Etsy versus 1000 Markets

After taking a break from my Etsy shop over the holidays, I am spending some reconsidering if Etsy is the right venue for me and my work. I also have a shop at 1000 Markets, but just like Etsy, it gets no traffic without marketing. My view is that whichever way I go, I am simply renting shop space and I will have to drive my traffic there, so it is really a matter of which shop I want to drive traffic to.

Pro for Etsy: 

1. It has the name. It is hard to find someone in this business who has not heard of Etsy.
2. The forums. They are very active and have been very useful for hints, suggestions, and a sense of community.
3. Time - as in, I have put a lot of time into my Etsy shop. I think letting it go, or distancing myself from it, is more of a psychological issue than anything.
4. Paypal allows for instant payment directly into my account. 1000 Markets uses Amazon Payments, which can take a bit longer because the money has to be transferred into my account.

Pro for 1000 Markets:

1. The look. It is a sleeker, more professional design that just looks cleaner.
2. It is not as crowded - or shall I say bloated - as Etsy.
3. The quality of merchandise appears to be superior, compared to Etsy. I have thought for a while that Etsy was beginning to get watered down. There is some OUTSTANDING work on Etsy, but let's face it, some stuff that is, well, not.

I have not made a decision yet, other than to put more of my focus on 1000 Markets and see how I feel about it from the seller point of view. I would like to get some feedback from buyers, too, to see if it matters to them at all. But, eventually, one will have to take precedence over the other.

If you would like to check out my 1000 Markets shop, this is a sample of what I have for sale:

 

PEACE PENDANT NECKLACE