Choosing the right marketplace platform to sell your handmade, carefully handcrafted products on can be really, really difficult.You want to get it right first time because it takes time learn the new platform, you need to list all your handmade products, and then you want the sales to roll in.
Sadly, sometimes after all the work, you decide it isn’t the platform for you, or it simply isn’t working. It’s frustrating, and you feel like you have to start all over again.
Every single platform is different, some platforms have ready made customers, already searching and buying regularly from the platform. Others are designed for you to bring your own audience to the platform to buy.
(Tip: the best solution, is to have a combination of both)
All of this means it really helps when you can get real life feedback and reviews, from other crafters in business who are already using the platform, so you can find out the good and the bad before you invest all that time and effort.
So when Helen messaged me this week to to ask if she could put a post in the our free Facebook Handcrafted Business Community group about a new craft platform called MadeMe, saying:
’Hi Nicola. I would like to post about a new craft platform called MadeMe [in The Community Facebook group].
I have joined with a friend and we have had some sales.
There is an offer on at the moment to get the first year half price which may benefit some of your members. **Please note, I am not affiliated in any way with the site apart from the fact that I opened a shop.‘
Immediately I knew this was a platform that you needed to hear about.
For Helen to message me, unprompted, not as an affiliate but simply to help others, this must be a winner!!
But I wanted to go one better that a single Facebook post, so I asked Helen if she could write a blog post for A Handcrafted Business instead.
Helen and her business partner Faye, agreed, and here it is, a real life, maker review of MadeMe.co.uk, September 2020.
MadeMe Review
Helen and Faye became friends when Faye asked Helen for some help with a new venture she was planning. They discovered that they had a love of crochet in common and quickly became friends, partnering regularly with various craft workshops in both Kent & Cambridgeshire.
Helen started crocheting as a child, her Dad taught her.
She started designing in the 80s but it wasn't until 2003 that she began producing patterns followed by teaching and then producing kits for her patterns.
The business quickly outgrew the house so she opened a shop on the high street.
The shop is not just for shopping: it has become a community hub, with people popping in for coffee and a chat, as well as for the latest yarns and craft products.
Her designs have appeared in Inside Crochet, DMC, YarnMaker, Let's Knit and Reloved. Although she dabbles in a variety of other crafts, crochet is her passion.
https://www.facebook.com/RainbowValleyCrafts/
Fayes vision of a safe space to come together and create became a reality in 2014 when she opened Unravel & Unwind. The Unravel & Unwind community has since transitioned to the online subscription platform, Patreon, where Faye hosts daily craft & chat video calls and creates YouTube video content and tutorials. Faye then followed in Helen's footsteps and, with the support and mentoring of Helen, began designing crochet patterns in 2017 and self publishing under the Rainbow Valley name. Faye had her 1st magazine publication in 2019 with Simply Crochet. In addition to the crochet, Faye enjoys embroidery (hand & machine), fountain pen art and dabbles in many other creative activities.
https://shop.unravelandunwind.co.uk/
https://www.patreon.com/UnravelandUnwind
https://www.facebook.com/UnravelandUnwind
When Helen saw the adverts for MadeMe on Facebook, it made sense to discuss it with Faye. After some discussion, they opened a shop between them. The rates were good and the opening offer was too good to ignore.
It costs £5 per month or £50 per year with no listing or selling fees. As it is a brand new platform, there is an introductory offer of 50% off a year's subscription, meaning £25 for the first year. This is not a lot to lose if it doesn’t work out so they went for it.
Enfys & Cariad is a joint venture between them. Faye is the one who actually opened the account as the payment system works through Stripe. Faye already had an account, Helen didn’t.
However, Helen discovered later that it is easy to open a Stripe account when she was helping a technophobic friend set up a shop.
Faye started listing some of their patterns straight away and found it really easy to do.
Note; The link to their Mademe shop has been removed - Aug 2025 - as the mademe link no longer works. I do not know if they have moved platfor or if the venture has closed.
The good points
Its UK sellers only and you have the choice to disable international shipping.
The price.It is the cheapest around. The only additional fees are the Stripe fees when you make a sale. This works on a “pay as you go” system, just 1.4% plus 20p per transaction for European card payments.
The dashboard is really easy to use and navigate.
Listing items is easy, even if you are not an old hand at listing on selling platforms.
The official support is great. Questions always get answered and the platform owners never seem to sleep!
The peer support is amazing. The other shop owners are always there to help each other out and to cheer each other on.
There is an official FaceBook group where you can get help - https://www.facebook.com/groups/MadeMeUK - as well as a spin off group for networking - https://www.facebook.com/groups/634770670757488
Although it is a new platform, word is getting around quickly and new people are joining all the time.
The bad points
It’s a brand new platform which means that it does not have the familiarity of eBay and Etsy. You have to be prepared to accept that it may take a little while for your first sale.
You can not add different quantities to the different options in one listing. This means that if you are selling supplies e.g. yarn, you need a different listing for each colour; or you could find a workaround like Helen and Faye have. They now list their available options with quantities within the descriptions. This does take more admin work behind the scenes especially as they have two establishments plus websites that sell the supplies.
You can not add your item to more than one category.
Although you can add items from different shops to your basket when purchasing, the check out doesn’t like it. You have to stick to ordering from one shop at a time for it to work.
Final summary
Overall Helen and Faye are pleased with the site and profits from August sales have covered the costs and there have already been September sales.
EDIT: Faye has shared some additional information, about how they have got their sales:
'I have set up Google Analytics on our (mine & Helen's) and most of our traffic is coming from the main [MadeMe] group, with 78% being new visitors. We signed up on 3rd Aug, got our first sale about 7 days later, and are now on 10 sales in the last 14 days. We have taken more than double the full price annual fee. I believe this is because I am very active in the group making us visible.'
For Product Sellers Who Want More Sales, More Often.
The Club helps you grow your traffic, improve conversions and increase profits.
Nicola, A Handcrafted Business Founder Note:
MadeMe is a controversial platform. Personally I haven't used it either as a customer or as a seller.
It is very concerning that there are no contact details or address available.
What stands out to me from this review is that the shop owners are very proactive with their marketing, they are working hard to ensure they are visible . This is why this platform is working well for them.
It is simply their base, where they send their customers to, to checkout.
If you want a marketplace which will generate customers for you, you need a platform with an existing, loyal audience who are already visiting and searching on the platform.
Please do your own due diligence before you set up your shop on any marketplace platform.
If you are considering this marketplace to sell your handmade products please do more due diligence first.
Currently there legal documentation is not fully compliant and I have no idea who is behind the website, as there is no information anywhere.
Helen is obviously happy with her experience, but ask others for their recommendation too.
The reputation of your business, as well as your time and energy are at stake.
Before joining MadeMe check out the Facebook Group ‘MadeMe Complaints Group’
My experience with them is poor. They randomly took £50 from my bank account, I contacted them the same day to cancel my account and they will not return my money.
They are now ignoring me even though I asked to excercise my Subject Access Request rights under GDPR and my Right to Erasure.
Hi. I’m having exactly the sam issues. No refund and totally blanked me.
I think she has wiped all the emails as well.
Be careful
Yes they just took £50 randomly from my bank account too .
I saw the site and thought for £25 for the year I’d give it a go. I was a bit annoyed to see that it’s just a WordPress site. They have not set it up very well, there is no option to add fileds, so I offer personalised products but there’s nowhere to add the message. Also you can’t add options. I’ve used WordPress for my own sites in the past and I know all these options can be added. I can’t the site getting much traffic so is it worth £25? time will tell.
Check out reviews by sellers for MadeMe on TrustPilot.
I managed to close my account 3 days before renewal where a £50 subscription would have been taken out.
BUT, I had to confront my bank about this, they couldn’t block a payment that had yet to be made, so they suggested they cancel my debit card, which I’d used forthe intial payment, so blocked MadeMe from taking any more money from me. Otherwise, in one year and one day, they would have received £75 for doing nothing.
No sales, negative remarks on Facebook swiftly removed.
No address, no contact details.
Be warned.
Thanks for the article, this was really helpful. I’m an Etsy seller and saw an ad for MadeMe on facebook so thought I would look into it. The fact that it’s fairly new didn’t put me off, but the lack of information, like you say, is definitely worrying. I cannot find any names of Admins on the facebook page, no address on the website and no (active) registered company under ‘MadeMe’. I remember a similar site a few years back but can’t remember the name of it, it didn’t go well as far as I remember. As far as I know, Folksy has been the front runner for UK marketplaces for a while. It’s going to take something really special to compete with Etsy,Ebay,Amazon and even Folksy.
It is a scam and I have set up a FB group to gather everyone’s complaints.
Please join us at
MadeMe Complaints Group
I have a shop on the Mademe platform (Eilean Jewellery) and updating anything on my listings is always a chore; mainly because the platform is so very very slow. Updating images on my own website took just 35 minutes for all my listings. Nearly 3 hours later was still trying to update on the mademe platform. Many many server error – try later messages. Its exhausting and such a waste of time. I don’t understand why it is such a slow interface and it has been like that since day one. I’m so fed up with it that I’m thinking of trying Folsky instead.
It is a scam and I have set up a FB group to gather everyone’s complaints.
Please join us at
MadeMe Complaints Group
I’d like to know if this mademe is run by Numonday. If so I believe it to be a scam and I will find out who to report this to. There are no details on who is running this but the set up is uncannily like Numonday.
It is a scam and I have set up a FB group to gather everyone’s complaints.
Please join us at
MadeMe Complaints Group
Hi Sam
I’ve searched Facebook & your group isn’t showing up even though I’ve typed MadeMe Complaints Group 🙁
This looks very like a revamp of the Wow Thank You website which has just closed down, shedding all longstanding clients who were on a ‘one off payment’ option from years ago. Layout, T&C etc almost identical.
It is a scam and I have set up a FB group to gather everyone’s complaints.
Please join us at
MadeMe Complaints Group
Avoid this platform like the plague! I’m conversant with WordPress so adding items was not an issue but their customer service is abysmal. After a year they automatically took my next year’s payment without any notice and used an expired card that I had on the system to do so. Apparently this is common and nothing I can do about it. Sure, I hadn’t been using MadeMe often enough to cancel or notice this, but there is no support from contacting them and the traffic I received was negligible in comparison to Etsy – where I have great success.
Seriously, not worth even the discounted year 1 fee.
It is a scam and I have set up a FB group to gather everyone’s complaints.
Please join us at
MadeMe Complaints Group
MadeMe is a scam and I have set up a FB group to gather everyone’s complaints.
Please join us at
MadeMe Complaints Group
I found the site not user friendly not as straightforward as Etsy or Folksy gave up after a day. Have a strict non-refundable policy so beware before signing up. No easy contact and do not reply to emails once they have your money not interested.
Look madam up on Companies House – the Facebook advertising seems to good to be true…most likely is…
Look mademe up on Companies House – the Facebook advertising seems to good to be true…most likely is…
Look mademe up on Companies House – no income earned since trading began and two Strike Off Notices.
The Facebook advertising seems too good to be true…most likely is…
Avoid like the plague, I had a shop on there for a year. Managed one sale in the whole period and that was from a friend. Luckily it covered the initial cost.
It maybe a new platform but, the only advertsing you see is to get new sellers. There is nothing to promote the website to buyers which for a new selling site is in my view just as important as new sellers. Customer service is terrible (apparently there is one person running the whole thing). There is only one option for payment which in this day and age is stupid. Luckily I closed my store well before the renewal date so didn’t get fees for the next year taken out.
If you want an online outlet for your goods my personal opinion is stick with the likes of Etsy, Folksy or even EBay initially and then once established create your own website it will work better for you in the long run than is cowboy outfit.
If you have to work hard to drive traffic to your Mademe shop, may as well have your own website. Etsy and eBay fees are high, but they do have a huge customer (buyer) base. My sales are about 3:1 or 4:1 eBay to Etsy.
Overall, 75% of my sales are through my own website. I’ve tried Folsky, which is better known than some of the UK based alternatives. but zero sales. You can tell by the fact there are so few product reviews on items being sold that there are few to no buyers.
Hi Sam
I’ve searched Facebook & your group isn’t showing up even though I’ve typed MadeMe Complaints Group 🙁
I took up the offer of £25 fee in December & it took ages for Stripe to verify me. MadeMe were no help at all, I thought they might be able to give Stripe a bit of a nudge!
I also completed their Contact Form, twice, emailed them & asked on FB what their address details are!
Surprise surprise, no answer at all & the FB post hasn’t been published.
For me, that says it all. If they’re not going to answer a simple question about a legal requirement like that, then it’s not worth my time or bother listing anything.
So MadeMe, if you happen to read this, I hope you enjoy my £25.
Check out reviews by sellers for MadeMe on TrustPilot.
I managed to close my account 3 days before renewal where a £50 subscription would have been taken out.
BUT, I had to confront my bank about this, they couldn’t block a payment that had yet to be made, so they suggested they cancel my debit card, which I’d used forthe intial payment, so blocked MadeMe from taking any more money from me. Otherwise, in one year and one day, they would have received £75 for doing nothing.
No sales, negative remarks on Facebook swiftly removed.
No address, no contact details.
Be warned.
Another person who has been scammed by Mademe. I signed up thinking it would be a cheaper marketplace than the other big sites, the upload process was complicated and I received no views or sales. I thought nothing more of it and frankly heard nothing more, weirdly no marketing emails at all from them whatsoever, which I think is deliberate as you will forget they exist and then they can scam you for the £50 renewal fee without any prior warning and you won’t get it back no matter how persistent you are. AVOID
I’m sorry this is still happening and that it happened to you.