Editor’s note: Both Etsy and
However, they manage to achieve this quite differently.
With
On other hand, Etsy is a marketplace (just like Amazon or eBay are). In other words, youโre selling your products on their website.
So they take care of the traffic even though you still need to optimize your products on their website in order to make sales.
Which one do you think would be a better option for you?
To help you make the decision, weโre going to compare
Be it product selection, pricing, exposure, control, inventory or payment processing, we’ll discuss all.
Shopify vs Etsy
Product Selection
Shopify
Of course, you still need to sell legal stuff.
And if youโre driving traffic with Facebook ads or AdWords, you should sell products that they allow you to advertise.
Otherwise, driving traffic to your store could quite hard and scaling could be almost impossible.
For example: Facebook doesnโt allow you to advertise Tobacco products, drugs and drug-related products, unsafe supplements, weapons, ammunition, explosives, adult products and services, misleading and scam products.
Set up your ecommerce store, pick a plan later. Check special pricing for Shopify =>
Etsy
Etsy, on another hand, is a creative marketplace for handmade goods, vintage items, and craft supplies only. Besides that, they also have a wholesale selling channel as well.
This means that they have a very strict guidelines when it comes to what is allowed and not allowed to sell on their platform.
Hereโs a quick list of what is allowed:
- Handmade itemsย โ these are items that are created and designed by you, the seller. If you work with a production partner, you must disclose him in your relevant listings.
You must also use your own photographs of these products. So no stock photos, artistic renderings, or photos used by other sellers or sites are allowed.
- Vintage itemsย โ to be considered vintage they must be at least 20 years old.
- Craft supplies – tools, ingredients, or materials that are being used for the creation of other items or special occasions. This supplies could be handmade, vintage, or commercial (not handmade or vintage). Etsy encourages you to be honest when it comes to the materials being used, how the supplies were made and where.
Even if your products meet the initial criteria for handmade, vintage items or craft supplies, they might still not be allowed to be sold on Etsy.
So hereโs also a list of things Etsy doesnโt allow you to sell on their platform:
- Prohibited itemsย โ this includes products such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs, animal products, human remains, weapons, hazardous materials, hate items, illegal items or items promoting illegal activities, pornography or mature content, items that promote violence, etc.
- Services โ in general, services are not allowed to be sold on Etsy. This includes modification services, rentals, spell supplies and metaphysical products, etc.
- Items violating intellectual property โ Etsy doesnโt allow you to sell items that violate their intellectual property policy.
- Reselling โ reselling is not allowed on Etsy. This means that you canโt sell handmade items that you didnโt create yourself.
So if youโd like to sell on Etsy, you would need to fit within these criteria.
Otherwise, if youโre selling products that are not made by you, then you should start your own Shopify store.
Pricing
So which platform will cost you more โ
Letโs look at how they both charge you.
Shopify Pricing
Currently, they have the following plans available:
Pricing starts at $29/month for the Basic
If you use
Besides that, you also pay credit card rates of 2.9% + $0.30, 2.6% + $0.30 or 2.4% + $0.30 depending on your plan.
Set up your ecommerce store, pick a plan later. Check special pricing for Shopify =>
Etsy Pricing
Etsy is cheaper upfrontย because they donโt charge you any subscription fees. Instead, you pay 3 main fees:
- Listing fee โ $0.20 per item to be listed for 4 months
- Transaction fee โ 5% on every purchase
- External ads fee โ 15%. You pay only when you make a sale from the ads
This means that as you scale up your business, Etsy will become more expensive than simply using
So this is how Etsy fees vs
Exposure
Etsy
Does your brand have a huge recognition? If not, then Etsy clearly have an advantage here at first.
They have a well-known brand that people trust. This means that it is much easier to convert and sell items on Etsy.
A lot of people have bought before, theyโre already happy with their purchases and this gives them the confidence to buy other items into the future as well.
And the best thing is that Etsy takes care of the traffic. They had 33.4 million monthly active buyers and businesses in 2017 that generated $3.3 billion.
So if youโre a new brand, this kind of exposure can mean a lot.
On other hand, Etsy might have a lot more traffic than your
When people visit your website, theyโre especially interested what you have to offer. When theyโre visiting your Etsy listings, they might be just browsing and getting ideas and might not have an interest in buying.
Shopify
A huge advantage of owning a
It might take a lot longer to that. So you can build credibility and earn peopleโs trust but in the long-term it will be way more profitable for you.
As you start to get recognized and position yourself in the industry, it will be much easier for you to make sales.
Also Read : Shopify vs Magento – Best Ecommerce Platform
Control
So which platform do you think gives you more control when it comes to the way your products are presented?
Now letโs see:
Shopify
With
Related : Best Shopify Apps
And if this is not enough, you can customize your website โ your homepage, categories, and products pages and make them look the way you want to.
When it comes to control and freedom,
Set up your ecommerce store, pick a plan later. Check special pricing for Shopify =>
Etsy
Unfortunately, they are very limited. Youโre allowed to add only pictures and images.
In your items details section you can add whatever you want about your item.
However, you canโt really change anything else. This means you canโt improve the design of your page and you have zero customization options.
Besides this disadvantage, the listings of Etsy are really easy to use. So all you need to do is load your listings and you donโt need to think about anything else.
Ease of Use
We will now discuss how Etsy vs
Etsy
You might lack control and design options with Etsy, this also makes it easier to start with.
You donโt have to worry about having to build your own website, building your pages, buying a domain name, etc.
All that is needed is that you have pictures of your products and a good description.
Of course, you also need to create your seller account on Etsy which you can do in a few minutes.
And a big benefit of Etsy is that it is much cheaper to start with โ there is no monthly fee.
Before you start making sales, you would be charged only $0.20 per item listed. Which is not much unless youโre listing thousands of products in the beginning.
Shopify
On other hand,
With
Related : Best Shopify Paid Apps
Inventory & Payment Processing
Both platforms deal very differently when it comes to inventory and payment processing.
Letโs see which one holds the edge – Etsy or
Shopify
With
They also give you the option to use their own payment gateway โ
That way you can accept all major credit cards including Visa, Mastercard, and American Express, etc.
Unfortunately,
So if your business is setup somewhere else, youโd need to use a third party payment provider with
Useful Read : Best Shopify Free Apps To Boost Sales
Etsy
Etsy is just a marketplace, not a platform.ย Thatโs why you can only list your products there but you would need to keep your inventory records somewhere else.
Currently there are some 3th party apps that can tie Etsyโs sales into an inventory. However, you would need to manage that into the 3th party and thatโs not integrated into Etsy.
This could make it harder for you. Especially, if youโre selling thousands of products on the marketplace.
Ideal Sellers
So who are the ideal sellers?
Now letโs see.
Shopify
Someone whoโs been sellingย products for a whileย and youโre starting to build your brand.
You want to have your own store and have full control when it comes to how you would like your products to be presented.
You donโt want to compete with other people in a marketplace and youโre willing to do whatever it take to drive traffic to your site so you can make sales.
Explore : Wix vs Shopify For Ecommerce Store
Set up your ecommerce store, pick a plan later. Check special pricing for Shopify =>
Etsy
Youโre a creator of a handmadeย items, vintage items or craft supplies. Youโre starting from scratch and youโd like to learn how to sell your products online for the first time.
Youโre probably a one-man show and you donโt have much resources when it comes to marketing.
You want to start selling as soon as possible and present your products to the right audience. By putting your items on Etsy, you can instantly reach those people and all you have do is optimize your listings.
Wrap Up – Etsy vs Shopify
There you have our review of Etsy vs
Both platforms have their pros and cons. Now that you know them better, you can make an informed decision before getting started.