Today’s world is getting more high tech each day. Products are mass produced. Items that used to have individual character are devolving into commodities. Manufactured goods getting slicker and slicker. What’s this doing to our individuality? Individuality has not disappeared. The human drive for individuality is being fostered by increasing interest in handmade crafts. More and more people are taking up the making of handcrafts as a way of expressing their artistic individuality. But these handcrafts can’t be just the same old yadda-yadda that your Aunt Myrtle made. No antimacassars here. New craft items are being invented each day. For example, what about the purse dangle ? No? It’s the same as a handbag pendant. Jewelry for your purse. Isn’t that a fun concept?

But there’s not really a bottomless chasm between the world of high technology and the world of handmade crafts. As it turns out, it is the world of high technology that’s nurturing the world of handmade crafts. The best and easiest way to get handcrafts into the hands of the buyers is to sell them directly on the Internet. Sure, you can find stores that sell craft items, but the buyers have to know where they’re and have to travel there. And for the seller, the process from making the trinket to putting it in the buyer’s shopping bag can be complicated. The artist has to meet with the store owner—on the store owner’s schedule. The store owner surely will want to evaluate the item and either accept it for sale or reject it. Then the artist must accept the terms of the sale. A store owner has overhead to pay. That means that she’ll take a big portion of the artist’s profits. There can be additional complications in the contract, such as payments for promotional activities.

Selling on the Internet is much easier. The buyer can just sit at home and browse the sites. And even locating the online shops is easy. Just do a search for the item that you’re looking for, and the site where it is located will come up. One of the best known sites, eBay, allows anyone to sell just about anything to any buyer. Its reputation makes it a go-to place for these buyers. The artist doesn’t have to make herself known to the world because the world knows eBay. Other on the internet shops are more specifically targeted to the crafter. For example, Etsy is a site that is becoming more and more well known as a place to find just handmade crafts and vintage items. On Etsy, the artist has full control of a personal shop. She can develop an identity based on a profile, a photograph, and a logo. The selling process is also simple on the pocket. The cost is only twenty cents per item for a three-month period, and Etsy’s commission is only 3.5 per cent. The artist can display a number of photographs of each item.

People are eager to find handmade objects because unique possessions allow them to express their individuality in a truly stylish way.

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