What you give up on a marketplace
1stDibs is clear that its commission “varies based on business type” and on the membership plan you choose — it does not publish a single rate.1 On top of that, its trade programme offers designers net prices of up to 30% off.2 That is a sensible deal for a dealer moving one-off antiques to collectors worldwide. It is an expensive one for a brand whose real customer is the designer who specifies the same lamp for forty rooms.
When 1stDibs is the right call
When you sell unique or vintage pieces, one at a time, to private collectors you would never find yourself. When global reach matters more than the relationship. When the listing is the marketing.
When Atlas is
When your best buyer orders by the floor, not the piece. White Gloves stopped waiting for designers to find them on Instagram and went straight at hospitality procurement and fit-out firms: €2.4M to the trade in 11 months, 31 of 64 accounts reordering in year one. namuh, a gallery, did the same with art: $1.8M in 9 months, with designers specifying it on project after project.
The same designers, without the middle
The designers who buy on 1stDibs have inboxes. A curated selection sent to the brief they are working on today beats a listing they might scroll past. Keep the marketplace for collectors; build the trade book direct.