Keywords for finding handmade on Etsy?
October 14, 2022 9:34 PM   Subscribe

I now need to buy a bunch of plant pots and would like a few to be handmade specials but searching Etsy returns 90% factory made - I know because the same pots came up in my searches on Taobao! What keywords or other search tricks can I use to find actual handmade pottery?
posted by dorothyisunderwood to Shopping (8 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
How about specifying the shop location (under 'all filters')? You can start with your state (if you're in the US), and if there's nothing good in that search, just search in your country (assuming you're not in Asia).

I always try to search locally first, partly to avoid shipping things long distances.
posted by amtho at 10:25 PM on October 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


There are also some really cool things you can order from Ukraine (but I probably wouldn't ship pottery overseas because it's so heavy).
posted by amtho at 10:36 PM on October 14, 2022


What if you looked for artists on Instagram, who then usually link to their Etsy (or not!) shops?
posted by jeweled accumulation at 10:44 PM on October 14, 2022


Response by poster: To note: I am in Asia, and most of the Etsy sellers re-selling wares are listed as US-based - they are clearly buying from the same suppliers selling on Taobao, marking up 20-70% and re-selling.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 11:52 PM on October 14, 2022 [1 favorite]


I try setting a cost range that excludes very cheap stuff, which helps a bit.
posted by paduasoy at 1:32 AM on October 15, 2022


I find the default Etsy search tends to optimise for the cheapest items from the biggest sellers. The opposite of what I'm usually looking for.
It isn't perfect but a Google image search of Etsy will avoid most of the SEO cruft. It will often land on an item thats already sold, but at least you can find the good sellers and see what else they have.
Just try not to click on any ads, because Etsy will charge the sellers an additional 15% for sales made that way.
posted by Lanark at 11:06 AM on October 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


I'm not super up on spotting resellers, but does adding handthrown to your search terms help at all? To my intermediate potter's eyes, the results I get back are mostly handmade looking but sometimes it's hard to tell.

Otherwise, try including some pottery decoration techniques in your search terms, like sgraffito (which is scratching away slip to make a design) or mishima or else words that refer to what medium they used to decorate it, like underglaze.
posted by urbanlenny at 1:21 PM on October 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


I haven’t purchased a flower pot, but I have had great experiences with plasterstudiolt in general. Their products are pretty clearly handmade, and their concrete flower pots are striking.
posted by musicinmybrain at 9:00 AM on October 16, 2022 [1 favorite]


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