Own Store or Marketplace: Should You Sell on Shopify, Etsy or Amazon?
Marketplace versus own store is a CUSTOMIZE for any brand past its first repeat customers: run a Shopify store as the system of record and treat Etsy and Amazon as additive channels. Marketplace fees stack on the Shopify plan rather than replacing it: Etsy charges $0.20 per listing plus 6.5% per sale, and Amazon Professional is $39.99 per month plus 5–45% referral fees (verified Sep 2026). Shopify's first-party Amazon app is delisted.
Your profile — see how the verdict shifts
- Confidence
- High — Every fee on this page is live-verified from the seller's own fee page (verified Sep 2026), and the structural fact is settled: marketplace fees are additive distribution cost, not a substitute for a store, and Shopify's first-party Amazon channel app is delisted, so the integration is a third-party connector or custom glue
- Reference scenario
- $20M–$100M GMV · own Shopify store as the system of record · Amazon as a second channel · Etsy only where the category fits · agency dev bench
- As of
- September 2026
Decision at a Glance
| Your profile | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Under ~$500K revenue, handmade, vintage or craft supplies, no repeat-purchase base yet | BUY | Marketplace-first. Etsy is pay-as-you-go at $0.20 per listing plus 6.5% per sale with no subscription, and Pattern adds a storefront at $15.00 per month after a 30-day trial (verified Sep 2026). The marketplace brings the buyers; a Shopify Basic store at $39 USD/mo, or $29 billed yearly (verified Sep 2026), earns its place once customers come back on their own. |
| $500K–$5M, a brand forming, repeat customers and email starting to matter | CUSTOMIZE | Own store first, marketplaces second. Etsy's 6.5% plus Offsite Ads at 15% for shops under $10,000 USD in prior-365-day sales, or 12% above (verified Sep 2026), taxes the repeat orders a store would keep. Keep listing on the marketplace for discovery; route the relationship to your own domain. |
| $5M–$100M, Shopify as the system of record, Amazon as a second channel (reference scenario) | CUSTOMIZE | Own store as the system of record, Amazon as a channel through a third-party connector because Shopify's first-party Amazon app is delisted (verified Sep 2026). Amazon Professional is $39.99 per month plus 5–45% referral fees by category (verified Sep 2026); price each SKU's referral fee against its margin before listing it. |
| $100M+, several marketplaces plus retail, channel P&L drives assortment | CUSTOMIZE | Own store plus an integration layer that treats each marketplace as a node with its own P&L: Amazon referral fees at 5–45% and Etsy at 6.5% plus listing fees (verified Sep 2026) are per-channel costs of goods. Build the channel ledger and route inventory by margin, not by wherever the connector defaults. |
What Marketplace vs. Own Store Actually Drives
| Outcome | Impact | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue — direct | High | A marketplace puts products in front of buyers already searching for the category, which is discovery a new brand can't buy elsewhere at the same price; the fee is the cost of that traffic. |
| Retention & LTV | High | Only an own store holds the customer record, consent and purchase history that email, segmentation and loyalty run on; marketplace buyers belong to the marketplace. |
| Data & insight | High | First-party purchase and behavior data on your own domain feeds every model you'll ever build, from RFM segments to Agentic Storefronts; a marketplace shares aggregates on its terms. |
| Customer experience | Medium | Marketplace checkout is frictionless and familiar; an own store trades that for brand, bundles, subscriptions and merchandising a marketplace template forbids. |
| Operational efficiency | Medium | One catalog synced to several channels through connectors removes duplicate listing work, but only once the store is the system of record; two sources of truth double the work. |
Spend ceiling: Size marketplace spend as a per-channel cost of goods, Etsy's 6.5% plus $0.20 per listing or Amazon's 5–45% referral (verified Sep 2026), and size the own store as a fixed platform cost from Basic $39 USD/mo to Plus starting at $2,300 (verified Sep 2026); when the marketplace line outgrows the store line, the store is under-invested.
What buying enables (top apps)
- + Discovery in a category the marketplace already owns, with no traffic to buy: Etsy at $0.20 per listing plus 6.5%, Amazon at $39.99 per month plus referral fees (verified Sep 2026)
- + Payments, fraud and buyer trust handled by the marketplace on day one
- + Fulfillment on demand through FBA, priced by Amazon's Revenue Calculator (verified Sep 2026)
- + A 90-day demand test that costs listing fees rather than a storefront build
What building additionally unlocks
- + The customer record, consent and purchase history as owned assets, feeding email, segmentation and AI channels
- + Margin that doesn't scale down with every sale: a flat plan from $39 USD/mo plus card rates that fall as tiers rise (verified Sep 2026)
- + Brand, bundles, subscriptions, B2B and merchandising no marketplace template allows
- + Channel independence: a marketplace suspension becomes a lost channel, not a lost business
Find Your Verdict in 3 Questions
Are you under roughly $500K in revenue, selling in a category a marketplace already owns, with no repeat-customer base yet?
Yes: Your verdict: BUY (marketplace-first) — Etsy at $0.20 per listing plus 6.5% or Amazon Professional at $39.99 per month plus referral fees (verified Sep 2026); open the Shopify store when customers start coming back.
No: Go to question 2.
Do repeat purchases, email and brand merchandising drive a meaningful share of revenue?
Yes: Your verdict: CUSTOMIZE — own Shopify store as the system of record, marketplaces attached as channels through third-party connectors, since the first-party Amazon app is delisted (verified Sep 2026).
No: Go to question 3.
Would losing a marketplace account tomorrow take most of your revenue with it?
Yes: Your verdict: CUSTOMIZE — that concentration is the reason to build the own store now and move the customer relationship onto your domain, keeping the marketplace as a channel.
No: Your verdict: CUSTOMIZE — keep the store as the base anyway; marketplace fees of 6.5% or 5–45% (verified Sep 2026) scale with every sale, and the store's platform cost doesn't.
The TCC Scorecard — 12 Dimensions
TCC — Total Cost of Capability: what it actually costs to have this capability over three years, whichever way you get it. Each dimension is scored 0–5 for both paths. How we score →
| Dimension | Buy | Build | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | |||
| Acquisition & implementation | A marketplace shop opens in an afternoon on Etsy's pay-as-you-go fees or Amazon's $39.99 per month Professional plan (verified Sep 2026); an own store is a plan plus a storefront build of $25,000–$150,000 (Deploi estimate, illustrative). | ||
| Recurring fees | Marketplace take scales with every sale: Etsy 6.5% plus $0.20 per listing and 12–15% Offsite Ads, Amazon 5–45% referral (verified Sep 2026); an own store pays a flat plan, Basic $39 to Advanced $399 USD/mo, plus card rates from 2.9% + 30¢ to 2.5% + 30¢ (verified Sep 2026). | ||
| Maintenance & upgrades | The marketplace maintains the platform and you maintain listings; an own store carries theme, app and connector upkeep at ~15–20% of build cost per year (Deploi estimate). | ||
| Switching & exit | Leaving a marketplace means leaving its buyers, reviews and rankings behind, because none of them are yours; an own store's customers, content and domain move with you. | ||
| Risk | |||
| Vendor risk | A marketplace can change fees, suspend an account or compete with your listing, and Shopify's own Amazon channel app is already delisted (verified Sep 2026); an own store's platform risk is Shopify's roadmap, which you can leave with an export. | ||
| Security & compliance surface | The marketplace handles payments, fraud and buyer data on its terms; an own store owns the checkout surface and its obligations, with Shopify Payments carrying PCI. | ||
| Platform-deprecation exposure | Connector apps sit between two roadmaps, and the first-party Amazon channel's delisting shows how that lane churns (verified Sep 2026); the own store sits on the platform itself. | ||
| Value | |||
| Fit to requirement | A marketplace fits discovery in a category it already owns; an own store fits brand, bundles, subscriptions, B2B and every merchandising decision a marketplace template forbids. | ||
| Time to market | Listings go live today; a custom storefront is 8–16 weeks (Deploi estimate, illustrative), though a Shopify theme store launches in days. | ||
| Performance & scale | Marketplaces scale traffic you never earned; an own store scales margin, with fees that flatten as plans rise, and Plus starting at $2,300 USD/mo for the largest stores (verified Sep 2026). | ||
| Data ownership & AI-readiness | Marketplace buyers are the marketplace's customers; an own store keeps the customer record, consent and purchase history that email, segmentation and Agentic Storefronts run on. | ||
| Focus & opportunity cost | A marketplace lets a small team sell without running a site; an own store is a standing operation, which is why the answer past the first repeat customers is both, with the store as the base. | ||
The App Landscape
| App | Status | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Etsy | Live — Marketplace for handmade, vintage and craft supplies; no first-party Etsy sales channel on Shopify, only third-party sync apps such as CedCommerce, DPL and Webkul connect the two | Listing fee $0.20 USD per item; transaction fee 6.5% of the displayed price plus shipping and gift wrapping; payment processing varies by seller country; Etsy Plus $10 USD per month; Pattern $15.00 USD per month after a 30-day free trial; Offsite Ads 15% for shops under $10,000 USD in prior-365-day sales, 12% at or above (verified Sep 2026) | Discovery in a category Etsy already owns, on pay-as-you-go fees that stack on top of your Shopify plan if you cross-list |
| Amazon | Live — flagged — Shopify's first-party Amazon channel app is delisted (verified Sep 2026); merchants connect through third-party apps such as CedCommerce Amazon Channel, Built for Shopify at 4.7★ on 1,080 reviews, which layers its own subscription on top | Individual plan $0.99 per item sold; Professional plan $39.99 per month; referral fees by category from roughly 5% to 45% of sale price with per-category minimums; FBA fees estimated only through Amazon's Revenue Calculator (verified Sep 2026) | Reach in categories where buyers start their search on Amazon, priced SKU by SKU against the referral fee |
| Shopify | Native — The own-store lane: four published tiers, card rates that fall as plans rise, and an Agentic row at $0/mo for selling in AI channels (verified Sep 2026); inventory locations cap at 10 below Plus and 200 on Plus | Basic $39 USD/mo or $29 billed yearly; Grow $105 or $79 yearly; Advanced $399 or $299 yearly; Plus starts at $2,300 USD/mo; online card rates Basic 2.9% + 30¢, Grow 2.7% + 30¢, Advanced 2.5% + 30¢; Agentic $0/mo (verified Sep 2026) | The system of record for products, customers and orders, with marketplaces attached as channels |
The Build Path
- Own store as the system of record: A Shopify store holds the catalog, customers and orders; marketplaces receive listings and return orders through connectors, so every channel's customer eventually lands on your domain and email list.
- Marketplace connectors as channels: With Shopify's first-party Amazon app delisted (verified Sep 2026), a third-party connector such as CedCommerce Amazon Channel syncs listings, inventory and orders; Etsy syncs the same way through third-party apps. Treat each connector as replaceable.
- Channel ledger and inventory routing: A per-channel P&L that nets referral, listing and ad fees against margin per SKU, plus routing rules that pull low-margin SKUs off high-fee channels; the piece worth building once two marketplaces are live.
- Effort band
- $25,000–$150,000 for a custom Shopify storefront plus channel integrations (Deploi estimate, illustrative); the $25–75K and $75K+ contact-form bands, with a theme-store launch far below that
- Typical timeline
- Days for a theme-store launch; 8–16 weeks for a custom storefront and channel ledger (Deploi estimate, illustrative)
- Maintenance, honestly
- ~15–20% of build cost per year (Deploi estimate): theme updates, connector and API version bumps, and fee-table changes in the channel ledger. The Shopify plan and card rates are the recurring platform lines.
- What you own — and what you take on
- You own: the domain, the customer record, the content, the pricing and the channel P&L. You take on: driving your own traffic, which the marketplace was quietly charging you for inside its fee.
3-Year Total Cost of Capability
| Buy (app path) | Build (custom path) | |
|---|---|---|
| Year 0 (setup) | $3,000–$10,000 (listing content, catalog mapping, connector) | $25,000–$150,000 (custom storefront, integrations) |
| Years 1–3 (recurring) | ≈$901,000 (referral at 15% on $2M/yr + Professional plan) | ≈$193,000–$250,000 (plan + card processing + upkeep) |
| 3-year total | ≈$904,000–$911,000, before FBA and ads | ≈$218,000–$400,000, before paid acquisition |
- † All figures illustrative samples for the reference scenario — not quotes, not verified pricing.
- † Buy column: a marketplace-only lane at an illustrative $2M a year of sales on Amazon Professional at $39.99 per month, with referral fees at an illustrative 15% blend inside the published 5–45% range (verified Sep 2026); FBA and advertising excluded.
- † Build column: an own store on Shopify Advanced at $399 USD/mo with card processing at 2.5% + 30¢ (verified Sep 2026) on the same sales, a custom storefront build and upkeep; paid acquisition excluded from both columns, which is the reason the answer is both.
What the Sticker Price Hides
On the buy path
- — Marketplace take is additive: Etsy's $0.20 plus 6.5%, Offsite Ads at 12–15%, and Amazon's 5–45% referral (verified Sep 2026) stack on whatever you already pay Shopify when you cross-list
- — The buyers, reviews and rankings belong to the marketplace; an account suspension or a fee change can't be exported
- — With Shopify's first-party Amazon app delisted, a connector adds its own subscription and order caps between store and channel (verified Sep 2026)
- — FBA fees aren't published as a table; Amazon routes sellers to a calculator whose results are estimates only (verified Sep 2026)
On the build path
- — Traffic is yours to earn: the acquisition spend a marketplace bundled into its fee becomes a marketing line you fund
- — A custom storefront is $25,000–$150,000 (Deploi estimate, illustrative) before the first order; a theme store is the cheaper start
- — Card rates and plan tiers still scale: 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic down to 2.5% + 30¢ on Advanced (verified Sep 2026)
- — ~15–20% of build cost per year in upkeep (Deploi estimate)
What Merchants Say
The marketplace-seller theme: fees that were fine at launch become the largest line on the P&L once volume arrives, and an Offsite Ads charge on a repeat customer who would have come back anyway stings the most.
The Shopify-side complaint since the first-party Amazon channel disappeared: a connector's own subscription, order caps and sync errors sit between the store and the marketplace, and nobody at either platform owns the gap.
If You Change Your Mind Later
If you bought and outgrow it
Export what the marketplace allows, which is usually orders and little else; buyers, reviews and rankings stay behind. The exit is to have built the own store before you need it, so listings become one channel among several and the customer relationship already lives on your domain. Read each marketplace's account and fee terms as vendor risk, not as paperwork.
If you built and want out
Nothing strands: the domain, the customer record, the content and the catalog move with you to any platform, and Shopify exports products, customers and orders as CSV. Marketplace connectors are replaceable by design. The exit cost of the own-store lane is a re-platform, which is a project, not a loss of customers.
When This Answer Changes
We're watching for:
- ▸ Shopify relisting a first-party Amazon or Etsy sales channel; today the Amazon app is delisted and Etsy has never had one (verified Sep 2026), so the glue is third-party
- ▸ Agentic Storefronts maturing as a discovery channel at $0/mo (verified Sep 2026); if AI channels deliver the discovery marketplaces sell, the marketplace lane's main value shrinks
- ▸ Etsy or Amazon changing headline fees from $0.20 plus 6.5% and $39.99 per month plus 5–45% referral (verified Sep 2026); a fee change reprices every band
Verdict change log:
No changes since first publication (September 2026).
Common Questions
Should you sell on Etsy or Shopify?
Both, once you have repeat customers: Etsy for discovery, a Shopify store as the system of record. Etsy charges $0.20 per listing plus 6.5% per sale, with Offsite Ads at 12–15% on top for many sellers (verified Sep 2026), and those fees stack on a Shopify plan rather than replace it. Shopify Basic is $39 USD/mo, or $29 billed yearly (verified Sep 2026). Under roughly $500K in a category Etsy owns, start marketplace-first.
Does Shopify have an Amazon integration?
Not a first-party one anymore. Shopify's own Amazon channel app is delisted, and apps.shopify.com/amazon states it is not currently available (verified Sep 2026). Merchants connect through third-party apps such as CedCommerce Amazon Channel, Built for Shopify at 4.7★ on 1,080 reviews. CedCommerce's connector adds its own subscription on top of Amazon's $39.99 per month Professional plan and 5–45% referral fees (verified Sep 2026).
How much does selling on Amazon cost compared with your own Shopify store?
Amazon charges $0.99 per item on the Individual plan or $39.99 per month on Professional, plus referral fees of roughly 5–45% by category, with FBA priced through its Revenue Calculator (verified Sep 2026). A Shopify store runs $39 USD/mo on Basic to $399 on Advanced, with Plus from $2,300, plus card rates from 2.9% + 30¢ down to 2.5% + 30¢ (verified Sep 2026). Amazon's fee scales with sales; the store's mostly doesn't.
Your Next Steps
If you're going with CUSTOMIZE(matches your selected profile)
- Make the Shopify store the system of record for catalog, customers and orders before adding a second channel
- Pick a marketplace connector as a replaceable node; the first-party Amazon app is delisted (verified Sep 2026)
- Price every SKU against its channel fee, Amazon referral 5–45% or Etsy 6.5% plus listing fees (verified Sep 2026), and list only the margin-positive ones
- Route every marketplace customer toward your domain through inserts, warranty registration and email capture where the marketplace's terms allow
- Build the channel ledger once two marketplaces are live, and review it quarterly
If you're going with BUY
- Open the marketplace shop on pay-as-you-go fees and validate demand for 90 days
- Track repeat buyers and email requests; that count is the trigger for your own store
- Reserve the brand domain and social handles now, even before the store exists
- Launch a Shopify theme store at Basic, $39 USD/mo or $29 billed yearly (verified Sep 2026), the month repeat customers appear
Official Docs & Sources
- Shopify pricing — Shopify
- Theme architecture — shopify.dev
- About Shopify Functions — shopify.dev
Official documentation linked for verification — our verdicts and estimates are our own.
Related Decisions
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Audit app spend on Shopify's bill, which itemizes charges but not ROI (verified Sep 2026), then replace widget-class apps with native features; Vitals under 10 apps.
Adobe Commerce vs. Shopify Plus: Do You Need an Enterprise Platform?
Enterprise platform evaluation is a WAIT on Shopify Plus for $20M–$500M merchants: Plus starts at $2,300 USD/mo (verified Sep 2026); rivals publish no prices.
WooCommerce vs. Shopify: Should You Replatform?
Replatforming to Shopify pays when platform ops cost more than a plan: Basic $39 to Plus from $2,300/mo (verified Sep 2026). Stay put while your stack is stable.
Shopify Plan Tiers: Should You Stay on Advanced or Move to Plus?
Plus wins past ~$10M GMV or any Plus-only need; Advanced is the workhorse tier below it, Grow under ~$2M. Plus publishes no card rate, so get the quote in writing.
Build or Buy Performance Monitoring & App Audits on Shopify?
Measurement is free on Shopify; storefront speed comes from an audit-and-remediation program, not a speed app.
Ready to make your own store the base and the marketplaces the channels?
We'll build the Shopify storefront that owns the customer, wire the marketplace connectors that replaced the first-party apps, and set up the channel ledger that tells you which SKUs belong where.
Contact us todayVerdict scored for the reference scenario above. Estimates are not quotes; app pricing carries its verification date and gets re-verified quarterly. Full scoring anchors: see the TCC methodology.
Read how we score these decisions (the TCC Framework). No affiliate links, no paid placement — no app vendor pays to appear here.