Why Our Handmade Products Aren't on Amazon.com

Why Our Handmade Products Aren't on Amazon.com

Lawrence Cutlip-Mason

In an age when mega corporations dominate the shopping landscape, it's natural to wonder why a company like ours that specializes in handmade wood products doesn’t have a presence on Amazon.com. While the platform offers unparalleled reach for customers, there are several reasons why we have chosen not to sell our products there.

Quality Over Quantity

Products that are handmade and unique require significant time, skill, and care to craft. Selling on Amazon requires scaling up the speed in which we make things, which in turn would compromise the quality and craftsmanship of the items we make. We operate on a boutique manufacturing process, which doesn't align with the Fast Mass production to meet Amazon's high-demand model.

Personal Connection with our Customers

When purchased from us directly, we have the opportunity to communicate with the customer, learn about their preferences, and even create custom pieces tailored to their needs. This personal touch is impossible to maintain through Amazon’s platform, where transactions are impersonal, and customer interactions are minimal. Additionally, Amazon hides company information from buyers, effectively erasing brand identity and devaluing products by preventing a meaningful connection between creators and customers. Without this connection, the story, care, and passion behind handmade goods are lost.

Protecting the Value of our Work

Amazon is known for its competitive pricing structure, which often drives prices down in a race to the bottom to attract more buyers. Handmade custom items, by their very nature, come with a premium due to the labor, customization and materials involved. Competing in a marketplace where price is prioritized over craftsmanship would undermine the worth of the artisans who create them. Worse still, Amazon has a troubling history of stealing designs from creators and manufacturing them at lower costs and quality through their Chinese Amazon Basics line. This undercuts original creators, exports jobs and devalues original handmade products.

Amazon Marketplace Challenges

Amazon’s policies can pose significant challenges for small businesses like ours. From steep seller fees to issues with counterfeit goods and unauthorized resellers, the platform is not always a fair playing field. Furthermore, Amazon’s marketplace has faced increasing criticism for its "enshitification" — a term describing the decline in quality as platforms prioritize cheap goods, often from overseas manufacturers, and engage in monopolistic practices. These trends make it even harder for small, high-quality artisans to compete.

Sustainable Practices

We are deeply committed to sustainability, sourcing wood responsibly and minimizing waste during production. Amazon’s fast-shipping model, while convenient for customers comes at a steep environmental cost. Additionally, Amazon requires automated returns, meaning items can be sent back for any reason, often regardless of condition. These returned items are simply discarded, contributing to massive amounts of waste. By operating independently, we can prioritize eco-friendly shipping practices, reduce waste, and avoid contributing to the carbon footprint and wastefulness associated with these policies.

Impact of Amazon's Fees on Pricing

Selling on Amazon comes with significant fees, often amounting to roughly 45% of the cost of goods sold. For handmade products, which already command a premium due to their quality and craftsmanship, this added cost makes the products even less accessible to customers. Compounding this issue is Amazon's price-fixing policies, If a product is found to be sold cheaper elsewhere, Amazon will de-list it, leaving sellers with little choice but to inflate prices across all sales channels. This practice ultimately hurts both businesses and consumers.

While Amazon.com has revolutionized the way people shop, it isn’t the right fit for a handmade business—especially one like ours, which values craftsmanship, personal connection, and sustainability. By choosing to sell through our own channels, we ensure that every product purchased aligns with our values and standards.

 

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