Frustrated Etsy Sellers Are Building A Co-op Marketplace

An artisan-owned alternative for handmade goods online

The Artisans Cooperative, a group of artists, Etsy sellers, makers, and their supporters that met through the April #EtsyStrike, announced its intention to build a cooperative online marketplace for the artisan community worldwide. The group timed their announcement in celebration of October’s National Co-op Month.

The new website will be an alternative shopping marketplace for fans of handmade, one-of-a-kind, and quirky artisan goods with a social good. Organizers say the new website will provide a better online shopping experience for customers and artists alike using the cooperative business model.

Cooperatives are different from traditional businesses. They operate their business by a set of universal principles that put people and communities over profits. They are self-reliant, self-determining and self-help organizations that make business ownership accessible to all. Most importantly, cooperative members own the business and control it democratically (not Wall Street investors or hedge funds). And cooperative members are the ones who financially benefit from its success. Membership will be open to artisans of all kinds, their supporters, and partners.