Are you ready to step up your business game? Or are you just looking for a new avenue to sell your items? I wanted to break down the pros and cons of each and share what we’ve learned. We’ve been selling successfully for 3 years on Etsy and have had our own website for over 2 years. So, let’s dive in and figure out what works best for you!

Opening an Etsy Shop

I typically recommend opening an Etsy shop before creating your own website, especially when it comes to beginners selling online. This route is essentially free, it does cost a small amount of money ($0.20) to make listings and Etsy does take a cut when you make a sale, but it’s a much faster way to get your products out there. It allows you to get the ball rolling without having to sign any long term contracts or pay a monthly fee. Etsy is also easier to learn than learning to build and operate your own website. It’s designed to be user-friendly so Etsy can get as many sellers as possible…because they are looking to make a profit. Doesn’t Etsy take a bunch of your $$ to sell on their platform?? Yes and no, Etsy ends up taking about 8-10% of each sale you make. This may seem like a lot at first, but it’s not when you compare it to other similar handcrafting selling platforms or even things like craft fairs.

Pros to Etsy
  • Etsy is [basically] free to start
  • It has a ton of traffic and you are more likely be seen
  • They have experts that increase the SEO so your listings are more likely to be seen
  • A shop is relatively easy to set up and they have tons of helpful blogs for picture-taking and other tips
  • The shop manager/ back end is very user-friendly
  • It’s easy to run ads or sales
  • It’s easy to share on other social media platforms, especially Pinterest which we find very useful!
  • Customer service and forums to help figure out the platform
  • You can upgrade your services to a monthly subscription which offers you a few more options, this can get pricey though
  • They automatically track sales/ shipments/ make invoices for you
  • Their shipping pages are easy for beginners to navigate and they have useful discounts
Cons to Etsy
  • Etsy takes a bigger cut than a personal e-commerce site would
  • They are in control and make the rules…and can change them at any point without your vote, like increasing their percentage cut or including shipping in their cut. A few things we’ve experienced since we began in 2017
  • You are competing for listing positions with tons of other makers
  • Anyone can sell on Etsy and a lot of people do, some hobbyists can underprice handcrafted pieces and bring the overall perceived value down. This is why it pays to take appealing pictures and show the customer the value of your product.
  • Limited customizations for your listings and pages, you have to pay a subscription to have access to extras like more variants or a unique home page layout.

Starting a website

Most people assume this is the route you should start with but in my opinion and experience it’s not. Etsy’s biggest advantage over your own personal website is Trust & Traffic! Etsy is a trusted platform that gets tons and tons of traffic every day and is the number one handcrafted selling platform out there. People trust Etsy because it’s a giant, known company, some people might be afraid to order from your website if it doesn’t look top-notch. They can be paranoid and afraid of being scammed or getting credit card information stolen if they can’t find the right details on your website. This is another reason people trust Etsy because they have the credibility of eBay or Amazon and have policies in place to protect both the buyer and seller.

Websites are not free, to open a shop on Squarespace or Shopify to sell items will cost you a minimum of $25 a month on top of credit card fees which is about 2%. What’s the hardest part about owning your own website? Generating traffic is extremely difficult, there are many factors that go into generating traffic to your website and unfortunately, most people won’t see your website when you first start out unless you have another well-known platform that you can navigate them through (ie. YouTube or Instagram). You can hire people to help you with this or learn how yourself. You may have to hire someone to run your ads for you since its a way more difficult on your own but again NOT FREE or included. The best part about owning a website is its 100% yours and you make the rules which is something Etsy cant offer!

Pros to Building Your Own Website

  • You have unlimited control!
  • In the long run, it would be cheaper than selling on Etsy if you could get the traffic without worrying about Etsy’s selling fees
  • Unlimited customization! You can make it look exactly how you want
  • There is no competition on your pages only your products, customers can’t navigate away from your shop by scrolling down the page
  • It looks a lot more professional than an Etsy account and you can more easily add an additional portfolio or page highlighting other pieces or information.
  • You can start a blog on most website platforms!
  • You can add ads to earn additional revenue
Cons to Creating Your Own Website
  • Gaining traffic is very hard
  • You are essentially on your own, most hosts will have some sort of support but won’t really help you sell anything
  • You have to pay a monthly fee and they still take about 2%+ for card transactions
  • There can still be small transaction fees
  • It’s harder to try introducing new products into the market
  • If you need help it’s not free
  • Running ads aren’t targeted like Etsy so this is also something that will need to be outsourced or learned.
  • Websites require maintenance to make sure all your links and menus are working properly and themes are visually appealing and not messy

Should you have both?

Yes! If you can afford to have a website, by all means, you should have one even if its just a landing page to lock down your domain name! In today’s world of technology, you almost have to have a website, most likely that’s the first place someone is going to look to find you after you or a recent customer referred you. Having both an Etsy and website will also make it easier for you to be found as you’ll be more spread out thought the interweb! Nothing looks better and more professional at the bottom of a business card or Facebook page than your business name and .com after it! So if you’re able to, by all means, start-up as many as you can!

Check out our sales websites

http://www.twomoosedesign.com

https://www.etsy.com/shop/TwoMooseDesign?ref=search_shop_redirect#reviews