Etsy vs Shopify: where to sell what you make
The short answer
Start on Etsy if buyers need to find you: there's no monthly fee, but each sale pays a 6.5% transaction fee plus 3% + 25¢. Move to Shopify when you bring your own traffic: Basic is $29 a month billed yearly, and the store, brand and customer list are yours. Many sellers run both.
What each one costs you
Etsy charges per listing and per sale. Shopify charges per month, then card fees.
Etsy
- Monthly
- None; Etsy Plus is $10 a month
- To list an item
- 20¢
- Fee on each sale
- 6.5%, shipping included
- Card processing
- 3% + 25¢
- Ads that sell for you
- Offsite Ads: 12% to 15% of the sale, capped at $100 an order
- Buyers
- Etsy's marketplace search
- Keeps from fifty $20 sales
- $883
Shopify
Basic
- Monthly
- $29 a month billed yearly, $39 a month billed monthly
- To list an item
- Free
- Fee on each sale
- None with Shopify Payments
- Card processing
- 2.9% + 30¢
- Ads that sell for you
- You run and pay for your own
- Buyers
- Your own traffic: ads, social, email
- Keeps from fifty $20 sales
- $927
Keeps: fifty $20 sales in a month, minus the plan billed yearly and each fee on the vendor's own pricing page. Shipping, taxes, apps and ads not included. Etsy's figure counts a 20¢ listing renewal per sale and no Offsite Ads.
Who each one is for
Best for your first handmade sales
Etsy
Puts your listings in front of buyers already searching for handmade and vintage.
Where it loses: fees on every sale, Offsite Ads you can't fully avoid, and the buyer is Etsy's customer.
Best for a brand with its own traffic
Shopify
A full store with stock, shipping and apps, and your customers stay yours.
Where it loses: no buyers come with it; you pay monthly before the first sale.
Best for pages for your ads
Replo
Builds pages on your brand that send buyers to your Shopify cart.
Where it loses: it isn't a marketplace, and it doesn't replace Shopify's catalog or shipping.
Where Replo fits
Bring buyers to your own store
Once you run ads or post on social, Replo builds the pages they land on, wired to your Shopify cart.
- A page per ad or audience
- Shopify cart and checkout
- Analytics and heatmaps per page
- Daily reports by email
Frequently asked questions
- Is Etsy or Shopify cheaper?
- Etsy, at low volume: no monthly fee, but about $117 in fees on fifty $20 sales. Shopify Basic costs $73 on the same sales, plan included. The more you sell, the more Shopify's flat price wins.
- Can I sell on Etsy and Shopify at the same time?
- Yes. Many sellers keep Etsy for marketplace buyers and use Shopify for repeat customers and their own ads. Shopify apps can sync listings and stock between the two, so an item doesn't sell twice.
- When should I move from Etsy to Shopify?
- When most buyers come from your own posts, ads or email, not Etsy search. Then Etsy's per-sale fees pay for traffic you already bring, and a store of your own keeps the customer list.
We read every price from the vendor's own pricing page and recheck them. Spot one that changed? Send us a correction.