Web site advocates hand-made crafts, giving to others

Whether they sell beaded earrings, painted flowerpots or homemade soaps, Web sites that offer an alternative to chain stores are popping up and growing in popularity.

One of them, Madeitmyself.com, is similar in concept to eBay: Shoppers buy items from sellers who post them on the site and ship directly to the buyer. Many of the new sites - including Etsy, Silkfair and Hyena Cart - focus on handmade goods, art or specialty items.

Creators of the sites and retail experts say the companies are growing in number, popularity and sales because customers are increasingly looking for unique items they can't find in chain stores. The rise of the Internet has made it easier for shoppers to find and buy those items.

Madeitmyself.com launched in November. It has 5,500 sellers signed up with 2,200 listing products on the site.

It's the brainchild of Ray Victors, who hatched the idea while traveling the world with his brother, who does missionary work. His brother's program, Rick Alonzo Ministries, spreads gospel through multi-media art presentations, including live painting performances.

Victors found that those artists, in places like Guam and the Philippines, didn't have a way of selling their work outside their neighborhoods.

He told a man in Fresno, Calif., about his idea, and over breakfast one day the man handed him a check for a large amount. Victors declined to give the man's name or the dollar amount of his investment.

For now, the site is free for sellers to use, but it will begin making money when it takes 3 percent of the item's sale price in about three months.

TRAIL HAS BEEN BLAZED

Madeitmyself follows in the footsteps of Etsy, an online marketplace founded in 2005 where sellers offer handmade goods including jewelry, hand-sewn dolls and clothes.

Etsy has more than 250,000 sellers. Sales through its site have skyrocketed from $166,000 its first year to $87.5 million last year.

National Retail Federation spokesman Scott Krugman said such sites are proliferating as more people seek affordable, unique items: "The Internet provided a tremendous opportunity to create a mainstream marketplace. There's so many more ways of shopping and it only makes sense entrepreneurs would try to make that experience easier for shoppers."

As retailers consolidate and get bigger, customers are choosing from a smaller pool of merchandise, said Albert Wu, president of Silkfair.

Silkfair, which started last year, is an online marketplace for anything and everything, with niche shops focusing on vintage, earth-friendly or handmade crafts.

"People are looking for more variety of products than what they can get in the ... chain stores, the Wal-Marts, the Costcos," he said. "Why pick up something that the next-door neighbor can find?"

Victors of Madeitmyself.com agreed, saying people like communicating with the sellers and reading their bios on the site.

"They want to have something personalized that they can tell stories about," Victors said.

PERSONAL TOUCH

Christine Harriet of Fresno works as an in-home aid to elderly and ill people, but also lists her art on the site. She makes collages of printed words on painted canvases.

"They all have an emotional story," she said. "I think some other people can identify with it."

One such collage titled "Beware" includes words on dealing with death.

The one-of-a-kind items are the reason Nina Seyedabadi of Fresno regularly shops Madeitmyself.com.

She's bought soap in the shape and scent of cupcakes, a handmade wooden toy truck for her 2-year-old nephew, and clay polymer charms for a bracelet.

Mushroom pizza is her favorite food, so she requested the seller to make her a charm in the shape of a tiny slice of mushroom pizza. The pair collaborated on designs through the site's messaging system before Seyedabadi bought the charm.

"For the fact that you're getting something unique and handmade, it's so affordable," she said.

Products at such sites are often affordable because sellers don't have overhead like marketing costs, Krugman said.

Madeitmyself.com is similar to Etsy in many ways, but Madeitmyself features a "giving back" section in which users can donate to charities through the online payment system PayPal.

The Fresno-based site also sells only handmade items, whereas Etsy sells a few other items.

"Etsy has gotten away from its roots a little. It doesn't sell only things that people made, but also vintage stuff," Harriet said. "Madeitmyself is still with the roots. I like that."

(c) 2009, The Fresno Bee (Fresno, Calif.).

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