Although both very popular - Shopify and Etsy
both offer fundamentally different methods of selling.
Selling on Etsy is like selling at an arts and crafts fair or at a farmers
market, while Shopify is like having your own
store but selling online. Hey everyone this is Ashleigh with IWD Agency
- the e-commerce experts. We help merchants reach their online
goals through marketing optimizations and store enhancements.
If you're new here, be sure to subscribe to our channel so
that you're notified of new content so that you can stay on top of your
ecommerce game. With shopify and Etsy it's like comparing apples to
oranges - but setting them up side by side allows
us to see which align best with your eCommerce business
goals. As of 2019 more than 45 million buyers
used etsy an online marketplace where you can
buy and sell anything handcrafted vintage or unique like
amazon or ebay it lists your products alongside millions of other third-party
sellers shopify by contrast is a popular fully
hosted software platform that allows you to build your online
business from scratch it gives you all the tools you need to
set up and manage your store effectively although very different let's discuss
some of the takeaways from comparing the two platforms
pricing shopify has a straightforward pricing plan
the three levels range from 29 a month to 299
a month along with a 14-day free trial period
based on your plan you get different numbers of staff accounts
shipping discounts or reporting plans if you are just starting
and don't know how much you will sell shopify's advance plan at 299 dollars a
month might be more than you necessarily need
more is not always better of course another choice for high volume
sellers and large businesses is shopify plus which can spike the
price significantly you might be looking at around two
thousand dollars a month if you use shopify payments you don't
pay any transaction fees but otherwise you will end up with
transaction fees of 0.5 to 2 percent based on your level you choose unlike
shopify etsy has no monthly subscription fees
you pay 20 cents per item you list 5 transaction fees on every purchase and
payment processing fees on every purchase of 3
and 25 cents at first etsy seems much less expensive
the tricky part of etsy's pricing is your monthly selling volume
the more items you sell the more costs you should expect with transactions
listings and payment fees at some point you might be paying more per month
than you would with shopify's subscription
ease of use both platforms are super easy to use
etsy has the advantage of an online marketplace it has a pre-designed
template that allows you to list your products in no time
although more detailed than etsy shopify is also very user friendly
it has a clean streamlined interface and offers the best tools for your site's
design and management with little to no technical knowledge
necessary if you're stuck there's a 24 7 help and support that will come in handy
features here shopify comes out on top by a long shot
it offers some of the best ecommerce tools and with much more variety and
functionality than etsy some of its best features include the
ability to sell across 10 different social platforms
abandon cart recovery third-party shipping rates
free ssl certificates among many others it also has built-in features to manage
your inventory and payments etsy has basic e-commerce features for
running your business effectively for managing your listings on the go you
can try sell on etsy app it also has built-in tools for
setting up sales and discount coupons and gives statistical reports for your
ongoing sales another way of getting more features is
to use etsy plus which gives you more customized themes
your own web address marketing tools and email notifications
design and customization it turns out we don't just eat with our eyes
we shop with our eyes too thirty eight percent of people will leave a website
with an unappealing design or layout etsy sellers use a fixed template for
listing their products the template makes listing inventory
easier and because of its clear-cut and user-friendly format you don't have
to worry about the design or layout of your store
but you'll have a hard time standing out because it has a cookie cutter feel
the template is limited to description image and item details
the super easy format might be too restrictive for those
who like more control over their listings or layout of their store
if you want to have an independent store in etsy they are now offering etsy
pattern which offers more personalization for
your choice of 10 design templates and basic functionalities for
creating a unique brand it costs an additional
15 a month shopify however far outshines etsy with its variety of
design themes and customization possibilities
it gives you 10 free templates and more than 60 paid themes to choose from all
are mobile friendly and modern and you can switch between themes at any time
for those interested in making new shopify themes you can check out shopify
theme store community a community of creative thinkers just
for your store designs even though etsy pattern offers some customization
it is simple and by no means comparable to shopify's powerful customization
tools if you save an individuality or a
personalized web store etsy is far from ideal branding
another big difference between the two like other online marketplaces
etsy takes care of marketing and promotion for you and it drives traffic
to your website so you can easily reach millions of users worldwide
unless using etsy plus you won't have a personalized domain name in etsy
which might not be important if you are an individual seller but having your own
domain becomes an integral part of establishing
your brand identity online marketplaces are fiercely
competitive in etsy you'll have to stand out among 2.5
million other etsy sellers and because you cannot make a strong
unique brand on the platform you're at the mercy of user reviews for
building your reputation shopify by contrast gives you all the
resources you need to build an online identity
it has powerful seo tools marketing and customization tools and it offers advice
on how to promote your brand it is certainly easier to start selling
on etsy as you only need to sign up for a seller's account
just remember that you will give up a lot of control for your design and
branding if you choose to sell on etsy security
both platforms offer great security features they are both pci compliant and
have ssl certificates for secure payments
if you use etsy patterns you'll get redirected to etsy's checkout pages for
completing transactions this increases the security of your web
store but you will lose the independent feel for your store
shopify lets buyers directly check out through your store with the same level
of security scalability the most noticeable
difference between the two platforms is the type of products you can sell in
each because etsy is only a creative
marketplace the products you can sell are restricted to handmade or vintage
items and craft supplies they offer the possibility of wholesale
selling but they have very strict rules on what
and how you can sell your products if you're looking to expand beyond the
specific market etsy is not the best platform to grow
your business shopify supersedes etsy here because
it's extremely scalable you have no limitations or rules on what
you can sell and you can always add features to scale up your store
shopify is built for both small and large businesses
giving you total control over your inventory branding and promotion
with infinite numbers of apps and features you can be sure to find the
best functionalities for the size of your business
if you're selling creative items and want to choose between the two
think about not just your immediate needs but also your long-term plans for
expanding beyond a particular market you can of course tap into the
advantages of both of these platforms a common pattern for sellers has been to
start with etsy to reach its large audience
and get their name out there and then gradually shift to shopify when
expanding their business or once they have built sufficient site
traffic if you want to integrate the etsy marketplace with your shopify store
it will cost sixty dollars per month after a seven day free trial
and it will also include unlimited product listing real-time
synchronization and advanced order management to
streamline your integrated store the bottom line is if you're in the
creative items sector and you are fretting over which to use
for your new store keep in mind that shopify is an e-commerce solution for
building your store while etsy is a marketplace with much
less functionality but a huge audience and built-in
marketing tools you can go with either or both it
depends on how quickly you want to start selling
your product selection design personality and of course
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