According to Ashley Wiggins, her family's business, Lake Art LLC, has thrived using Grommet, an online platform where businesses can sell their products.

“Fast forward several years when both the Grommet and Lake Art were small potatoes, we met founder Joanne Domeniconi at AmericasMart in Atlanta,” Wiggins told Michigan Business Daily. “She purchased one of our maps and made a video describing her connection to it.”

Grommet gives "entrepreneurs, innovators and creators a platform to showcase their big ideas.” According to its website, Grommet is the only platform that supports makers while launching their products, helping to protect their intellectual property, building their brand, and providing an efficient, economical platform where the makers don’t face exuberant sellers fees.

Grommet has various products for different occasions. Currently, it has Mother’s Day gifts.

“The Grommet gets to know each of its makers and their products, unlike Amazon or Etsy, where makers showcase their goods without the support of a team,” Wiggins said. 

Wiggins' Harbor Springs-based family business started in the late 2000s.

“One day in 2008, my dad went out for coffee and was approached by a local shop owner," she said. "This man asked my dad if he would be interested in purchasing the company that makes the locally famous 3D Lake Maps.”

“The Grommet was well-equipped to share our story, and they were excited about doing it,” Wiggins said. “We have weathered many storms together over the years.”

Sellers on Etsy are striking this week over transaction fee increases of 1.5%, The Wall Street Journal reports.

According to Reuters, Amazon has been known to collect data from third-party sellers and use it to replicate consumer goods — essentially counterfeiting, some argue. Reuters reported Amazon did this in India.