with all the negative buzz surrounding Etsy, everyone keeps asking me the big question: is it time to abandon ship for other marketplaces? Even as an Etsy coach, my objective has always been to remain unbiased about the platform, focusing on both the good and the bad side of the marketplace. So, if you're new here, please know that the what about topics have likely already been covered in past videos. As much as I wish that I could cover every good or bad thing about Etsy every time I sit in front of this camera, it's just not a good use of my time or yours. With that in mind, I'll have a list of videos and resources down below that will fill you in on some of the efforts that my husband, Mark, and I have taken against Etsy's treatment of sellers so far. Okay, with that out of the way, let's discuss this rising Etsy alternative, as well as the key differences between Etsy and its new contender. If you're new here, my name is Starla Moore, founder of the Handmade Alpha Academy for Etsy Sellers, and

manager at e rank.com, Etsy's most popular SEO tool, and over the last few weeks, I've been doing research on different Etsy alternatives, comparing their global ranking in traffic to that of Etsy. Spoiler alert: none of them come even remotely close, which is understandable. Etsy has occupied the top of the handmade industry for so long that it's very unlikely that any of its competitors will ever rise to their level, even if Etsy has moved away from its handmade roots. But of all the marketplaces that I've researched, the one that stood out to me the very most was Go Imagine, a platform exclusively for handmade and digital businesses. Their website looked amazing, and I immediately noticed a strong emphasis on the actual sellers who make up their marketplace. Definitely a promising sign. However, within various Etsy communities and Reddit forums, I also noticed many sellers mentioning that Go Imagine has little to no traffic, causing them to eventually close their shops, which was so disappointing. I mean, aesthetically, this site looks amazing. I really wanted to be able to recommend

this Marketplace to my sellers, but obviously, I also needed to know what their long-term plans are for growth. I needed to know why sellers should put their time and effort into this platform, and I needed to know that go imagine wasn't just going to become another Etsy filled with mass-produced junk. With my list of questions in hand, I scheduled a meeting with go imagins CEO John Link, because if anyone would have answers, I figured it'd be him. During our time together, John made his values about handmade abundantly clear. I'm going to say something pretty controversial here. Handmade is not a passive job. It's not uh, if you are a handmade artist, if you are a maker, the whole idea of handmade is it's something made with your hands. You have used your hands to make each item. Speaking to him was like a breath of fresh air, because where most Marketplace experts I've chatted with focused all of their attention on personal company growth, John basically did the opposite. In this meeting, I learned that go imagine is a charity.

focused Marketplace directing profits towards children in need through multiple Partnerships, and better yet, they have no plans on going public. The pivotal point that most sellers agree served as Etsy's disaster Catalyst. Now, I go imagine. We believe the internet needs an alternative to having only Wall Street-owned marketplaces that are focused on shareholder returns. That's why we launched a new Marketplace concept where 100% of the profits from our Marketplace go to help children in need. I was inspired by John's passion, and after demoing Go Imagine's updated listing builder for myself, I started to feel like I was spiraling into a weird Etsy time machine. Not only could Etsy sellers automatically import all of their handmade and digital listings into Go Imagine, but the overall seller dashboard and interface was nearly identical to Etsy's. There was virtually no learning curve because I already knew where everything was, which is all amazing, but it still didn't cover the question: What about buyer traffic? How much is actually sold through our platform? We were up 28% from the year.

before uh and that's also a significant number uh as well especially because most of the e-commerce industry has gone down um if you look at the numbers for Etsy eBay for Amazon uh e-commerce in general has stayed flat or gone down during our meeting I was skeptical but John explained it as a chicken versus the egg situation what comes first buyers or sellers which makes total sense you have to have sellers first otherwise there will be nothing for buyers to well buy so over the last few years go imagine's Focus has been to grow their Foundation of Sellers and now in 2024 they're finally at the end of that seller acquisition period and are about to move in the diretion of more buyer acquisition but this still left me with another question sure many sellers are probably happy to wait it out and support go Imagine by listing their items even if they only make occasional sales during this growth period but there are likely just as many sellers who aren't willing to wait or even sellers who don't know all of these

initiatives that are taking place behind the scenes and who are just confused as to why anyone would sell on a platform that doesn't have as much traffic as Etsy. Which is where John told me about Mosaic. Essentially for $10 a month, Go Imagine allows you to build a custom website for your products, giving you a professional atmosphere for your brand. And compared to Shopify's $40 per month basic plan, I could definitely see how a custom Mosaic site could be beneficial for those who don't have the time or the techno how to build their own website. For Go Imagine's marketing efforts, this means that they can offer sellers a cheap website that they can advertise to their audience while also still including all of those listings within the shoppable marketplace while Go Imagine grows. And honestly, after learning this part, I was pretty convinced. But there are a few downsides that sellers should be aware of before deciding to set up an account. Let's weigh the pros and cons. Go Imagine is currently only for sellers in the US, but

they have plans for an expansion into Canada in the future. The platform is currently only for handmade and digital products. This means that if you're an artist who relies on print providers for your work, you'll need to work with local printers and ship those items yourself. And the art has to be made by you, not created with Canva, Creative Fabrica, or AI. And lastly, Go Imagine is still in its growth phase, which means that you may not see the traffic that you've come to expect on Etsy. The pros: Go Imagine is self-owned and seller-focused, with no plans to go public. They are a genuinely handmade marketplace with a strict application process. Their algorithm is easy to rank with and is Google Shopping friendly. Buyers have the option to search within their state, creating an online alternative to craft fairs. Their interface is familiar, and their listing builder was recently updated to look more like Etsy. The platform is seller-focused and highlights what makes its makers special, rather than treating sellers like Amazon employees. While traffic is low right now, the overall ratio from February to April is

promising with go imagine, having over 600,000 visits, further 6,000 sellers versus Etsy's 1.3 billion visits stretched across 9 million sellers. With a $10 per month Mosaic plan, sellers can build a website that is significantly cheaper than Shopify, while also being included within go imagine's Marketplace. A pro that is worth it to me all on its own. Go imagine calculates, collects, and remits state sales tax for you. The platform aligns itself with child-focused charities like Horizons for Homeless Children, Relief Nursery, The Shine Initiative, and Curious Learning. They have both an app for shoppers as well as a community app that anyone can join, kind of like Instagram specifically for handmade businesses. And within that app, John himself is available to his sellers every Wednesday, where he answers questions, shares updates, and helps his community. I know this probably sounds like a sponsorship, but it's not. I'm not sponsored by go imagine, nor am I telling everyone to leave Etsy for go imagine, but over the last 5 years, my sellers

have been asking why the hell have there been no Etsy competitors. If we want one not owned by shareholders and billionaires, and we want one that actually cares about the sellers and the industry, we, the sellers, have to be the support structure for that marketplace as it grows. If investors or shareholders control the business, it will focus on what the shareholders want. If a business doesn't have shareholders and it's their vendors, in this case, supporting them, well, now the business can focus on the vendors and focus on the buyers, right? Because they don't have a big daddy over their head telling them what they have to do because they own part of the company. Instead, they can focus on what's actually meaningful, and that's where we're at. I mean, that's the beauty of where we're at right now. Nobody owns us. We own us. This is our company, which is why I'm personally standing with Go Imagine, even as an Etsy coach and a seller with no plans of leaving Etsy, because I'm ready for a new horse to back in addition to Etsy. And when people

with influence in this community like myself speak up and talk about go imagine. Their advertising can expand to reach more buyers rather than stretched across sellers and buyers. With your voice and mine, and hopefully the voices of any other YouTubers who are watching this video, we can put a shadow over Etsy's shoulder. We can show them that there's a better way to do things. We can have a reliable safety net that allows sellers to have a fallback in the event that their policy-abiding shop is ever wrongfully suspended with no human communication. And I get it, not everyone is willing to back this horse. Some of you are too busy to invest time into yet another marketplace, especially one that's still growing. I get that and I respect it. But by joining in the wave of this rising star and becoming an early adopter, we can at least finally say that we're fighting for something. And in turn, go imagine can redirect funds into more buyer-focused advertising efforts. I've spoken to multiple heads of Etsy over the years, including my most recent

communication with Etsy's head of customer support, and every single time I've been met with the exact same lines: We thank you for your dedication to the community. We assure you that your concerns are being addressed. Your feedback is very valuable. But nothing has changed. Nothing. If anything, it's gotten worse. So, as one of Etsy's leading educators, I'm here to fight for Go Imagine's position in the handmade community. And because of that, I'm announcing right here now that my Etsy coaching program will slowly begin incorporating bonus content for Go Imagine sellers too. Not as an Etsy replacement, but in addition to the Etsy-focused curriculum that I already teach. We've also added John into our student community, where he'll be providing my students with resources if they decide to join Go Imagine. And he's doing all of this for free. And I'm doing all of this for free. And we're doing it all for free because while profits are important to any business, helping sellers and artists has literally always been my objective.

and it's refreshing to see a marketplace with the same values. Go Imagine isn't the only handmade alternative. Platforms like Artisans Cooperative and even Folksy, for those of you in the UK, are two that you may have already heard of. And if their values align more with your own, definitely check out these alternatives too. But for me personally, as someone who started their career in early childhood education, Go Imagine's mission spoke to me. Which is why this Friday, we've invited John to join us here on the Friday Bean, where you can ask him literally anything that you'd like in the live chat. I know this video may not have answered all of your questions, so creating opportunities for you to learn about this new marketplace with us was a huge priority, both for me and for John. You can set a reminder for that event up here and in the link down below. And I guess I'd be a really bad marketer if I didn't also mention that my Etsy coaching program will be open from June 14th through the 24th for

public enrollment. If you're interested in learning more about that, you can visit joinha.com or click the link up here. I've talked a lot already, so here's a video from my students. I have become a better person through HAA. What I really like about Styler is her honesty and transparency. There's so much that she gives to people for free. I'm like, 'This is an incredible framework for me to build into and adjust to and adapt to and all these things that I would have never been able to figure out on my own.' I was like reinvigorated about my business when I started HAA. Our armor was featured in Lucifer season five finale, and the main actor got to wear things that we created here. Part of the reason why we were able and ready to do such a thing was because of the alphas joining Etsy, joining any online platform. You have question after question after question. HAA has been the one place where I've got answers for nearly all my questions, you guys, and what you have done with the

handmade Alpha Academy has literally changed my life, and you get continued help no matter where you're at in your Etsy Journey. That was probably the biggest selling point for me. The way you teach it, it's simple, it's down to earth, I can comprehend it. That's one of the things I love about your teaching style. I don't think I ever could have done it without being in the HAA. Your step-by-step steps were fantastic. I don't know how you could not succeed by following the step-by-step really um instruction of how you lead us through HAA. The first like four plus years that I was on Etsy, I think I had 37 sales, and we've gotten well over a thousand since then. I think I'm up to 1,200 self-based. There's an amazing Facebook group that will help you invest in yourself is worth every penny and so much more. I look at my Etsy shop, and I look at my website, and I am just in awe of what I have done, and I just look at

it every day and think, Wow, I actually think that for what you get, you guys are really, really not charging enough. I hate to say that. I've had thoughts to myself where I've been like, I'd give you guys $3,000 for this course. I see how valuable it is. In 2020, I did like maybe $3,000. In 2021, I did $10,000. It paid back for itself 6 weeks after I signed up for it. I definitely recommend it if you can invest the money. The time investment is not too bad. Well worth the money. There is nothing in all that I've taken that I haven't been able to use for my business. Absolutely just do it because there's no... What do you have to lose? And it's everything you need in one place. It's hard to buy an education that will teach you practical skills like we learn in HA Take PL Do It. First off, the money-back guarantee is really a selling point for me. She knows

So much about marketing and branding and the psychology behind it. So that's really good knowledge to have, and she's so willing to share that. So I would tell everybody out there that's thinking about it, if you're ready for the step and if you're ready to grow yourself and your business, it changes our lives, honestly.

Etsy FINALLY has a Competitor

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