Etsy.com -- on-line sales site for home crafters

While Web 2.0 was to bring about the death of the middleman, this would have little impact on the nation's artists and crafters, who never had a middleman to begin with. Millions still hawk their handmade goods at fairs, open markets, co-ops, wherever a few customers might congregate.

For these people, the web site etsy.com has been a Godsend. Operating on the template of eBay, etsy offers a way for creators of handmade art, tools, decorations and useful household items to offer their wares directly to the public. Over 60,000 vendors offer almost a million different items for sales to around 650,000 registered users.

As you can imagine, the site offers a huge variety of jewelry, knitted goods, etc. Parenthood and agriculture and folksy humor seem to typlify many of the offerings.It also offers a number of unexpected delights, such as a knit dissected frog, a A knit tuna roll, or soap in the shape of a pickle.

If you're looking to sell your crafts, or in the market to buy some, give etsy a try.