Every "Etsy vs Shopify" article on the internet compares the wrong number. They quote fee percentages and stop there, which makes Shopify look like the obvious winner — lower percentage, no listing fees, you own everything. Then you open a Shopify store, publish your products, and sell nothing for three weeks, because the fee table never mentioned that Etsy was also handing you the shoppers.
So we did the comparison the other way around. Below are the verified 2026 fees for Etsy, Shopify, and Amazon Handmade, followed by what a single $30 sale actually leaves you on each — and then the line item that decides it: what it costs to bring the buyer in the first place.
All pricing on this page was verified from the platforms' own pricing and fee pages in September 2026. Fee structures change; re-check before you commit. For the full per-order teardown on Etsy alone, our Etsy fee calculator lets you plug in your own numbers.
Three Platforms, Three Different Businesses
These are not three flavours of the same thing. They are three different deals you make with the internet:
- Etsy is a marketplace with a tenant. You rent a stall in a mall that already has shoppers. You pay per sale plus listing fees, and you follow their rules for how your stall looks.
- Shopify is a storefront you build on your own street. No shoppers walk past unless you bring them, but nobody takes a cut of the sale beyond payment processing, and you control the entire customer relationship.
- Amazon Handmade is a marketplace with a bouncer. Traffic is enormous, the handmade section is curated, and the referral fee is the highest of the three — 15%.
That framing explains almost every downstream difference: why Etsy has the deepest how-to ecosystem, why Shopify sellers obsess over ads and email, and why Amazon Handmade sellers treat it as a volume channel rather than a brand.
Verified 2026 Fee Comparison
| Cost | Etsy | Shopify (Basic) | Amazon Handmade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $0 | $27/mo monthly, $20/mo billed yearly | $0 (Professional fee waived) |
| Per-sale commission | 6.5% transaction fee on item + shipping + gift wrap | None (you keep the sale) | 15% referral fee, or $0.30 — whichever is greater |
| Payment processing | 3% + $0.25 (US) | Shopify Payments card rates (~2.9% + $0.30 US); 2% surcharge if you use a third-party gateway on Basic | Included in the referral fee |
| Listing fee | $0.20 per listing, auto-renews on each sale (or every 4 months) | None | None |
| Advertising upsell | Offsite Ads: 15% of the order (12% once you clear $10K/year) — only on ad-sourced orders | Bring your own traffic; ad spend is entirely on you | Amazon PPC, entirely optional but competitive |
Read that table the way a seller actually experiences it. Etsy's headline 6.5% is not the real take rate; add payment processing and the $0.20 relist, and a $30 order surrenders closer to 11%. Amazon's 15% looks worse but is genuinely all-in. Shopify's per-sale cost is the smallest — and its monthly subscription plus advertising is where the money goes instead.
Run the Math: One $30 Sale on Each Platform
Assume a $30 handmade item, $9 in materials and $1 in packaging, sold to a customer in the US. Shipping is charged at cost, so we leave it out. Card processing on Shopify uses Shopify Payments' standard US rate. Here is what you keep:
| Line | Etsy | Shopify (Basic) | Amazon Handmade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order value | $30.00 | $30.00 | $30.00 |
| Platform commission | −$1.95 (6.5%) | $0 | −$4.50 (15%) |
| Payment processing | −$1.15 (3% + $0.25) | −$1.17 (2.9% + $0.30) | included above |
| Listing / relist | −$0.20 | $0 | $0 |
| Materials + packaging | −$10.00 | −$10.00 | −$10.00 |
| Profit per order | $16.70 | $18.83 | $15.50 |
Two things jump out. First, Shopify clears about $2.13 more per order than Etsy and $3.33 more than Amazon Handmade. Second, and more important: Shopify's advantage is $2.13, not the $3.30 the fee table implies — because Shopify still charges card processing, and Etsy's $1.95 commission is partly the price of the shoppers you did not have to find.
Now account for the subscription. Shopify Basic costs $20/month billed yearly. At $2.13 per order, you need roughly 10 orders a month just to break even against Etsy's fee structure — before a single dollar of advertising.
The Line Item Nobody Puts in the Table: Traffic
This is where most platform comparisons quietly fall apart. Fees are a percentage; customers are a cost. On Etsy and Amazon, that cost is bundled into the fee. On Shopify, you pay it separately — and it is usually bigger.
Rough numbers sellers actually see in 2026:
| Channel | Typical cost per click | Typical conversion | Effective cost per sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Etsy Ads / Offsite Ads | $0.20–$0.50 | 2–4% | $5–$25 (capped at 15–25% of order value via ads caps) |
| Amazon PPC | $0.40–$1.00 | 5–10% | $5–$20 |
| Shopify + Google/Meta ads | $0.50–$2.00 | 1–3% | $20–$60 |
| Shopify, organic only | $0 | — | $0, but takes 6–12 months of SEO to work |
Put the two tables side by side and the story inverts. If your buyers arrive through ads, Shopify's $2.13-per-order fee saving is dwarfed by a $20–$60 acquisition cost that Etsy and Amazon were absorbing for you inside their commission. Etsy's 6.5% is not a fee; it is closer to a marketing retainer that only bills you when it works.
Where Each Platform Actually Wins
- Etsy wins on cold start. Buyers search with intent. Sellers with no audience can make a first sale here; on Shopify they usually cannot. Also the cheapest way to test whether a product sells at all.
- Shopify wins on repeat business and margin. No marketplace takes a cut, you own the customer's email, and you can raise prices without competing on a search page. Once someone buys twice, Etsy's per-sale commission starts to look expensive.
- Amazon Handmade wins on pure volume. If your product fits the categories and you can absorb 15%, the ceiling is higher than Etsy's. The trade-off is zero brand control and no customer relationship.
One more consideration that does not show up in any fee table: you are renting on all three. Etsy and Amazon can suspend a shop overnight. Shopify controls its own platform terms too, but nobody can remove your product listings for competing with them. If your business depends on a single marketplace, that dependency is a risk worth pricing in.
Can You Use More Than One?
Yes — and the combination is often better than choosing. The standard playbook:
- Sell on Etsy or Amazon Handmade to find what sells and get your first reviews.
- Add a Shopify store for the products with repeat demand and for your brand.
- Keep both running. Shopify Basic syncs 50 marketplace orders per month for free; beyond that a 1% fee applies, capped at $99/month.
Doing both effectively is a tooling problem as much as a fees problem — you need keyword data for Etsy, analytics for your store, and a way to keep inventory straight. Our 2026 seller tool scoreboard covers the 12 tools we tested for exactly this, and our guide to Etsy repeat buyers covers the cheapest growth lever available on any platform: the customer you already have.
Three Costs That Appear in No Fee Table
The comparison above covers the fees both platforms publish. These three are the ones sellers discover the hard way, usually a few months in:
1. Etsy's relist fee compounds quietly
Every sale auto-renews the listing for $0.20. On a shop with 200 active listings that also auto-renew every four months, the baseline is roughly $120 a year before a single order — and high-volume shops relist far more often than that. It is small per line, large per year, and it is one reason a "6.5% platform" behaves like an 11% one at low order values.
2. Shopify's app bill
The subscription is not the whole Shopify cost. Most working stores run several paid apps — reviews, email, upsells, accounting, shipping — typically $10–$50 each per month. A store that "costs $20/month" often runs at $80–$150 once it does everything Etsy does natively. That number has to clear your per-order saving, not just the subscription.
3. Amazon's invisible tax: the customer is not yours
Amazon Handmade's 15% is genuinely all-in on fees, but you cannot email the buyer for marketing, and you cannot take them off-platform. Every repeat purchase is another 15%, forever. A business built entirely on Amazon has no asset beyond the listings themselves — which is fine if that is the strategy, expensive if it is not.
How to Run These Numbers for Your Own Product
Fee tables are averages; your margin depends on your price, your costs, and your traffic source. The formula is short enough to do on one line:
- Per-order profit = price − platform commission − payment processing − listing/relist − materials − packaging.
- True cost per sale = (clicks needed per sale × cost per click) + fixed monthly costs ÷ orders per month.
- Compare (A) Etsy's per-order profit at your realistic order volume, against (B) Shopify's per-order profit minus its subscription, its apps, and your ad spend.
Do that once with honest numbers and the "which platform is cheaper" argument usually answers itself — often with a different winner than the fee percentages suggested. Our Etsy fee calculator handles the first formula with editable rates, including Offsite Ads, so you can see the after-fee number before you decide to move anything.
Our Verdict
The 30-second verdict
Starting out: Etsy. The bundled traffic is worth more than the fee saving, and you can validate a product without spending a month building a store nobody visits.
Have repeat buyers or an audience: add Shopify. The $2.13/order saving plus email ownership compounds fast once orders are steady, and it clears the $20/month subscription within about 10 orders.
Willing to trade brand for volume: Amazon Handmade. It is the priciest fee of the three, but also the largest pool of buyers — and unlike the others, it charges nothing monthly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Etsy or Shopify cheaper?
Per sale, Shopify — about $1.17 in processing versus Etsy's $3.30 in combined fees on a $30 order. But Shopify charges a monthly subscription and provides no built-in shoppers, so Etsy is the cheaper total until you have steady traffic of your own.
Does Amazon Handmade still waive the monthly fee?
Yes. Amazon waives the Professional selling fee for Handmade sellers, so there is no monthly cost. You pay a 15% referral fee (or $0.30, whichever is greater) only when an item sells.
Can I sell on Etsy and Shopify at the same time?
Yes, and many sellers do. Shopify Basic includes syncing 50 marketplace orders per month free; beyond that a 1% fee applies (capped at $99/month). Etsy brings the traffic while Shopify builds the branded, repeat-buyer storefront.
Which platform has the lowest fees overall?
Shopify has the lowest per-transaction fees but adds a monthly subscription plus your own ad spend. Etsy and Amazon Handmade charge higher percentage fees but bundle buyer traffic — usually the larger cost for a new seller.
Should I leave Etsy for Shopify?
Only when you can bring your own buyers. If most orders come from Etsy search and ads, moving means replacing that traffic yourself, at a cost that usually exceeds Etsy's fees. Add Shopify alongside Etsy once repeat customers justify a branded store.