People ask me sometimes why I don’t sell on Etsy.
It’s a fair question. Etsy is where “everyone” sells handmade work. It’s the established marketplace, the trusted platform, the place buyers go when they want something made by actual humans instead of manufactured in factories. Being on Etsy would probably mean more sales, more visibility, more built-in trust from people who recognize the platform.
But I don’t sell there. And the reason why matters—not just for me, but for anyone thinking about platform choice as a creative decision rather than just a practical one.
What Etsy Became
I know Etsy well. I’ve had a shop there since the early days—shop #1013, from back when they were just numbering them sequentially. When Etsy started, it was genuinely different. It was built for independent makers—a direct alternative to mass production and corporate retail.
But Etsy evolved. It grew into something else entirely.
Now it’s an institutional marketplace with corporate sellers, algorithm games, and bureaucratic complexity. There are fees on top of fees, mandatory ad programs, search optimization strategies, and policies that shift without warning. It’s not inherently bad—it works for many people—but it’s become exactly what it originally opposed: an institution with gatekeeping mechanisms and rules you have to follow to succeed.
Etsy is now the velvet rope for handmade goods. And I left institutions and their velvet ropes for very specific reasons.
Why Ko-fi Instead
I use Ko-fi to sell my work. Not because it’s perfect, but because it aligns with how I actually want to operate.
Ko-fi is creator-focused rather than marketplace-focused. It’s straightforward: I list what I’ve made, people buy it if it calls to them, and we connect directly. There’s no algorithm to game, no complicated fee structure, no pressure to optimize my listings for search rankings I can’t control.
The real difference isn’t the fees or features. It’s the philosophy.
Ko-fi lets me maintain direct relationships with the people who want my work. When someone buys from me, I know they found me—not Etsy’s search algorithm. They chose my work because it resonated with them, not because it ranked well in results. That matters to me more than reaching a larger audience through an institutional system.
Platform as Brand Integrity
Here’s what I realized: Your platform choice is a creative choice.
I built my entire practice around this message: art outside the velvet rope. Wild creation beyond institutional frameworks. Creative sovereignty over external validation. Permission to make art for your own inner purposes rather than for healing narratives, trend cycles, or anyone else’s approval.
I can’t authentically hold that position and then sell through the institutional marketplace.
That’s not integrity. That’s cognitive dissonance—saying one thing and doing another. And cognitive dissonance kills creative energy faster than anything else I know.
My audience found me precisely because I’m not following the mainstream creative path. They don’t need me to be on Etsy to trust me. In fact, being on Etsy would probably make them trust me less. They need to see me living the values I talk about.
Using Ko-fi instead of Etsy is one way I prove I mean what I say. My platform choice matches my practice. The way I sell reflects the same principles as the work itself: direct, authentic, outside the prescribed systems.
The Energy Cost of Misalignment
There’s another reason I don’t use Etsy, one that’s more personal but just as important.
I would hate managing it.
The complexity, the bureaucracy, the feeling of operating inside a system I fundamentally disagree with—all of that would drain my creative energy. And creative energy is the most valuable resource I have. I’m not willing to spend it on administrative work that contradicts my core values just to potentially reach more people.
Better to reach fewer people authentically than more people while slowly killing my creative spirit.
What This Means
If you’re an artist or maker thinking about where to sell your work, consider this: Platform choice is brand expression.
The “everyone does it this way” path isn’t the only path. The institutional marketplace isn’t automatically more legitimate than direct connection. Reaching fewer people who truly resonate with your work matters more than reaching many people who found you through an algorithm.
Ask yourself: Does this platform align with my actual values? Does it support or contradict what I’m trying to build? Will managing it energize me or drain me?
Your answers might be different than mine. But make the choice consciously—as a creative decision that reflects who you are and what you believe, not just a default because it’s where “everyone” sells.
Where This Leaves Me
I don’t sell on Etsy. I don’t plan to.
My Ko-fi shop is here: [Shiny Designs Ko-fi Shop]. It’s where you’ll find digital workbooks addressing creative blocks, studio ephemera from my actual practice, and tools for wild creation outside institutional frameworks. It’s also where my “Walk With Me” membership lives—$9/month for ongoing companionship in creative practice.
Either that calls to you or it doesn’t. If it does, welcome.
I’m not building a marketplace presence. I’m building direct relationships with people who wandered off the prescribed path and prefer it that way. Ko-fi lets me do that with integrity—saying what I mean, meaning what I say, and living my values in how I share my work.
That’s what art outside the velvet rope looks like for me.
Shine your light,
Monette
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