Is Shopify or Etsy better for small sellers?

Etsy is better for small sellers who are just starting out and want access to built-in marketplace traffic without a monthly subscription. Shopify is better for sellers who want to build a brand, own their customer relationships, and are doing enough volume that Etsy's per-sale fees are cutting into margins. Many sellers run both: Etsy for discoverability, Shopify for their owned storefront and repeat customers.

What are the fees for selling on Etsy?

Etsy charges a $0.20 USD listing fee per item (renewed every 4 months or when a quantity sells), a 6.5% transaction fee on the total order including shipping, payment processing fees that vary by country, and an Offsite Ads fee of 12 to 15% on qualifying sales. Shops that have crossed $10,000 USD in lifetime-eligible sales are locked into the Offsite Ads fee permanently at 12%.

How much does Shopify cost in Canada?

Shopify's Canadian pricing on annual billing starts at $37/month CAD for the Basic plan, $99/month CAD for the Grow plan, and $389/month CAD for the Advanced plan. Monthly billing is $49, $132, and $517 respectively. There are no listing fees. Card processing rates start at 2.8% plus 30 cents per transaction on the Basic plan and decrease on higher plans.

Can you sell on both Shopify and Etsy at the same time?

Yes. Many sellers run Etsy and Shopify simultaneously. Etsy handles marketplace discoverability for new customers while Shopify serves as the owned storefront for returning customers and direct marketing. Third-party apps can sync inventory between the two platforms to prevent overselling. Note that Etsy's seller policies prohibit actively directing buyers to complete purchases off Etsy.

What is the Etsy Offsite Ads fee?

The Etsy Offsite Ads fee is charged when a buyer clicks an Etsy-placed ad on an external platform like a search engine or social network, then purchases from your shop within 30 days. The fee is 15% for shops under $10,000 USD in annual sales, with an option to opt out. Once a shop crosses $10,000 USD in lifetime-eligible sales, the fee drops to 12% and cannot be opted out of, even if sales later fall below the threshold.

Is Shopify worth it for a small Etsy shop?

It depends on volume and goals. For sellers doing low volume and relying entirely on Etsy's marketplace traffic, Shopify's monthly subscription may not be justified yet. For sellers doing consistent volume, building a brand, or finding that Etsy's fees are eating into margins, Shopify often makes financial sense and gives back control over customer relationships and visibility. Shopify offers a free trial to test before committing.

Shopify vs Etsy: What Independent Sellers Need to Know

If you have a shop on Etsy, here is something worth considering: you do not actually have a shop. You have a stall at someone else’s marketplace, and those are very different things.

This is not an argument that Etsy is bad. For a lot of independent makers and artisans, Etsy is where their business started, and that matters. But there is a reason more and more sellers are asking whether Shopify makes more sense, and the answer is not just about the fee comparison — though the fee comparison is genuinely worth your time.

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Shopify vs Etsy: Quick Comparison

	Etsy	Shopify
Monthly cost	No subscription (fees per sale)	From $37/mo CAD (annual) or $49/mo CAD (monthly)
Listing fee	$0.20 USD per listing, renews every 4 months	None
Transaction fee	6.5% of total order (item + shipping)	0% with Shopify Payments
Payment processing	Varies by country, charged on top of transaction fee	From 2.8% + 30¢ (Basic), lower on higher plans
Offsite Ads fee	12-15% on qualifying sales (mandatory over $10K USD)	None
Built-in marketplace traffic	Yes	No — you drive your own traffic
You own the customer relationship	No — Etsy holds the email relationship	Yes
Your own URL and branding	No	Yes
Email list building	Restricted	Yes, full control
Algorithm dependency	High	None (your own SEO)
Can sell on both	Yes	Yes

What Selling on Etsy Actually Costs You

The Etsy fee structure has a few layers, and they stack up faster than the individual numbers suggest at first glance. Here is what you are paying every time you list and sell something.

Listing fee: $0.20 USD per listing. Charged every time you publish or renew. Listings expire after four months, so if something sits unsold, you are paying to relist it. If you sell multiple quantities of the same item, the listing renews automatically at $0.20 every time one sells.

Transaction fee: 6.5% of the total displayed price. This includes your item price, your shipping charge, and gift wrapping if you offer it. Worth noting: if you charge shipping separately rather than rolling it into your product price, Etsy still takes 6.5% off the top of that shipping amount.

Payment processing fees. These vary by the location of your bank account and are charged on top of the transaction fee. The Etsy Payments Policy lists rates by country.

Offsite Ads fee: 12 to 15% on qualifying sales. This is the one that catches people off guard. Etsy promotes listings across external platforms like search engines and social networks. If one of those ads gets clicked and the buyer purchases anything from your shop within 30 days, you owe Etsy an advertising fee on that order.

For shops under $10,000 USD in sales over the prior 365 days, the fee is 15% and you can opt out. Once your shop crosses $10,000 USD in lifetime-eligible sales, you are locked in at 12% for the life of your shop. No opting out after that point, even if your sales dip back below the threshold.

In a single sale, you could be paying a listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee, a payment processing fee, and a 12 to 15% advertising fee — all calculated on the total order amount including shipping, not just the item price. For sellers with tight margins, that math looks very different from what it did when they first opened their shop.

Optional: Etsy Plus is $10 USD per month and includes 15 listing credits and $5 in Etsy Ads credits per cycle. Those credits expire at the end of each cycle and do not roll over.

Shopify Pricing for Canadian Sellers

Shopify works differently. Instead of taking a percentage of every sale, you pay a flat monthly subscription and a card processing rate per transaction through Shopify Payments. There are no listing fees.

A product can sit in your Shopify store for six months without selling and you are not charged for the privilege of having it listed. The monthly subscription covers your storefront.

Shopify monthly billing rates (CAD):

Basic: $49/month, card rates from 2.8% + 30¢
Grow: $132/month, card rates from 2.6% + 30¢ (up to 5 staff accounts)
Advanced: $517/month, card rates from 2.4% + 30¢ (up to 15 staff accounts)
Plus: from $3,400/month (for larger, more complex operations)

Shopify annual billing rates (CAD — saves you around 25%):

Basic: $37/month
Grow: $99/month
Advanced: $389/month

The main structural difference is that you are paying whether or not you sell anything, which feels scarier than it is once you are doing consistent volume. On Etsy, the more you sell, the more you pay in transaction fees. On Shopify, your card processing rate goes down as your plan goes up, and you keep more per sale.

Etsy vs Shopify: The Part That Is Not About Fees

The fee comparison matters, but it is not the most important argument for why independent sellers should be thinking about Shopify.

Etsy is a marketplace. Buyers go to Etsy when they are already in the mood to browse handmade goods, vintage items, or craft supplies. That built-in intent is genuinely valuable, especially when you are just starting out and do not have your own audience yet. The traffic is already there.

But that traffic comes with real trade-offs:

You are competing with every other seller in your category, directly on the same page.
Your listings are ranked by an algorithm you cannot see and cannot control.
Etsy can change its fee structure, its search algorithm, or its policies at any point — and historically, it has.
When someone purchases from your Etsy shop, they are technically Etsy’s customer. Etsy holds the email relationship. You have the transaction.

Shopify is what you build for the long game. Your store has your URL, your branding, your customer experience from start to finish. You can grow an email list, run your own ads, show up in Google search results, and reach people who have never heard of Etsy. Your shop’s visibility does not depend on a platform deciding whether to surface it.

For sellers who are building a brand rather than just fulfilling orders, that distinction is significant.

Can You Sell on Both Etsy and Shopify?

Yes, and a lot of sellers do exactly this. The two platforms serve different purposes without competing with each other.

Etsy brings in buyers who are already on the platform and searching for what you make. Shopify handles your owned presence: your website, your brand, your returning customers. There are third-party apps that let you sync inventory between the two, which prevents overselling when the same product is listed in both places.

The approach most sellers land on: use Etsy for discoverability and finding new customers, then build your Shopify store as the place repeat buyers come back to, and the place you direct people who find you through your own marketing.

One thing to be aware of: Etsy’s seller policies prohibit actively steering buyers toward completing a purchase outside of Etsy. You cannot put a note in your shop that says “buy directly from my website for a better deal.” What you can do is make your own website findable, let it do its own SEO work, and let customers choose to come back to you there on their own terms.

Which Should You Choose: Shopify or Etsy?

Start with Etsy if:

You are just launching and do not have an established audience yet
Your product fits naturally into Etsy’s marketplace (handmade, vintage, craft supplies)
You want built-in traffic before investing in your own marketing
You are testing whether there is demand for what you sell before committing to a monthly platform fee

Move to Shopify (or add it) if:

Etsy’s fees are genuinely eating into your margins at your current volume
You want to build a brand rather than just fulfil orders
Etsy’s algorithm has buried your shop during a policy update or a fee change
You want to own your customer relationships and grow an email list
You are selling outside Etsy’s core categories and not getting the organic marketplace traffic

If Etsy’s fee structure is cutting into your margins, run the numbers with Shopify’s card rates applied to your actual sales history. For some sellers the comparison is close. For others it changes the math considerably depending on volume and average order size.

And if Etsy’s algorithm has ever buried your shop during a policy update or a new flood of competition in your category, that is the non-financial argument for Shopify right there. Owning your platform means that when something changes, you are the one making the call.

Shopify offers a free trial if you want to test the waters before committing. Start your free trial here.

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Shopify vs Etsy for Independent Businesses & Artisans