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In this continuing series, we bring you a review of alternative selling venues, website hosting services, shopping carts, and basically anything else that you can use to sell your lovely handcrafted goods. Next up - Coriandr.
Tagline: No tagline
Company information: An ecommerce site from Mookle Studios Limited, developed in September 2008 as competition for Etsy. They have a blog.
Storefront: Has an RSS feed, upload your banner and av, add your announcement and categories, your items are in gallery view. The Coriandr toolbar always on top. Prices of listings are in British pounds.
Cost: 20p listing fee plus 2.5% commission on sales (plus Paypal fees if you use that), billed every month, but there is no credit card on file to be a seller.
Features: Blog widget called “Coriandr seedlings (just add website to grow)”, no expiration of listings, like other sites you get your own shop address. They’re currently working on item comments, front page curation by members, and faster search.
They just added order communication via a convo system and email provided after purchase. Drag and drop shop arrangement. You can search within categories.
Payment: Fully integrated with Paypal, but you can offer other options.
Community: Forum, purchase feedback system, favorite items or sellers
Customer service: Forum, Feedback form with bug report linked at the bottom of the pages.
Items that can be sold: Anything handmade and creative (i.e. art supplies), but only these things.
General impressions: It’s a lot like Etsy with the grassroots approach and “promote us!”, but they’re more lenient about the use of their brand.
The front page is unattractive and the design has much to be desired. There is also a limited amount of company information provided, there is no information about the administration, developers, or designers, making it faceless, and there’s no contact email.
It is also a relatively new site, but the basic ecommerce components (like communication between buyer and seller) are slow to be introduced. It says that shops are customizable, but they aren’t. Every store looks like the Coriandr front page, just with their own banner and avatar on white.
Has anyone used the site as a seller or buyer? What did you think?
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Etsy Alternative #10 - Coriandr
Posted by The Righteous One at 12:55 PM
Tagged: coriandr, etsy alternatives
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11 Comments:
Kind of off subject for this post but on subject for the blog-- can you do a post about the new Etsy Community Council? Supposedly random but edited to be fair and diverse- yet it features not ONE fine artist! As one of the largest yet underrepresented groups on etsy it's just another slap in the face. As a very often disgruntled etsy seller (biggest peeve: search by relevance that does no such thing!), I love your blog ;)
I think it looks nice. The pictures are bright and crisp and aren't faded out the way they are when I upload my pics on Etsy.
Response to Kate: I am not at all surprised at the list of "council members". Disappointed, but not surprised.
cupcake party, anyone?
Response to Kate: I am not at all surprised at the list of "council members". Disappointed, but not surprised.
cupcake party, anyone?
________
I applied and the results pissed me off. one person has 18 sales. 18!!!!!! EB, I think this deserves it's own post.
I am the seller on Coriander (looking for alternatives to etsy) and I didn`t sell a thing yet, but there are few people selling bits and pieces there to friends sellers... but one thing is really good about this site, I have the "share this" button at every listing and the communication with the owner of the site is really quick and always get response, you can always email him or talk on the forum where he replies promptly... still needs a lot of work though.
thank you for a great blog - I love to read not only positives in this life but minuses as well, we can change a lot if we say what we want
I.
Have to tag onto the off subject postings about the ECC. What a total joke. One of the sellers selected has a whopping 11 sales and cannot even find a way to make (or have made) a real shop banner. Jeez. Brand much?
Please, please, please...let's have some open dialogue about this one.
And I will be checking out some of the other alternatives you have been featuring. It is about that time...
Having left Dawanda some months ago because it didn't seem to be much fussed about the UK sellers on there, I looked for another place to sell my handmade stuff. While I have bought many things from Etsy in the past, the idea of selling there just didn't appeal - too big, too scary, just...too. I don't remember where I first heard about Coriandr, but I am happy to be a part of it now. It's new, and as such, can't fairly be compared to the likes of Etsy or even Artfire, but size isn't everything. ;-) I like the simple layout of the shops, and the community is friendly and helpful. I have only had a couple of sales so far, but I found it very easy to both list items and complete sales.
Hi, I am a seller on coriandr. I decided to go with them because of the simple layout of the store, and the one page listing system making it quick and straightforward to list. Also what coriandr has that etsy doesn't is someone who you can communicate with about the site who listens and responds in person.
I have found coriandr to be a really nice, helpful, friendly community, and I am glad I went with them instead of other etsy alternatives.
I have only had a couple of sales, coriandr is small and still finding it's feet, hopefully as the word spreads buyers and sellers will find it a good place to be. Thumbs up from me.
Coriandr is still very new and small, but it's definitely my favourite of the UK contenders even though I haven't had any sales there yet. The listing functionality is quick and easy and the site owner really listens to what sellers want and has a proper feedback system in place to prioritise requests and communicate what is in the pipeline.
I'm suprised at the negative comments re the look of the site, as the clean layout is one of the things that appeals to me - can't stand websites full of clutter! It's definitely one to watch for the future.
Having given up on etsy and being in the UK, I opened a shop on Coriandr and I am really liking it. I have made a few sales without really trying!
It is incredibly easy to use as a seller and I like the clean look of it.
Communication is awesome as the site owner emails responses right away and is often on the forum answering queries there as well.
It's a newish site with some quirks to work out and definitely needs to attract more buyers but I really agree that as far as the UK sites go, it's the one to watch!
Ahhh I want to bitch but your site makes me go through the email set up on MAC :( Can I get a direct email. I promise it's good :) tiffanywhipps@gmail.com
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