Michaels to Launch a Handmade Marketplace Called MakerPlace - Craft Industry Alliance (2024)

I was really interested until I read that they are going to process return labels for the buyers and charge the sellers for the shipping. If I ever have something that a buyer says is defective I will gladly pay shipping. But I’m not a bit interested in someone else deciding that I should pay shipping for buyers who want to return something just because they changed their minds. That is something that should be handled between seller and buyer.

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I didn’t know that it was open yet, everything I’ve seen just says opening soon?

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Is there a list of the types of hand crafted items that are allowed? Would the hand crafted item need to have a component sold at Michaels?

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Hi
I am trying to join a waitlist, link is not working. It comes to a blank page.

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Thank you for this very informative article. I skimmed through their contract agreement, and didn’t see anything about being able to print a mailing label from their system. Do you know if this is in the works, or will we have to figure this out ourselves? Not sure how postage charges will be integrated into a customer’s order. Tried to sign up for wait list, but page seems to be under construction right now.

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Is this going to be restricted to people in the USA?

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Hi there, my name is Erin and I work at Michaels.

After seeing the confusion over some of the wording in the MakerPlace by Michaels Seller Agreement, we updated the language to be very clear that Sellers retain sole ownership of all their IP.

Sellers are agreeing to allow Michaels to promote their store name, listings, and photography in advertising to our customers. Our intended use of Sellers’ materials did not change, but in response to feedback, we made some minor changes to the license language to make it easier to understand this section of the agreement.

You can learn more and register for the waitlist at http://www.michaels.com/beta-makerplace. We’ll continue listening and learning from feedback like this now while we are in beta and beyond, so thanks for checking it out!

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Is there any information on the remittance of sales tax? While fees on Etsy can be high, especially for a starting business- it is helpful that they take care of the sales taxes.

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The link is going to an Access Denied page.

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I’d really like to see what this thing is going to look like and how customers are going to find it. Will the MakerPlace site be a stand-alone destination or will it be integrated with Michaels regular web site?
Also, will the MakerPlace be part of the Michaels app? It would be really great if they provided several sample “stores” to give us some idea of what the customers interface will look like. It’s pretty hard to get excited about something that has no shape or form.

Also, I’m a watercolor artist. I sell a lot of prints and greeting cards that I have printed locally. Will my work even qualify as hand made or am I just waiting a lot of time trying to figure this thing out.

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When will the site actually launch for those of us who have set up our pages?

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We have set up our site here with Michaels. There is a great deal of confusion. One, will there be a buyer seller messenger feature? For custom items this is gonna be a must. Also I don’t know who needs to read this, but if Michaels corporate is listening. If you want to crush Etsy, Amazon Handmade, allow listings to be made custom where for example a photo needs to be uploaded at time of purchase. This would be a game changer. Amazon custom can do it, but its wonky at best.

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I wanted to add that we just found out that it isn’t possible to have both a Marketplace and a Makerplace shop, in case anyone was interested in both.

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Got an email last night announcing the beta opening, so applied to open a shop this morning, 30 mins later got a followup saying, “We regret to inform you that after a thorough review, your application was not approved.” No explanation as to why. I’ve been selling handmade fleece hats and art/prints on etsy since 2008 and on amazon handmade since that started. I thought my application looked good, all it is is basic setup for bio and store info and profile pics, billing info. So I don’t know, the lower fees would have been nice.

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Has anyone else found the “My How-to Listings” option to be disappointing? They advertised it as a way for creators to make money, however, it turns you can’t actually sell or put a price on your how-to’s when creating the listing. I’ve found this to be a bit deceptive on Michael’s part for using vague language when telling the public how this will be a money making option creators will have. Yes they tell you about the affiliate income, but, they don’t truthfully say its an “affiliate program” until you start the process of becoming a seller. Currently the website advertises: “Share how-to’s with commission-earning supply lists.” They get you all excited about getting post your how-to’s on your store as if it’s another type of handmade product itself and make “commissions” (a very attractive word for any artist to read).

I personally have created one How-to listing and it is for a crochet pattern. As an experienced crocheter this is a pattern I have written myself and is not your typical free online pattern. It puts me in a place where I’ve put a lot of work into creating an actual product and now it’s available for free to anyone. And I could sell it somewhere else like Etsy. So I’m putting in a lot of work only to find out I’m actually selling my soul in hopes of making some measly little mount of affiliate income.

I’m still deciding on if I want to take down the listing. On the flip side, I could start copy-pasting every free crochet pattern on the entire internet hoping someone will discover it in the *myriads* of basic crafting patterns that will surely begin to flood this new marketplace once people realize they can get on this newest “easy internet money bandwagon.” And again, all in the hopes that someone will click buy on an item in my materials list and trust that I have actually used it and trust the product. If you look up crochet this morning and click the how to’s you’ll see my one listing and 5 other listings from another seller. Only two days ago that particular seller had one how-to available. All for standard types of patterns that are free on the internet. Thus the who can copy-paste with the best and most attractive listing war begins. And no small business/individual artist is going to “make commissions” in that raging colosseum.

Seems Michael’s is being deceptive and is planning to line their pockets at the expense of all the actual artists on this site with this “awesome moneymaking option.” Any rando on the internet who’s never made a piece of art in their life can copy-paste a free crochet pattern! This is not truly a website for only creators yet. Will they really be able to confirm that every how-to listed is published by an artist without putting industry standard affiliate regulations in place? I am an actual artist myself but trust me, they never asked me any questions that would actually confirm this. Never. And I’m officially a MakerPlace seller with a store now.

I emailed customer service three days ago asking if we will actually be able to sell our how-to’s in the future. No reply yet.

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I was wondering if there will be a way to sell PDF patterns…

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Now that the site is up where is it being advertised? Also, I can not get in on my Opera browser I have to use my Firefox browser. Will this be a problem for customers finding the site?

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Hi! In one of my etsy shops where I sell only handmade items I specialize in selling natural organic leaves and such that are hand pressed by me. I sell a great majority of them to set designers, tv shows, green men woking in the motion picture industry, marketing agencies by the dozens that do ads for everything from cosmetics to coffee. will Michaels allow my leaves and seed pods, acorns and such as a handmade product? While I love etsy recently I have had nothing but problems with their not honoring that my shop name is my brand. Another story for another day..or maybe never if Michales will allow me to sell on their site…

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Thought I would try and get signed up, although I still have concerns about shipping. However, while slowing plowing through their massive Agreement, I noticed that Michaels will HOLD buyers’ payments for 60 days BEFORE releasing these funds to us, the sellers. As Etsy members know, they do not do this. In addition to all my other concerns, this was a deal breaker for me. Does anyone else have similar concerns?

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I am also wondering if there is a dedicated, separate from the regular michaels.com website and if the latter, will our products will be listed amongst Michaels products. As a potential seller I would not want to be integrated. As a consumer this integration is a pain to navigate. For example; walmart.com is no longer selling only Walmart products as they are now a dropshipping platform and it makes shopping online both in lieu of and in advance of going into a store quite difficult. There are multiple listings for the same items with varying prices set by each seller, much like amazon.com. It works for Amazon and Etsy because they do not have physical stores, but Michaels does and I’m not sure how signing up will benefit the handmade seller.
And, as a handmade seller, it is often difficult to compete with store-made prices. For example, one of the items I make are signs, something one can buy already made in any craft supply store. As Makers/Artists/Crafters, we all know we have to rely on the buyer understanding what goes into a handmade item and them finding validity in such pricing differences, but if my handmade item is listed next to a Michaels-made item, how do I make my item stand out? What controls will I have when it comes to getting my items put in view of the buyers?
I cannot find any specifics regarding these concerns, Abby, did you come across anything addressing these topics?

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Oops, I meant to also thank you, Abby, for this article. It was helpful and informative as well as many of the comments given by other readers. So, THANK YOU for doing the research and for sharing your findings!

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It appears the site is still in Beta and has some issues concerning variations that prevent buyers from properly purchasing. Almost all my items have two variations, both variations are for color choices on different parts of the item. Right now the same color is populating for both variations, even when a different color is chosen for each.

I was contacted about a month ago by Michael’s stating they’re aware of the issue and are working on it. Regardless, there’s no sense in continuing to add items to my shop as buyers can’t purchase correctly. Hopefully this will be resolved soon.

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Do you know if Marketplace will ever have an option for digital items like Etsy does? Thanks!

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Do you have to pay for ads to get your products noticed and show up on a search? Does it matter if it is the free or pro version? Thanks

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I signed up for Maker Place pro version. I tried to sign up for the integrated UPS shipping option. UPS generated a error message, stating that I was not approved for a Michael’s UPS account. This was 2/28/24. It’s not been over two months and Maker Place has still not resolved the issue. I finally got an email stating that the issue is with Maker Place and not with UPS. It’s frustrating that the only replies I get are from the Maker Place Team. I have no one specific that appeats to be trying to resolve the issue. I’ve even emailed them asking for their IT team members names or the name of someone I can contact who is specifically working on the resolution. I’ve waited two months before posting any of my items because of the difference in shipping costs. I emailed them 5/12/24 and said that I’m going to start posting and will note on my site (if possible) that the higher shipping costs are because Maker Place cannot/has not resolved the integration issue between UPS and Maker Place. I’m also wondering if other sellers are having a similar problem with the UPS integration and are beig denied an account. If you’re having a similar problem, I’d love it if you post a notice here or email me at Bob@sawdusterscreations.com. Something this simple should not have taken over eight weeks to correct.

I contacted UPS directly and they said they could not help me; that I need to contact Michaels, which I’ve done. As someone who is new to online selling this is my first application to a site. So far it’s been a less than satisfying experience.

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I just set up a store at Makerplace (why oh why didn’t they simply name it MakersPlace? So much easier to say and distinguish it from marketplace). After all there is more than one maker right?

Anyway, my question is about shipping. I use shipstation and Michaels is listed as an integration( yay). But I can not locate any information on Makerplace what the integration number is.

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Just signed up but I don’t have any idea if it goes through. There’s no indication in my email or elsewhere. Somehow I don’t seem to be able to get that MakerPlace site back where I signed in. Also kind of confusing in the fees mentioned on Michael’s ad re “no fees” etc. although there are several different %tages (20% right off) mentioned on the sign-in place. Seems like MakerPlace is already launched as I see some sellers showing their creations. Just still confusing to me vs Etsy where I am already registered and running.

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