What Amazon Handmade Is
Amazon Handmade is a dedicated section of Amazon for artisan-made products. It competes directly with Etsy by offering makers a platform to sell handcrafted goods to Amazon's massive customer base. Products must be genuinely handmade, hand-altered, or hand-assembled — mass-produced items are not allowed. Amazon reviews every application to verify that sellers meet these criteria.
How It Differs from Standard Selling
Handmade sellers do not pay the monthly Professional selling plan fee. Instead, Amazon charges a 15 percent referral fee on each sale. There are no listing fees. You get a custom Artisan profile page where you can tell your story, show your workshop, and build a brand identity that goes beyond individual product listings.
The Handmade category has its own search and browsing experience within Amazon, though products also appear in regular Amazon search results. This means you benefit from both the dedicated Handmade audience and Amazon's general traffic.
Applying for Handmade
You need to apply and be approved before selling on Handmade. The application asks about your production process, your products, and how they are made. You will need to demonstrate that your products are genuinely handcrafted — not bought wholesale and resold. Amazon may ask for photos of your workspace, materials, and production process.
Approval can take several days to a couple of weeks. Once approved, you can list products in the Handmade store and start selling immediately.
Who It Suits
Amazon Handmade suits makers of jewellery, home decor, personalised gifts, art prints, candles, soaps, and similar artisan products. If you already sell on Etsy, Amazon Handmade offers access to a much larger customer base. If you make products by hand and want to reach Amazon's audience, this is your entry point.
It does not suit resellers or sellers of mass-produced goods — Amazon actively monitors and removes non-qualifying products. It also may not suit makers with very limited production capacity, as Amazon customers expect relatively fast fulfilment.
Fulfilment Options
Handmade sellers can use FBA or fulfil orders themselves. FBA works well for standard products that are not personalised — you send stock to Amazon and they handle delivery. For personalised or made-to-order items, self-fulfilment is the natural choice since each item is unique. You set your own processing time to account for the production period.
Amazon Handmade offers a genuine opportunity for craftspeople to reach customers they would never find through a standalone website or local markets alone.