GoImagine is a platform where artists can list and sell their crafts online. That sounds so Etsy, right? Nevertheless, GoImagine vs Etsy differs in so many ways– their model, strengths, focus, and more.
In this article, we will show you how they stack up against one another and choose the one that fits you the most.
Let’s dive right in!
Pros and cons of selling on GoImagine vs Etsy
Before we compare GoImagine and Etsy side by side, let us walk you through an overview as well as the pros and cons of the 2 marketplaces first.
GoImagine’s pros and cons
GoImagine is an emerging marketplace launched in August 2020 with the aim of connecting creative sellers and buyers across the United States. Though it’s new, GoImagine has a really good image thanks to the platform’s good deeds. Specifically, they claim to donate 100% of the marketplace’s profits (which is the transaction fee it charges sellers) to help children in need.
| Pros | Cons |
| + Lower fees compared to some larger marketplaces + GoImagine values sellers’ feedback more than large marketplaces + More responsive customer service compared to larger platforms |
– GoImagine is only available for merchants who reside in the United States – The marketplace has much lower traffic compared to larger, established marketplaces like Etsy – You have very limited marketing features to promote your store |
Etsy’s pros and cons
Unlike GoImagine, Etsy is a long-established global marketplace with an extensive audience base scattered across 200 countries. Thanks to its huge customer base, Etsy has attracted more and more handmade artists and creative sellers to launch their online shops on the platform.
| Pros | Cons |
| + Much larger audience base than GoImagine + Greater sales and marketing features to manage and promote your store + Etsy supports sellers in over 50 countries, not just US-based sellers |
– Increasing competition due to the high number of sellers – The selling fees are higher on Etsy than on GoImagine |
>> Relevant reading: How to Sell on Etsy for Beginners: 12 easy steps
Etsy vs GoImagine: Which one should you choose?
Now that you have a glimpse of Etsy vs GoImagine, let us walk you through a side-by-side comparison of the two marketplaces in 4 crucial aspects: eligibility, popularity, selling fees, and eCommerce capabilities.
1. Eligibility
| Verdict: Etsy supports more countries. GoImagine vs Etsy both have strict handmade policies. However, the most important thing to note is that Etsy supports over 50 countries while GoImaine only supports sellers in the United States. |
GoImagine’s eligibility
To list and sell your products on GoImagine, you must reside in the United States and meet GoImagine’s handmade guidelines.
To summarize GoImagine’s Handmade Guidelines, your products must meet the following criteria:
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- Products must be made by the seller alone or with assistance from a small group of family members or employees working with the seller.
- Items must be crafted through a creative process, resulting in products distinctly different in form or function from the individual pieces or supplies used to create them.
- The seller must play a crucial, hands-on role in the process of producing the product.
- Handmade encompasses both physical items and digital creations such as photography or digital graphics.
- Products should not be produced through automatic systems for mass production.
- Print-on-demand services are generally not allowed, except for prints of original artwork and photography.
- AI-generated art or designs are prohibited.
- Food and consumable products are allowed but must adhere to specific guidelines and regulations.
- Digital items are permitted but must be original work and not infringe on copyrights.
Etsy’s eligibility
Etsy supports sellers in over 50 countries instead of just the United States. And similar to GoImagine, in order for your products to be listed on Etsy, they must strictly adhere to Etsy’s Creativity Standards.
Here are Etsy’s Creativity Standards in summary:
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- Handmade items must be made or designed by the seller
- Sellers can use production partners but must disclose this in their shop
- If you want to sell vintage items, they must be at least 20 years old
- Craft supplies can be handmade, commercial, or vintage items used to create handmade items
- Reselling is generally not allowed, except for vintage items and craft supplies
- Digital items are allowed if they are the seller’s original designs
- No counterfeit or unauthorized replica items are permitted
- Items should meet Etsy’s quality expectations and be accurately represented in listings
- Certain categories like alcohol, tobacco, drugs, weapons, and hazardous materials are prohibited
2. Popularity
| Verdict: Etsy is much more popular than GoImagine. As a long-established global marketplace, Etsy completely overshadows GoImagine in terms of popularity and brand recognition. While GoImagine’s 200K monthly visits are not that low, it’s very modest compared to Etsy’s 400M+ monthly visits. |
GoImagine’s popularity
GoImagine has a good brand reputation thanks to its charity-first proposition. Nevertheless, the hard truth is that GoImagine isn’t popular. According to data from similarweb, GoImagine only has 245.1K monthly visits.
This comes as no surprise since there are only over 480 GoImagine sellers as of 2024.
Etsy’s popularity
Compare GoImagine vs Etsy, Etsy has a much larger audience base. According to Statista, Etsy has over 96 million active buyers and over 9 million sellers in 2024.
Therefore, if you want a marketplace with an extensive built-in audience, Etsy would be a more suitable choice. Despite the competition, the chances that your products get seen are still higher on Etsy.
3. Selling fees
| Verdict: GoImagine’s selling fees are generally lower than Etsy’s. Between GoImagine vs Etsy, Etsy’s transaction fee is 6.5%, slightly higher than GoImagine (5%). GoImagine’s listing fees are also a bit more economical than Etsy. Also, if you have hundreds of items, GoImagine only costs you $10 for listing fees. |
GoImagine’s selling fees
GoImagine charges you three main fees for selling your handmade items on their marketplace, which include:
| Fee type | Definition | How much is it? |
| Listing fees | These are the fees GoImagine charges you for listing products on their marketplace | – $2.50/month: 20 Products – $5/month: 100 products – $10/month: 1,000 products |
| GoImagine transaction fee | This fee includes a percentage of the product price and shipping cost. It is charged by GoImagine for using their platform to sell products. | 5% of the product and shipping amount |
| Sales tax | This is the tax that is collected on the sale of goods and services, which GoImagine remits to the state on behalf of the seller. | Varies based on state tax rates (typically 0% – 10%) |
| Stripe processing fees | These are the fees Stripe charges for processing payment transactions. | 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction |
Etsy’s selling fees
If you plan to list and sell your handmade items on Etsy, there are three main listing and selling fees you need to factor in:
| Fee type | Definition | How much is it? |
| Listing fees | These are the fees Etsy charges you for listing your products on their marketplace. | – Base: $0.20 per listing – Auto-renewal: $0.20 per listing – Multi-variant: $0.20 per listing – Private listing: $0.20 per private listing (***) |
| Transaction fees | These are the fees Etsy charges when a shopper makes a purchase on your store | 6.5% of the total amount in your listing currency |
| Payment processing fees | These fees are charged for each transaction processed with Etsy Payments. | It varies by country. For instance, the fee is 3% + $0.25 in the US. |
(***)
Auto-renewal: You will be charged this fee when an item gets purchased, and you set auto-renew listings
Multi-variant: If your product has variants, Etsy treats these variants as products. Therefore, you’ll be charged $0.20 per variant.
Private listing: Etsy charges you this fee if you list an item as a private sale to a specific buyer
Clearly, Etsy’s selling fees are generally a bit higher than GoImagine. However, we still believe Etsy provides better value for money thanks to the platform’s extensive built-in audience and eCommerce tools (which we’ll cover right next).
4. eCommerce tools
| Verdict: Etsy provides broader eCommerce features. GoImagine gives you decent sales tools to manage your store operations. However, comparing Etsy vs GoImagine, it’s clear that Etsy is on the winning side with more built-in eCommerce functionalities. |
GoImagine’s eCommerce tools
GoImagine gives you basic eCommerce functionalities to list, sell, and manage your customer orders. From what we know, here are some highlight eCommerce features GoImagine offers:
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- Promotions and coupons: GoImagine allows you to offer discounts or free shipping to your customers for specific products or all items in your shop
- USPS Shipping integration: By default, GoImagine used USPS Real-Time calculation to calculate shipping costs based on the weight of your products
- State Sales tax remittance: The marketplace automatically collects your sales tax and remits it to your states on your behalf
- Etsy import: GoImagine supports importing your Etsy products under CSV file. However, you’ll need to send your CSV file to their support team [email protected],
Etsy’s eCommerce tools
Etsy provides several sales features to help you sell your products and manage your orders and inventory effectively. Here are the notable sales features Etsy offers:
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- Shop manager: Etsy’s Shop Manager is your central control center where you can add or edit items, handle orders, change your shop layout, or communicate with your customers.
- Etsy ads: With Etsy, you can easily run ads on the marketplace to increase your product visibility on Etsy search results. The platform also supports off-site ads like search results or social media apps like Facebook.
- Coupons: You can offer your customers discounts to improve your conversion and retention rate
- Social media: Etsy’s social media tool enables you to share flash sales, important updates, or anything in your shop on social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.
- Analytics: Etsy analytics will help you monitor and understand your shop’s performance better. To be more specific, you can see where your visitors come from, how many buy, and which products are performing well and which ones are underperforming.
- Seller handbook: With Etsy’s Seller Handbook, you unlock access to all the handy tips on taking good photos, serving customers, and improving your selling journey on Etsy.
- Square integration: For sellers who also do in-person selling, you can integrate your Etsy store with Square and easily accept your customers’ in-store payments.
>> Relevant reading: 14 Etsy Alternatives to Sell Your Crafts Online
GoImagine vs Etsy: Which one should you start with?
If you are just starting out, we highly recommend opening a store on Etsy first. The marketplace’s high traffic and ease of use make it an excellent choice for testing products and scaling your store.
Once you have acquired decent traffic and a stable customer base, you could consider opening a store on GoImagine to diversify your sales channels. Well, at the end of the day, GoImagine is still a low-cost, promising marketplace to experiment with, isn’t it?
Wrapping up!
All in all, it is obvious that except for the slightly higher selling fees, Etsy beats GoImagine in all other aspects.
Therefore, if you are just getting started and are wondering between GoImagine vs Etsy, we would highly advise you to launch your shop on Etsy first. Though you still have to compete with millions of other sellers on Etsy, driving quality traffic to your listing is still easier on Etsy than a new marketplace like GoImagine.
After you’ve successfully established your brand on Etsy, you can totally reinvest a small part of your profits in expanding to GoImagine.
If you find this article helpful, we at Masstic believe you’ll love to explore more blogs like it at Etsy comparison articles.
Frequently asked questions
What is a better site than Etsy?
Depending on your specific needs, you might find a suitable alternative to Etsy. For instance:
– eBay is considered a better site than Etsy if you are looking for a platform with a massive global reach and the ability to sell a wide variety of products.
– Shopify is considered a better site than Etsy if you want to create a fully personalized eCommerce website with extensive features and integrations.
What is Etsy's biggest competitor?
From our personal perspective, Etsy’s biggest competitors are eBay and Amazon Handmade. They are both giant marketplaces with millions of active buyers worldwide.
How popular is GoImagine?
GoImagine is a growing eCommerce platform, but if we compare GoImagine vs Etsy, it’s clearly not as popular. While Etsy boasts millions of active users and a well-established marketplace, GoImagine is still building its user base.
Who owns Go Imagine?
Jon Lincoln is the founder of GoImagine. He launched the marketplace with the mission of creating a more caring economy through handmade goods.
How do you get paid on GoImagine?
Handmade sellers on GoImagine must accept payments through the Stripe payment processor for a standard fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.
