What Hobbsy Is
Hobbsy is a marketplace exclusively for handmade, vintage, and human-crafted goods. Every seller signs a Maker Agreement confirming their items are made by them or their small team — not mass-produced, not drop-shipped, and not generated by AI.
AI-generated products are not allowed on Hobbsy. This is our core policy and the reason the marketplace exists.
That said — we do offer AI tools to help you sell your handmade work (better descriptions, pricing suggestions, photo-to-listing drafts). Using AI to market your art is encouraged. Using AI to make the art is not. There's a clear line and we enforce it.
What You Get (Free)
3% platform fee + standard payment processing (Stripe: 2.9% + 30¢). No listing fees. No forced ads.
Your total cost: ~6% per sale. Etsy's total cost: ~12% per sale (6.5% transaction + $0.20/listing + 3% payment processing + 15% offsite ads for shops over $10K).
Full-featured shop: listings with up to 10 photos, product variants, personalization fields, and shipping profiles.
Search and discovery: your listings appear in search, categories, and recommendations.
Messaging with buyers, order management, and reviews.
Guest checkout so you never lose a sale to a registration wall.
AI Features (Your Choice)
We built AI tools to help you sell — not to replace your craft.
- AI Listing Optimizer: rewrites titles and descriptions for better visibility.
- AI Pricing Suggester: recommends competitive pricing based on similar listings.
- AI Draft from Photos: snap photos on your phone, get a complete listing draft in seconds.
- AI Listing Translation: auto-translate your listings to French and Spanish for wider reach.
AI features are free during your trial period. After the trial, they move to the Pro tier.
Don't want AI? Turn it off.
Some makers prefer to write every word themselves. We respect that. Toggle AI off in your shop settings. Your free trial starts when you first enable AI, so you lose nothing by waiting. If you decide to try AI later, you get the full trial from that point.
Pro Tier
Everything you need to grow, at a price that respects your margins.
- All AI features (listing optimizer, pricing suggestions, photo drafts, translations) — included after your free trial ends.
- Seller analytics dashboard: views, orders, and revenue charts.
- Bulk listing edits.
- Priority in featured placement.
Pricing: TBD (low monthly, exact price coming soon).
Pro is optional. Every core selling feature works without it. AI features are the main reason most sellers upgrade.
Inventory Hub — Cross-Sell Without Overselling
Already selling on Etsy, Shopify, or your own site? Inventory Hub lets you list the same item in multiple places safely. One sale anywhere decrements stock everywhere — so you never sell an item you no longer have.
This is the piece that makes listing on Hobbsy a zero-risk experiment. Keep your Etsy shop, add Hobbsy, and know the two won't fight each other over the last piece.
- Free for Hobbsy-only sellers — your inventory is tracked here automatically.
- One-way and two-way sync with Shopify, BigCommerce, Square, and manual CSV import for Etsy. Add a connector once, stock stays in step from then on.
- Optional delayed-confirmation mode for multi-channel sellers: card authorized, not charged until you confirm you still have the item in hand. Your choice — off by default.
- Selling somewhere without an inventory connection — Mercari, Poshmark, Vinted, Depop? Forward your sale emails in and we keep your counts in step. In the rare moment the same piece sells in two places at once, you get a one-tap heads-up to ship it, swap in another, or let it go — and a buyer here is never charged for something that's already gone.
Free for Hobbsy-only inventory. Multi-channel connector pricing TBD (low monthly, scales with how many outside channels you sync).
Manage Your Shop with AI
Hobbsy is the first marketplace with an MCP integration. Connect your favorite AI assistant and manage your entire shop with natural language — no dashboard required.
- "Show me my sales this week" — instant dashboard stats
- "Create a listing for this ceramic mug, $35" — draft listings from conversation
- "Ship order #A8F2 with tracking 9400111899" — fulfill orders without clicking
- "Reply to the buyer asking about custom glazes" — handle messages inline
- "What does the AI suggest for my pottery listing?" — optimization and pricing
Available in your seller dashboard under Integrations. Works with any MCP-compatible AI client.
Shipping
- Built-in flat-rate shipping profiles: domestic and international rates, free shipping thresholds.
- Optional carrier integration: connect your Shippo or EasyPost account for real-time rate quotes and label generation.
- You pay the carrier directly — we don't mark up shipping.
Trust & Authenticity
- Every seller signs a Maker Agreement.
- Community can challenge listings — sellers provide evidence, earn a "Verified" badge.
- Sellers can proactively verify their work for a "Maker Documented" badge.
- AI detection on uploaded images (C2PA watermark scanning).
- DMCA safe harbor with counter-notice process.
- Sellers must add meaningful creative value — pure print-on-demand services don't qualify.
We protect real makers. That's the whole point.
The Brand Promise
Hobbsy is privately held. No venture capital. Not publicly traded.
Our fee structure is a commitment, not a phase. We don't need to squeeze sellers to satisfy shareholders.
Have questions? Read our Terms of Service
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