea of selling handmade items and the uniqueness of them," Thornton said.
Kalin said he sees the site as a modern re-creation of an old-fashioned marketplace, where buyers and sellers interact directly without a corporate middleman — even if that interaction is electronic rather than face-to-face.
"I see it as combining something new with something really old," he said. "The core of Etsy is this human-to-human transaction. There's a story with every item you buy, and there's an element of humanity to it."
And then there's the at-home convenience of online shopping.
Tucsonan Rosemary Latshaw, an architect who has been making handmade jewelry since she was a teenager, sells her pieces on Etsy, but admits she's probably bought more from the site than she's sold.
"It's so convenient to jump on there if you need a last-minute gift for someone and get it shipped," said Latshaw, 33. "I like to buy things from other people that I can't make myself."
Local Etsy user Amy Som, 31, sells purses, jewelry and watches on the site. She said she hopes it will help give her exposure as an artist. Her goal this year is to sell $100 worth of items a week on Etsy.
She said she appreciates the site's commitment to independent crafters.
"When you buy something that's handmade, you know someone designed it and put work into it, and I think that's really important," she said.
For others, like 53-year-old Thom Kerr, who sells woodwork and hand-painted porcelain and tile on the site, it's something to do just for fun.
His main reason for joining Etsy: "My house was filling up with stuff I make," he said. "I just have this urge to make stuff."
● Alexis Blue is a local freelance writer.
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