Etsy, a site for selling crafts of all types, is popular with some professinal woodworkers and developing woodcrafters as well.

A recent report says Etsy has more than 11 million registered users (i.e., crafters who sign up free to sell their goods). Users are located in 150 countries. Etsy sold 2.3 million items in September, many of them crafted from lumber and veneer. A search today found 248,408 items for sales that included wood in the description, from wood coat racks, to rocking horses,

Typical is a personalized wood cutting board from "Belinda and Tony" in Salt Lake City, offered for $14.

"The mill we buy our boards from uses FSC certified wood. We believe in sustainable practices for our products. Each cutting board is hand sanded and then sealed with butcher block conditioner," says the couple in the listing for the boards.

Etsy makes its money by collecting a 20 percent commission on sales made through its site. Crafters may register for free and pay 5 cents to post an item for sale for a month (for a four-month period).

Another site with strong roots in the woodworking business is CustomMade.com. Co-founded by Mike Salguero and Seth Rosen, CustomMade.com exhibited at the AWFS Fair woodworking show this summer. Salguero and colleagues presented to attendees the e-commerce sites original model: a membership fee which provides access to bid opportunities for projects sought by prospective clients.

Woodworkers who have used CustomMade.com to find new business say it is effective and a good value. Salguero is considering restructuring the arrangement: woodworkers and other crafters ("We call them makers," he says) will be asked to pay a percent of the online sale to CustomMade.com, Salguero told me during AWFS.

Salguero and Rosen acquired CustomMade.com in 2009. Recently the site, which has about 3 million visitors annually, received a $2 million investment, which will help fund its transformation. Items sold at CustomMade sell for much more than Etsy, and are truly custom made and one-offs, not mass-customized. A mahogany sideboard from McFinn Design is offered for $6,500 to $10,000 is a representative offering at CustomMade.com.