Amazon vs Etsy: Which Is Better for Your Business?
In this article 9 sections
Amazon is huge, and with its size come millions of shoppers and potential customers for your business.
But How Is Amazon Different from Etsy, and Which Is Better?
First, let’s take a quick look at Etsy.
Etsy Is Not Just for Handmade Goods
Etsy is a marketplace made famous for connecting shoppers with businesses large and small that make handmade goods, but Etsy isn’t just for handmade products.
From Etsy’s Seller Policy, you can sell 3 types of products on Etsy:
- Handmade goods (made or designed by you or someone in your shop)
- Vintage goods (items over 20 years old)
- Craft supplies
About Craft Supplies on Etsy
Etsy wants to be a one-stop shop for handmade things, so they want you to be able to buy glue for card making, etc. Here’s what their seller policy states that the craft supplies can be: “tools, ingredients, or materials whose primary purpose is for use in the creation of an item or special occasion. Craft supplies may be handmade, commercial, or vintage.”
Etsy Fees vs. Amazon Fees
If your products fit within the categories that Etsy allows on their site, you’re in good shape to get started.
Etsy also offers a lower fee structure than Amazon. There’s a small listing fee (well under a dollar) for each listing, plus a transaction fee (6.5% at the time of this update) and payment processing fees on each sale. Check Etsy’s current fee schedule before you start.
Amazon, on the other hand, charges a referral fee that depends on the Amazon category (15% is most common).
Don’t Count Out Amazon
With its higher fees, Amazon does offer a few things Etsy can’t provide.
Amazon has more shoppers. The daily traffic of Amazon is insane, and people shop a lot on Amazon.
The other benefit is that Amazon has FBA, or Fulfillment by Amazon.
Fulfillment by Amazon Rocks
Many shoppers want their orders fast. With Etsy, you’ll need to ship your orders. With Amazon, Amazon can ship your orders for you. You simply ship your products in bulk to Amazon, and then Amazon takes care of the rest. This is how you can get your products to qualify for Amazon Prime Shipping.
With FBA, you pay a heavily reduced shipping rate to send your items in bulk to Amazon. Amazon, in turn, uses its own reduced rates to ship your products to customers who order them on Amazon. If you want to fulfill orders from Amazon or Etsy yourself, you’ll be paying much higher shipping rates than Amazon gets.
Benefits of Etsy
The Etsy marketplace is cozier, while Amazon is fairly cold and corporate.
Amazon really doesn’t want you connecting with your customers through its platform. It wants a hands-off approach: the customer orders the product, and the customer receives the product. That’s it.
Etsy, on the other hand, encourages you to interact with your buyers, let them know about sales, and establish a good relationship.
This can work wonders in a world where everything else is processed as cold transactions. Etsy encourages loyalty and communication with your customers.
List Your Etsy Items on Amazon
Amazon, wanting to compete with Etsy, created Amazon Handmade, where you can list your handmade items. It’s set up to be similar to Etsy, and it could be a great place to list your Etsy products.
You don’t have to list handmade products in that part of Amazon. You can list them in the regular categories, but by putting them in Amazon Handmade, you’re giving your products the benefit of being in front of shoppers on Amazon who are specifically looking for handmade items.
Which Is Better, Amazon or Etsy?
Amazon and Etsy have their differences, but if your products could be sold on both platforms, why not try both?
Reliance on one single marketplace can put you at risk if there’s a change in the marketplace that adversely affects your business. By exploring more than one, you spread out that risk.