Planning

Marketplaces vs your own store: which to prioritise

Amazon, Etsy and Shopify compared on traffic, fees, margin and customer ownership. A practical order for a new ecommerce seller to launch in.

3 August 2026
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Short answer

Should I sell on marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy or build my own store?

Marketplaces give you built-in traffic but take 8-15% in fees and give you no customer email or repeat-purchase relationship; your own store gives you full margin and data but zero starting traffic. Most new sellers should launch on one marketplace first for cash flow and proof of demand, then build an owned store once they have 20-30 repeat customers to migrate.

Last updated 3 August 2026

Marketplace vs own store, by what matters at launch
Factor	Marketplace (Amazon/Etsy)	Own store (Shopify)
Starting traffic	Built-in search traffic	Zero — you build it
Typical fees	8-15% referral + listing fees	2.5-3% payment processing
Customer data ownership	None or very limited	Full email/phone list
Time to first sale	Days to weeks	Weeks to months
Price competition	High, visible competitors	You set the frame
Repeat purchase control	Limited (platform owns relationship)	Full — email, SMS, loyalty

Do this

The steps, in order.

Step 1
Match the platform to your product type
Handmade or niche craft goods do well on Etsy's built-in buyer intent. Commodity or branded goods with UPC codes fit Amazon better. Both suit products people actively search for.
Step 2
Launch on one marketplace, not two or three
Managing inventory and listings across multiple marketplaces before you have proven demand spreads your attention thin for little added reach in month one.
Step 3
Price to cover marketplace fees from day one
Build the 10-15% fee into your price rather than absorbing it — sellers who price on marketplaces the same as their own store lose margin without realising until reconciliation.
Step 4
Capture emails wherever the platform allows
Insert a card, QR code or thank-you note prompting people to your own site or list for future drops. Some marketplace terms restrict this — check before doing it.
Step 5
Open your own store once you have proof and a list
Once you've sold 100+ units and have 20-30 names you can legitimately reach outside the marketplace, launch a Shopify store and route repeat buyers there where margin is higher.
Step 6
Run both in parallel once the own store has traction
Marketplaces remain useful for new-customer discovery even after you have an owned store — treat them as top-of-funnel, and your own store as where retention and margin live.

Worth knowing

The bits people get wrong.

The core trade-off is discovery versus ownership. Marketplaces solve the hardest problem for a new seller — getting in front of people already searching — but they own the customer relationship, which means no email list, limited repeat-purchase ability and price pressure from visible competitors.

An own store solves ownership but not discovery. A brand-new Shopify store with no marketing behind it gets essentially zero organic traffic for months, which is why sequencing matters more than choosing one exclusively.

Many successful small sellers run both indefinitely: marketplace for acquisition, own store for the highest-margin, highest-loyalty segment of the same customer base. The mistake is treating it as an either/or decision made once.

Fees matter more than they first appear. An 8-15% marketplace referral fee plus payment processing can take total platform cost to close to 20% on some categories — factor this into unit economics before committing inventory.

Questions

Follow-up questions.

Which is cheaper, Amazon or Etsy, for a small seller?

Etsy's fees are typically lower (around 6.5% transaction fee plus small listing fees) than Amazon's category referral fees (8-15% plus possible FBA costs), but Amazon often delivers more volume for commodity-type products.

Can I sell the exact same product on a marketplace and my own store?

Yes, and most sellers do. Keep pricing consistent or slightly higher on marketplaces to cover the fee difference, and use your own store to offer bundles or loyalty pricing marketplaces don't allow.

How long before an own store gets meaningful organic traffic?

Typically 4-6 months of consistent SEO and content work for meaningful organic search traffic, which is why most new stores pair it with paid ads or an existing audience at launch.

Do marketplaces let me collect customer emails?

Rules vary — Etsy has restrictions on off-platform contact in messages, and Amazon strictly limits it outside of order-related communication. Check current terms before including anything promotional in packaging.