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Last year, my daughters did a phenomenal job creating their very own hand made jewelry and then selling that jewelry at a local craft fair within their school. I was so proud of them and they were pleased to see that they could earn their own money by “making stuff!”

Unfortunately this year, the school did not launch that same event, so my girls did not get to repeat their success. With that in mind, I came a cross a solution that I think we’ll try and you should, too, especially if your son or daughter is the creative type.

I’ve found a website especially for those that love to make or buy hand crafted items. The site is called Etsy. com and it is an e-commerce site focused on handmade and vintage items, art, photos, other knickknacks and even edibles. It’s been

around since 2005 and has proven itself to be a reputable venue for the local crafter that wants to sell outside of their immediate local reach or just wants to use the power of the Internet even for local selling.

How It Works:

Just like similar e-commerce sites such as ebay or Amazon.com, you and your child sign up to be “Sellers,” then you list your items on Etsy for a very small fee. It only costs 20 cents to list your item for four months. If it sells, you ship the item to the customer, pay a small 3.5 percent transaction fee and keep the rest.

As a seller, you and your young entrepreneur get your own easy-to-use online shop. Your hand crafted items can be found by buyers from all over who come directly to Etsy.com looking for unique gifts. Better yet, you can tell local people to go to your Etsy site to buy from your son or daughter. Linking from Facebook to your Etsy online store would be a great way to sell the work of your young artisan.

How Is It Different from E-bay?

Although dbay has a larger audience and yes, artisans have had success with selling handcrafted items on the  site, Etsy targets the buyer that appeals to buying handcrafted items.

Visitors to ebay and other sites may not recognize the value in buying hand-crafted art or jewelry. Etsy’s buyers not only recognize the value in buying unique, one-of-a-kind items, they are also willing to pay for it.

The best what to see if Etsy would be a good method for your kids to sell their arts and crafts online is to go directly to Etsy.com for yourself and look for items similar to what your child enjoys making.