About Us

The Indie Sellers Guild is a grassroots nonprofit organization, by indie sellers, for indie sellers. We fight for a better, fairer internet – where makers, artists, designers and other creative indie sellers can run sustainable online businesses.

Membership is free.

Join Us!

Or, keep scrolling to learn more. 🙂

What we do

When big tech platforms make changes that hurt sellers, we fight back! We raise public awareness of the changes and their negative impacts as well as coordinating with watchdog organizations about what sellers can do in response.

Current Cause: Plaid

When Etsy began forcing sellers to give their banking info to the 3rd-party company Plaid, we shared information about Plaid’s sketchy history of privacy violations and legal trouble. Sellers collectively sharing their concerns and delaying verification made Etsy extend their verification time window until after the crucial holiday season.

Current Project: Marketplace Accreditation

We are surveying members and other sellers about what they want to see in an online crafts marketplace. The next step is working directly with marketplaces to advise them on changes, and to create a marketplace directory.

We amplify sellers’ voices to platforms, legislators, the media, and the general public.

ISG in the News

We started with a petition to Etsy that received 82,000 signatures in just 4 weeks.

Join over 3000 members in at least 18 different countries.

This map shows rough locations for our first 500 members. We’re a worldwide organization, growing every day!

We connect sellers and allies all around the world via social media:

Discord Server
Facebook Group
Subreddit

Find the links to these communities in the members-only section after you join!

Our Member Networking Program helps members support each other’s businesses and connect for cross promotion, events, photoshoots, and more.

We educate sellers about new policies and laws as well as provide access to resources on running a small crafting business. Click here to read our blog.

We educate the public on who indie sellers are and help them shop with confidence. Click here to view our member directory.

Our Structure

We are two connected nonprofit orgs dedicated to helping Indie Sellers:

A membership organization for creative indie sellers, whose needs and rights as workers have been erased in the online platform economy.

A tax exempt 501c3 nonprofit organization focused on education, outreach and research of the major issues facing creative indie sellers.

From Our Members

Building a Safety Net and a Safer Community for Artists, Crafters and other Makers

I originally joined the indie seller’s guild so I could get more support as an independent artist, selling my works, and I tried to get into the group as much as i could when i had the time, because I really loved the community and support there. I always felt welcome and like my ideas were valued, and that I had a network of people who understood what I was going though. While I haven’t recently been able to contribute as much as I’d like to be due to personal health issue, that’s also exactly what makes the guild great- I know that if I need help, I can reach out, and even if I’m gone for a bit, I always have a community of like-minded people to come back to. It takes a village, but this is that village, I think!

Parziivale

Finding belonging and support

My name is Emma and I have a small shop on Etsy. I’m based in Canada and I’m the child of immigrants. Even though I am a young, genderqueer, disabled lesbian, I have always felt welcomed and respected by the other Guild members and encouraged to take on as much leadership as I want. As part of the Guild, I feel very lucky to be among such talented and helpful people. I became a leader in this great international labor organization because I wanted to help others like me and I’m grateful to have an opportunity to do that.

Emma

heart shaped studios

Nothing about us, without us

Since Etsy sold out to Wall Street, they have continuously betrayed their original intent, to empower independent sellers to reach a larger audience as easily as possible, in favor of making more profits for shareholders; ISG started as an effort to restore balance with the Etsy Strike after they doubled seller fees in 4 years and relaxed enforcing their requirements that all products sold be “”handmade,”” increasing competition from low cost overseas vendors.
Through the Guild, customers can easily find sellers who meet our more stringent review of what products are truly Handmade, focused on quality & craftsmanship. When you email a question, the answer comes from the hands that make the product, the person who knows everything about it, not some customer service rep.
As we work together to find or make an alternative selling platform where we will have a voice in its overall decisions, our profile on the Guild page is the place to always find our preferred selling platform, if and when that changes.
This is also the place for Sellers to ask each other for advice & experiences, collaborate on projects, & share new product concepts for feedback or launch.

Harry Burger

Lightbringer Designs

People United with Vision

I joined the Etsy strike pretty early because of the fee increase and the lack of support Etsy offered. Starting off, I really just wanted to help in any way I could, which at the time was as the strike’s Discord manager, but as things grew, roles changed and the group grew into something more. What I love about the ISG is the commitment to being the best organization it can be to meet the needs of the sellers it supports. It is a people first organization and it does all it can to make space for all people and include all viewpoints in the decision making. What’s more, nothing is set in stone. If policies don’t work, they are changed. If a system doesn’t fit, a new one is found or created. The ISG is truly a community of people working together for something better.

Meeks Vi

Indie Sellers Guild – together, we are strong

Being part of the Indie Sellers Guild fulfills my long-held wish to find a platform for collective advocacy rather than fighting a losing battle all alone against unreasonable demands of overly powerful platforms. The more members, the more success is guaranteed.
I love to be part of a community that provides support, resources, and a network of like-minded sellers striving to run a small business and bring unique products to the market successfully. I also love that the Indie Sellers Guild is open to sellers from all over the world (as long as they speak English). The more members, the more ideas for mutual support are generated.

–Dorothee

StitchersWonderland

Help with Shipping

Being a member of this guild has helped me on many occasions. I had a customer contact me from Germany. I’m in the United States and have never shipped anything to Germany. I asked the guild if there was anything special I had to do, and got an answer from another member who ships to Germany on a regular basis.

Jon Smith

BlueCat Bobbins

Please join us! All our memberships are free. Seller membership is open to all active online indie sellers of handmade, vintage, and craft goods. Friends, family, and supporters can join too, as an ally member of the Indie Sellers Guild.

Every Member of ISG will receive:

Access to a worldwide community of online sellers
Research and lectures on interstate and international shipping, taxes and fees
Digital Media skills training
A blog with business tips, resources, research, best practices
The ability to unite and make a difference!

Click here to join

As a verified seller member you will also have:

Full voting rights for seller members – it’s your organization; you decide what it does
A listing in our membership directory
A directory of accredited online marketplaces (coming soon)
Guild-sponsored opportunities to grow your business