They are calling it “The Etsy Killer”. That remains to be seen, but Amazon Handmade was officially launched at midnight last night (technically, this morning).

Reclaimed Home is a vendor on the new site. So, what is our take away? Some kinks need to be worked out. As a seller, uploading products is (How do we put this gently?) a pain in the ass. As of this writing, only 3 listings are viewable and the image isn’t showing up on one of them. Granted, only two of those listings were actually uploaded before launch, so it’s most likely our fault that we waited until it was live to upload in a frenzied state.

Etsy has lost some folks recently due to their decision to accept non-handmade vendors. On the other hand, it seems like lost of sellers aren’t embracing Amazon because of the higher fees. Us? We like to throw things out there and see what sticks. Hey, if it sells on Amazon as opposed to Etsy, we feel like they’ve earned the fee.

As a shopper, the site looks like a cross between Amazon and Etsy. Well, what did you expect? The benefits of shopping at Amazon over Etsy would be one stop shopping, most likely. You can purchase a sink drain and artisan vintage inspired apron all in the same transaction. Some vendors can offer free shipping through Prime or have their goods sent out directly through Amazon. On the other hand, the Etsy experience is between you and the artist.

Etsy won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. There’s enough room for plenty of handmade products. At the very least, perhaps the marketing of handmade by a mega company is exactly what each country needs to wean them off the import habit.