Etsy or your own webshop: which is right for your shop?

How Etsy's costs are structured

Etsy's fees change from time to time, so check Etsy's current fees and payments policy for the figures. The structure is broadly this:

• Listing fees: a small charge per listing, renewed when an item sells or when the listing expires.
• Transaction fees: a percentage of each sale, which also applies to the postage you charge.
• Payment processing fees: a percentage plus a fixed amount per order, for payments taken through Etsy.
• Offsite Ads fees: when a sale comes from an ad Etsy runs on other websites, Etsy takes an extra percentage. For some sellers, depending on their sales, taking part is compulsory.
• Optional extras: Etsy Ads inside the marketplace, an optional paid subscription with extra shop features, and currency conversion fees if your bank account uses a different currency.

Add these together for a typical order to see your real cost per sale. Many sellers are surprised by how much the combined percentage is once postage and ads fees are included.

How the costs of your own webshop are structured

Your own shop has a different shape of cost. You pay mostly fixed amounts, whether you sell or not:

• Hosting or a platform subscription, plus a domain.
• Payment processing fees from your card gateway or PayPal, charged per sale.
• Any paid plugins or apps.
• Marketing: you have to bring visitors yourself, through search, email, social media or ads.

That last line is the real cost. Etsy charges you for the buyers it brings. Your own shop charges you nothing per sale beyond payment fees, but if nobody visits, nobody buys. The guide to what a webshop costs in the UK covers the fixed side in detail.

Side by side

Question	Etsy	Your own webshop
Where do buyers come from?	Etsy's search and its own marketing	Your marketing, search engines, email, social media
How do costs behave?	Mostly a share of each sale	Mostly fixed monthly costs plus payment fees
Who sets the rules?	Etsy, and they can change	You, within the law
Branding	Your shop sits inside Etsy's design, next to competitors	Your own design, domain and voice
Customer relationship	Limited; buyers are Etsy's customers first	Direct, including email marketing with consent
What can you sell?	Handmade, vintage and craft supplies, under Etsy's policies	Anything you can legally sell

Control: rules you do not write

On Etsy you are a tenant. The marketplace decides how search ranks your listings, which fees apply, what you may sell, how disputes are settled and how quickly you are paid. Policy changes can affect your income overnight, and an account suspension, even a mistaken one, can stop your sales while it is reviewed.

Your listings also appear next to similar products from other sellers, often at lower prices. Buyers compare on the spot, which pushes prices down. On your own shop, the only products on the page are yours.

Customer data: who owns the relationship?

This is often the deciding factor for shops that want to grow. On Etsy, you receive what you need to fulfil the order, but Etsy's rules limit how you can use buyer details. You cannot simply add Etsy buyers to your own mailing list. Repeat customers often return through Etsy, where you pay the fees again and compete with other sellers again.

On your own shop, you can ask customers at checkout whether they want to hear from you, and build a list you own. UK rules on electronic marketing still apply, so you need proper consent or to meet the conditions of the soft opt-in; the ICO website explains both. Our guide to email marketing for small shops shows how to build that list properly.

Using both without doubling the work

For many makers the best answer is not either or. A sensible pattern is to use Etsy for discovery and your own shop for loyalty:

1. Keep Etsy for being found. List your most searchable products there, where new buyers already look.
2. Make your own shop the home of the full range. Include products, bundles and custom orders that do not fit Etsy.
3. Give repeat buyers a reason to come direct. Your own shop can offer things Etsy does not, such as a loyalty discount, early access or a newsletter. Before you put anything in Etsy parcels that points to your own website, check Etsy's current seller policies on what is allowed.
4. Keep stock in sync. If you sell one-off pieces, the same item selling twice is a real risk. Use a sync tool or a simple daily routine, and see our guide on stock management for small shops.
5. Reuse your content, but not word for word. Photos can be the same. Descriptions on your own shop can be longer and more personal.

How to decide

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do people already know your brand and look for you by name? Your own shop makes more sense.
• Are you still testing whether your product sells? Etsy is a cheaper test.
• Do you sell things Etsy does not allow, or want to offer trade accounts? You need your own shop.
• Are fees taking a growing share of each order? Work out the total, and compare it with the fixed cost of your own shop at your current sales.

When the answer points to your own shop, WooCommerce keeps the shop and its customer data in your hands, and Retail Web Hosting can have a managed WooCommerce shop ready within one working day of choosing your domain. Have a look at how we set up webshops for makers and crafts.

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