Etsy vs Shopify: Should You Sell on Etsy, Shopify or Both?

Key Takeaways

• Etsy is a creative marketplace that only allows items made, designed, handpicked or sourced by the seller; Shopify is your own store, where you can sell far more widely within the law and Shopify's policies.
• UK Etsy sellers pay $0.20 per listing, a 6.5% transaction fee, 4% plus 20p payment processing and a 0.48% regulatory operating fee, plus Offsite Ads fees on attributed sales.
• On a £40 order those fees come to £4.59, or £10.59 if a 15% Offsite Ad made the sale, against £1.05 in Shopify Basic card fees, but Etsy may have found the customer for you.
• Etsy bans moving transactions off Etsy, so your own customer list and repeat purchase marketing get built on Shopify.
• Shopify Marketplace Connect cannot make new Etsy connections at present, so most sellers run both shops with a third party sync app.
• We sometimes hear from Etsy sellers who want their own website, often for handmade, vintage, custom or unique gift products, and adding Shopify alongside Etsy is usually the safest first step.

Quick Answer

Use Etsy when marketplace discovery matters and your products fit its Creativity Standards. Use Shopify when you want control of your brand, customer relationships, email marketing, product range, repeat purchases, subscriptions, wholesale and SEO. If your Etsy shop already sells well, you do not need to choose: keep Etsy for discovery and build Shopify as the long term home of the brand, so Etsy is no longer responsible for your entire future.

Table of Contents

• What Is the Difference Between Etsy and Shopify?
• Etsy vs Shopify at a Glance
• How Much Does It Cost to Sell on Etsy vs Shopify in the UK?
• Who Owns the Customer?
• Personalisation and Custom Orders
• Etsy Search and Ads vs Shopify SEO
• When Should You Move From Etsy to Shopify?
• How to Move From Etsy to Shopify
• Can You Sell on Etsy and Shopify at the Same Time?
• Should You Sell on Etsy, Shopify or Both?
• What About Amazon and eBay?
• Why Matters Perspective
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Final Thoughts
• Related Articles

What Is the Difference Between Etsy and Shopify?

Etsy is a marketplace; Shopify is your own store. On Etsy, shoppers search, discover sellers, compare products, read reviews and pay inside Etsy, and your shop sits within that bigger marketplace. On Shopify, customers visit a store your business runs, and you control the domain, homepage, navigation, product pages, collections, content, checkout branding, email capture, loyalty and subscriptions.

Etsy also limits what you can sell. Items must be made, designed, handpicked or sourced by the seller under its Creativity Standards, and original designs can be produced by a disclosed production partner, including print on demand, but reselling ordinary ready made stock is generally not allowed. Shopify supports far broader business models within the law and Shopify's policies, which matters when a candle maker wants to add accessories, subscription boxes, wholesale packs or a wider homeware range.

The trade off is audience. Etsy shoppers are already looking for creative, distinctive products, while a new Shopify store has to earn its traffic through Google, social media, email, advertising, influencers, PR, content and AI shopping channels. The real question is whether you want access to someone else's audience or to build your own, and for a growing brand the answer is often both.

Etsy vs Shopify at a Glance

How Much Does It Cost to Sell on Etsy vs Shopify in the UK?

Etsy does not have one simple selling fee, and sellers who look only at the 6.5% transaction fee underestimate what an order costs. A UK seller can meet several separate charges.

Etsy's UK Seller Fees

Etsy may charge a one time, non refundable setup fee when you open a shop, with the amount shown during setup, then $0.20 for each listing, which expires after four months and costs another $0.20 to renew (Etsy). When an item sells, Etsy takes 6.5% of the order total, including delivery and gift wrap, and Etsy Payments charges sellers with UK bank accounts 4% plus 20p per order on top (Etsy). UK sellers also pay a 0.48% regulatory operating fee on the item price and delivery (Etsy), a 2.5% currency conversion fee applies if you list in a different currency from your payment account, and VAT can apply to Etsy's fees.

How Do Etsy Offsite Ads Work?

Etsy advertises listings on other sites and charges you when a shopper clicks one of those ads and buys from your shop within 30 days. Shops that have always made less than $10,000 in any 365 day period pay 15% on those orders and can opt out; once a shop reaches $10,000, the fee falls to 12% but participation becomes compulsory for the lifetime of the shop, with the fee capped at $100 per order (Etsy). Growing past the threshold therefore lowers the rate but removes your choice.

A £40 Order on Each Platform

On a £40 Etsy order, the transaction fee is £2.60 (6.5%), payment processing is £1.80 (4% of £40 is £1.60, plus 20p) and the regulatory operating fee is 19p (0.48%), so the order carries £4.59 before the listing fee and any VAT. If a 15% Offsite Ad made the sale, add £6, taking the total to £10.59, more than a quarter of the order. On Shopify Basic, which costs £19 a month billed yearly or £25 monthly, the same £40 card payment costs £1.05, because 2% of £40 is 80p and the fixed charge adds 25p (Shopify).

That does not make every Shopify order cheaper. Etsy may have found the customer for you, while a Shopify merchant may have paid for that visitor through Google Ads, Meta, influencers, SEO or content. The useful comparison is total fees plus customer acquisition and fulfilment, and an Offsite Ad sale can still be worth it if it brings a customer you would never have reached.

Who Owns the Customer?

Etsy protects transactions inside Etsy. Its Seller Policy bans using Messages to direct buyers off the platform, including sharing email addresses, phone numbers, social handles, website links, payment instructions or QR codes for that purpose, and offering a discount to buy through another site (Etsy Seller Policy), and its Fees and Payments Policy also prohibits moving transactions off Etsy. So messaging an Etsy buyer a cheaper link to your Shopify store is not an option.

When someone finds your Shopify store independently and gives marketing consent, you can build a direct relationship through welcome emails, post purchase education, product launches, replenishment reminders, loyalty, cross sells and win back campaigns. An Etsy sale gives you an order; a direct relationship can turn a first purchase into a second, third and tenth. That does not make Etsy customers less valuable, but it is one of the main reasons successful sellers add their own store, and our guide to growing your email list shows where to start.

Personalisation and Custom Orders

Personalisation is where Etsy is genuinely strong. Sellers can add up to five custom option fields to a listing for text, set choices or file uploads, so a buyer ordering a personalised necklace can enter a name and date before checkout. For truly bespoke work such as commissioned art, wedding signs or custom furniture, sellers can accept custom order requests and turn an agreed brief into a private listing.

Shopify handles simple options natively, and apps or custom development add text fields, file and image uploads, conditional choices and live previews. A personalised print business could let customers choose a size and frame, add text, upload a photo, preview the design and add it to the basket, a journey that is hard to build within a fixed marketplace listing. Etsy is simpler; Shopify gives you the freedom to design exactly the journey your product needs, and our guide to product page design covers the layout.

Etsy Search and Ads vs Shopify SEO

Etsy's biggest advantage is its search. Someone typing "personalised wedding favour" or "handmade ceramic mug" can find you without knowing your brand, provided your title, category, attributes, tags, images and description make the product clear. Etsy Ads place listings in set spaces in Etsy search through an auction, where listing quality and your bid matter, and the bid is shaped by relevance and the likelihood of a sale (Etsy). Advertising will not rescue a weak main image, title, price or review profile.

A Shopify store earns traffic you control. Product and collection pages can rank for searches such as "personalised leather notebook UK", while gift guides and articles reach people earlier, searching for "best fifth wedding anniversary gifts". Add Google Shopping, Google Ads, Meta, Pinterest, TikTok, influencers, PR, email and affiliates, and you decide where the budget goes rather than Etsy deciding where Offsite Ads run; our Shopify SEO guide explains the organic side.

When Should You Move From Etsy to Shopify?

There is rarely one moment when an Etsy seller suddenly needs Shopify, and in most cases moving should really mean adding Shopify alongside Etsy; Shopify's own guide says you can keep your Etsy shop as a sales channel (Shopify Help Center). These are the signs it is time:

1. Fees are eating your margin. Paying marketplace fees on customers who already know your brand, buy again or search for you by name is the clearest warning.
2. Your range is outgrowing Etsy's rules. Handmade soap that grows into third party accessories, gift sets and wholesale ranges needs a platform without creativity rules.
3. You want to sell wholesale. Trade pricing, minimum order quantities, trade only products and different payment terms are easier to build on your own store.
4. You want subscriptions. Candles, coffee, tea, food, craft boxes and beauty products can move to recurring orders through Shopify subscriptions.
5. Repeat customers matter more. Once lifetime value matters more than order count, email, loyalty and replenishment become essential.

Etsy's momentum does not transfer automatically. A new store starts without your Etsy search visibility, favourites and sales history, so closing Etsy early can remove a profitable channel before Shopify replaces it. Reviews need their own plan too, because Shopify points to third party apps to import them rather than moving them with your products.

How to Move From Etsy to Shopify

Start by deciding what deserves a place on the new site, dropping discontinued products, weak sellers, old photography and duplicate listings. Then follow Shopify's Etsy migration guide (Shopify Help Center): export your listings as a CSV file, remembering that it only includes listings currently available for sale, so relist anything else you need first. Import them with Shopify's Store Migration app, which is in early access for some stores on desktop and brings across up to three options per product, or with a CSV import or migration app.

Shopify can also generate a Dawn based starter theme from your Etsy shop URL, but treat it as a starting point rather than the finished design. Check prices, weights and stock after the import, use third party apps for reviews, customers and orders, and then build the store your business has grown into, with homepage storytelling, collections, navigation, email sign up, brand photography and a strong mobile experience. Our guides to setting up a Shopify store and the Shopify migration checklist cover each stage.

Can You Sell on Etsy and Shopify at the Same Time?

Yes, and for most established Etsy sellers it is where we would start. The practical challenge is keeping stock and orders in step. Shopify Marketplace Connect cannot currently make new Etsy connections, although merchants with an existing connection can keep using it (Shopify Help Center), so a new Etsy and Shopify setup usually needs a compatible third party sync app for listings, orders and stock, and Shopify's Etsy guide lists options.

What About Etsy Pattern?

Etsy's own website product, Pattern, builds a separate site alongside your Etsy shop and imports most of your shop content and inventory automatically. It costs $15 a month after a 30 day free trial, with no extra listing fees for the Pattern site, although payment processing still applies. Pattern suits a small maker who wants a simple site; Shopify fits better if you want richer product pages and personalisation, subscriptions, a large app ecosystem, wider multichannel selling and a business that no longer depends on Etsy.

Should You Sell on Etsy, Shopify or Both?

For many successful Etsy sellers, the strongest answer is to keep Etsy while building Shopify alongside it. Etsy keeps providing discovery, search visibility, reviews and customers who prefer buying there, while Shopify becomes the place for your brand, direct relationships, email, repeat purchases, subscriptions, wholesale, content and SEO.

Etsy stays valuable while it produces profitable sales, your products are giftable, personalised or creative, and shoppers discover you rather than searching for your brand. Shopify deserves more attention once growth depends on what happens after the first order, because the question shifts from where you can list a product to how you build customer relationships that last.

What About Amazon and eBay?

Etsy is one marketplace among several. Amazon suits products where shoppers value convenience, fast delivery, broad choice and simple comparison, so a consumer products business chasing mass market demand may need it; see our Amazon vs Shopify guide. eBay is strongest for used, refurbished, collectable, clearance and discontinued stock, which makes its role very different from Etsy's; see our eBay vs Shopify guide. Every extra marketplace adds stock, pricing, customer service and reporting work, so give each one a clear job, such as Etsy for creative discovery and Shopify as the central brand store.

Why Matters Perspective

We sometimes hear from Etsy sellers who want us to build them a website, often for handmade, vintage, custom or unique gift products. For a seller who is already making sales, we would rarely recommend switching Etsy off on the day the Shopify store launches, because search visibility, reviews, favourites and sales history are hard won. The path we usually suggest is Etsy first, then Etsy and Shopify together, then a Shopify led brand that keeps Etsy while it stays profitable.

Build Shopify before you need to escape Etsy. A new store needs time to grow organic traffic, email subscribers, paid acquisition, repeat customers and brand searches, and a seller who waits until Etsy feels painful often expects Shopify to replace that revenue overnight. Judge the move on customer lifetime value rather than first order revenue, because two £40 orders are worth very different amounts if only one customer joins your list, buys again and subscribes. Our first 90 days marketing plan shows how to build that momentum.

Why Matters is a Shopify Select partner with Verified Skills across development and marketing. Our pricing is published, retainer clients are billed one month in arrears and never tied into long contracts, and every development project carries a 3 month guarantee. See our Shopify packages, read our guide to what a Shopify store costs to build, or email us.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it better to sell on Etsy or Shopify?

Neither is better for every business. Etsy suits makers whose products fit its rules and who benefit from marketplace discovery, while Shopify gives you control of your brand, customer relationships, email, subscriptions and SEO. For an established Etsy seller, running both is often the most sensible next step.

How much does Etsy charge UK sellers?

Etsy charges $0.20 per listing, a 6.5% transaction fee on the item, delivery and gift wrap, 4% plus 20p for payment processing and a 0.48% regulatory operating fee for UK sellers. Offsite Ads fees, currency conversion, a possible one time setup fee and VAT on fees can apply as well.

Is Shopify cheaper than Etsy?

Per sale it usually is: on a £40 order, Etsy's transaction, processing and regulatory fees come to £4.59, or £10.59 if a 15% Offsite Ad made the sale, while the Shopify Basic card fee is £1.05. But Etsy may have found the customer for you, so compare the total cost of winning each profitable order.

Can I sell on Etsy and Shopify at the same time?

Yes, and Shopify's own migration guide says you can keep your Etsy shop as a sales channel. Shopify Marketplace Connect cannot make new Etsy connections at present, so you will usually need a third party app to sync listings, stock and orders.

Can I send Etsy buyers to my own website?

No. Etsy prohibits using its messages to move transactions off Etsy, including sharing email addresses, phone numbers, social handles, website links or QR codes, or offering a discount to buy elsewhere. Build your Shopify audience through your own marketing instead.

How do I move my Etsy shop to Shopify?

Export your active Etsy listings as a CSV file, then import them with Shopify's Store Migration app if your store has early access, or with a CSV import or migration app. Check prices, weights and stock afterwards, and use third party apps to bring across reviews, customers and orders.

Can I opt out of Etsy Offsite Ads?

Only while your shop has always made less than $10,000 in any 365 day period; those shops pay 15% on attributed orders and can opt out. Once a shop reaches $10,000, the fee falls to 12% but participation becomes compulsory for the lifetime of the shop.

Final Thoughts

Etsy is an excellent place to build the first stage of a creative business, with discovery, personalisation tools, reviews and a simple way to start selling. Success brings new needs, such as more control over the brand, a wider range, wholesale, subscriptions, better email marketing and your own search visibility, and that is when Shopify matters. The strongest path is rarely Etsy today, Shopify tomorrow and Etsy closed; it is Etsy, then Etsy and Shopify, then a Shopify led business that keeps Etsy while it pays. That protects what you have built while creating something you control, and if you would like help planning it, email us.

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