Artfire - Handcrafted eCommerce Website

We have been watching several ecommerce sites for quite awhile. We have to say that we really enjoy visiting ArtFire. There are many wonderful, unique, handcrafted items and the site is easy to navigate. We feel that the site is worth sharing with our readers.

Here is info from their site:

About ArtFire

ArtFire is an e-commerce solution that connects buyers and sellers of handmade and vintage goods as well as digital arts and craft supplies. ArtFire provides sellers all the benefits of a venue while offering the customization, control and features of a personal website. Our members are free to link to their other profiles on the web, including other selling venues, because we do not believe in limiting what our members do with their studios. Add in best-in-class selling, promotional, and learning tools and you have the most powerful artist-focused site on the web.

ArtFire is pioneering a process we've termed Community Directed Development to put our company leaders and developers in direct interaction with our community of artisans. We use their feedback and open discourse to build a site in real time. By using this feedback, we can innovate quickly by building new tools and guiding the site in a direction that best serves our community's interests.

Industry-First Features

Although ArtFire is less than a year old, we have several industry-first selling tools that we offer to all of our members, both basic (free accounts) and pro.

ArtFire Rapid Cart
Rapid Cart - The ArtFire Rapid Cart is a revolutionary new way for our members to do business. Any member can use the Rapid Cart on any site that can accept Flash. This tool pushes the POS to customers, effectively creating remote-sale-capable advertising. When a member posts a Rapid Cart they are off of ArtFire. The Rapid Cart can show items for sale that the artisan has selected or pull randomly from their shop. What makes the Rapid Cart special is that the buyer never has to leave the blog/website that they were originally on. When a buyer clicks on a product in a Rapid Cart, a new pop-up item window is opened where the buyer can, without signing up for an account on ArtFire, complete the entire checkout process. All of this takes place without the buyer ever having to navigate to ArtFire. The entire process is secured using 256-bit encryption, and everything is tracked by ArtFire so that our members can run their businesses with the most accurate data possible.

Facebook Kiosk
Facebook Kiosk - The ArtFire Facebook Kiosk is a one-of-a-kind Facebook application that allows any pro ArtFire member to import their studio and sell their goods right from their Facebook profile or fan page. Once the application is linked to a member's studio there is no more work to be done, the kiosk auto updates as changes are made to a member's studio. Much like the Rapid Cart, the Facebook Kiosk allows anybody to shop and checkout without leaving Facebook. Buyers are not required to sign up for an account during the process, which allows members to market their work to their fans, friends and family while also selling on the largest social networking site online.

ArtFire Coupon Codes
Coupon Codes - While coupon codes in e-commerce are a staple of the industry, the ArtFire Coupon Code system is the first fully customizable coupon building system available to an artisan marketplace. ArtFire members can make coupon codes that apply to any item, entire orders, studio categories, or specific items. They can choose from dollar off discounts, percentage off discounts, free shipping or free gift options. Every coupon can be set for a limited run date, set to run in the future, set to limited uses, or be valid for up to a year. The coupon code system also offers the ability to issue Gift Certificates that are tracked by ArtFire and make for great gifts on holiday occasions.

Market Hub
Market Hub - The ArtFire Market Hub is a tool we provide all of our members to help build their brand online. When a member updates their Market Hub, it allows shoppers that artisan's other web presences; the Market Hub is a tool we provide so that our members can link out to their own website, blog, Etsy shop, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube Profile, Indie Public, or MySpace profile. We believe our members should have multiple profiles and selling venues so we built Market Hub as a way for our members to tie their profiles together. Market Hub improves credibility and trust for artisans and helps them to overcome one of the common obstacles to online sales-uncertainty for buyers.

Google Base Submission

Auto Google Shopping Base Feed and Currency Conversion - When a member lists a product for sale on ArtFire, we automatically feed that product to Google Base shopping; this allows our members' products to appear in searches on the popular Google Shopping search engine. ArtFire also provides auto currency conversion for international shoppers. ArtFire recognizes where each visitor is located based on IP address and converts the sales prices to local currency using current conversion rates.

Our Story

ArtFire's story starts with our founder, John Jacobs. His story is best told in his own words:

"I grew up in a family of crafters; both my mother and father ran a jewelry supply business that had our family traveling around the country to craft shows just trying to make a living. In 1999 the internet provided my parents the opportunity to move their business off the road and sell their supplies on eBay. After I got out of the military (Air Force), I started several companies, one of which was a jewelry supply company which continued my family's tradition

My wife and I started Foxyfindings.com and became triple titanium power sellers on Ebay within several years selling beads and jewelry making supplies; along the way I learned some powerful lessons about how to choose a marketplace and what can happen when a venue puts share holders first and opts for profits over service to customers.

My inspiration behind ArtFire came as I watched how my customers, independent jewelry makers, were being treated by eBay. I grew tired as I watched the arbitrary ways that eBay and other venues handled their customers, not treating them as business partners. I noticed what seemed to be a "tax" on creativity with insertion/final value fees. I thought there should be a better option, a selling venue that treated its members with respect and recognized them as business partners. I founded ArtFire because, as a seller myself, I never found a venue that understood its role was to SERVE its members."

You can meet the rest of the ArtFire team by visiting the staff page.

ArtFire went into open beta in November 2008, since then we have experienced rapid growth at a rate of 2600%, and we are still growing. Our company's core principles are based on providing the best e-commerce tools we can for our customers and supporting them with unmatched customer service.