In the world of e-commerce, a new player has entered the game.

SilkFair.com launched in 2008 as a Web site allowing people to sell their wares directly to consumers anywhere in the world, with no middleman and no retail markup. Unlike the online craft bazaar Etsy.com, which sells primarily arts-and-crafts items, SilkFair allows users to sell anything from auto parts to electronics and vintage gear. Still, the sites have some similarities.

Many of SilkFair’s features are similar to Etsy, including a shop-by-color feature and the high number of kitschy pieces sold primarily by women.

Sign-up for SilkFair is free, but vendors are charged 3 percent of any sales they make. Otherwise, listing wares is free. Each seller creates an online “store;” currently, the site has approximately 1,500 stores.

SilkFair also offers free Web tools to promote the businesses, from blogs to videos, in which the products are displayed in detail. SilkFair is coming out with a new platform called CustomShops, which allows a user to create a brand identity that uses SilkFair as a host, but has no big SilkFair branding, sort of like Google’s Blogger, which is a free blog that users can customize.

SilkFair’s easy-to-use search tool allows users to filter the thousands of results for search criteria, and a picture and description of the product pops up when you hover your mouse over the image.

In this modern world, SilkFair is giving entrepreneurs a way to sell their products without all the business startup fees.

— Anna Sowa, The Bulletin