misosouper, a shopping blog

If there’s a truth I’ve learned from this blog, it’s that handmade is hard.  Of course there’s the making (which is joyful and energizing, yes, but still time and labor intensive); and the marketing, which means trudging to craft fairs in crappy weather and sending lots of e-mails to people like me, who already receive 874 e-mails a day about new jewelry/accessory/art shops.  (NB:  keep sending those e-mails.  I appreciate them.)

I’ve made it a point to support Etsy and Etsyians over the two years of this site; here’s a (probably incomplete) list of past features you can check out.  But sellers need options–you know, the whole ‘all eggs in one basket’ thing–and sites like Etsy need competition, which is how they are forced to adapt and evolve.

Enter Zibbet.  Cleverly named and cleverly conceptualized, Zibbet’s easy-to-navigate marketplace exhibits (get it?) goods from all over the globe. Its interface is elegant for both buyer and seller, and, unlike the uniformity of Etsy, will allow complete customization of shops to give them a singular look.

So Zibbet’s pretty, and it’s also priced right:  listings are free, and Zibbet takes no commission or sales fees.  And as a good neighbor, Zibbet offers the ability to link to your other shops and add an Etsy mini to your site.  (This feature available only with a Premium account; please see this chart for more features.)  Zibbet’s cheerful CEO Jonathan Peacock is committed to expanding the site’s features and services, based on feedback from its members; from what I can discern, starting a Zibbet account now would be a ground-floor opportunity, as evidenced by the fact that a few of my Etsy faves have recently opened Zibbet shop.

For the next two weeks, Zibbet and Misosouper are teaming up to give away one Lifetime Premium Account to one lucky winner.  Zibbet’s holiday promo selling Lifetime Premium Accounts ended quickly and increased in price with each 50 accounts sold, so this is a great deal:  your account will come with full access to all future Premium Account features.

Because you can’t beat free, and you can’t beat forever, do one of the following in this post’s comments:  visit Zibbet, find your favorite item(s), and link to them here; tweet, blog, and/or Facebook this contest, then link to those posts here.  If you do all of the above, you will earn four entries.  Be sure to read the fine print, and good luck!

the fine print:

Comments will be closed and entries will not be accepted after 11:59 pm EST on Sunday, January 15, 2010. The winner will be selected at random on Monday, January 16, 2010, and notified by e-mail. Results of the giveaway will be announced in the comments on this post on Tuesday, January 17, 2010. Misosouper, a shopping blog reserves the right to disqualify entries that are incomplete, inaccurate, or considered spam.  If the winner does not respond within 24 hours, an alternate winner will be chosen and notified.

image by Frankenkitty