Pallet Furniture Will Redefine Your Space – Find The Best at Pallet4.Me

Have you ever wanted affordable furniture that will also be different from anything that you owned before – and far more interesting? That could even make others call you a “hipster”? Enter the world of pallet crafters, creative individuals who use some of the 2 billion pallets circulating around the world to design, create and in the process recycle old pallet wood into exceptional industrial furniture! Enter the world of Pallet4.Me, the global palett marketplace – the Etsy of the pallet world!

Before you browse Pallet4.Me’s extensive database of furniture and other pallet works, continue reading to discover its story. A story of how an ecommerce and sales manager first became a pallet crafter and then, using a unique domain name, started Pallet4.Me. Meet Matija Kasner, the founder of Pallet4.Me!

Why pallets? When did you realize there is a business opportunity for it?

Necessity for garden and bedroom furniture made me think how can I get this cheaper for my house budget. Pallets were pretty hot when I started to look for ideas over Pinterest or goggling, and then It hit me – I can do it myself. And I did. I made garden furniture and a king size bed. Just for the fun, I’ve listed these pieces at the national online marketplace, and after few days it hit me again – I’ve got my first order for some apartment houses at the Croatian seaside. Then I’ve realized – I can make small business out of it. Here I am now, two and a half years after, with over twenty large projects and numerous smaller more.

Before launching, I had my regular job as sales manager and Ecommerce manager in my family company. And I’m still doing that. Sklepaj.Me and pallet crafting is my after work job, or job after job. More like a hobby after normal working hours. But its turning into more then that.

Why did you chose a .Me domain for both of your projects?

I blame Netokracija for my choice. When I started to follow them few years ago, I didn’t have the clue about domains in general. I chose this domain because .Me domain is brandable, personal and unique and in combination with my sklepaj.me brand – it’s funny and appealing.

For Pallet4.Me, I wanted visitors to choose something made out of pallets for themselves – obviously. I think Pallet4.Me is very marketable and SEO friendly for searching pallet furniture, pallet ideas, etc. Becasue, when you google pallets, Google think you are searching for pallet creations, not pallets in general.

Where do you come from and work from?

I come from Kutina, a small town just 40 minutes from Zagreb. Kutina has a strong IT scene, but lots of IT guys and girls are already working for some respectful startups and companies, or have a company of their own. If my project develops so I have to rapidly expand my team, I’ll search for the team locally and – if that doesn’t work, I wouldn’t mind moving to another location, closed to great talent. I’d also like to try a remote team.

At first, you were focused just on Croatia. Where did you come up with the idea of a global pallet community?

I started Pallet.Me because exporting usually requires huge transport and logistic costs for this kind of work. Pallet4.Me is a global pallet market place where my fellow pallet crafters can list their products, showcase what they do and of course sell something.

There are several known handmade sites like Etsy, Dawanda, Zibbet and others, who are showcasing handmade, and homemade stuff. Creators list their portfolio, describe their products and boost their crafting and sales. All of them have pallet furniture as a category, but it needs its own site – Pallet4.Me! And I want to change that. I wanted to build a web site, a marketplace if you like, only for pallets. And I did.

Who is your competition how do you get more crafters to discover Pallet4.Me?

Etsy, DaWanda and Zibbet are direct competitors for my point of view. I don’t have to explain that they are well-known, global present and successful companies. I look at them as my role models, learn from them and learn from their mistakes.

Hell yeah I’m going to take over their designers. Not literally though. I’m sure they will continue list their portfolio on Etsy for example, but Pallet4.Me will offer a smooth transition If they are already a Etsy or DaWanda member.

Since pallet4.me is at its very begging, I’m doing everything I can to gain more crafters on my site. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts are live and active and I communicate directly via these platforms to encourage commenting of crafter work. Maybe this is annoying to some people, but it’s only way to do it. We also start a Pinterest board for every crafter and Imgur albums for every crafter. The plan is also to incorporate Reddit to start discussion and communication with potential buyers.

I’ve started to answer Quora questions related to pallet and woodworking to gain attention.

What is Pallet4.Me’s business model?

I’m still developing Pallet4.Me’s business model. I want to have many more crafters and their products listed on the website. We might add a commission fee or promotion packages – we’ll see.

Although Matija Kasner doesn’t have an IT background, he has launched a great new community. Matija still works in his family company so Pallet4.Me and Sklepaj.Me are his second job – or we’d even say – second superhero identity. As a hero of the crafter community helping to boost the global scale of the pallet furniture community!