Current offer: Get a free domain name for the first year of your subscription!

Artisans: marketplace or online store? We help you to choose where to sell

Written by Michael Villeneuve
Create your store
January 22 2019 (Mis à jour le 15 February 2024)
4 min

You create your own products and you hesitate between selling on a marketplace, like Etsy, or selling with your own online store.
We help you compare the benefits of these two solutions.

Marketplace vs online store : what to choose ?

Whether you are already present on one of the two solutions or you are about to start selling online, hesitate on which solution is best suited to your profile is normal. Each bringing its benefits.

However, with the evolution of the web, marketplaces, generally held by large groups, have taken power and allow themselves to increase their user fees. Which does not always please their users.

In 2019, what is the most interesting solution for a craftsman who wants to sell his creations online?

Here are 4 key points to check before you start:

The sales environment

With marketplaces like Etsy, you are like on a huge salon / market. Potential customers could walk past your stand without any promotion because you enjoy the crowds of the market. These same customers may be interested in one of your products but could also have the eye drawn to the nearby stand and ultimately consume only his products.
You benefit from the name of the marketplace but you do not control 100% the sales environment of your products.

With your own online store, you control every sides of your sales environment from A to Z. You can highlight the products you want and recommend others to increase the average basket of your customers.
You control all aspects of your store and can guide your users to consume more.

The web tools available

Etsy and the marketplace offer you all the tools you need to manage your sales. A simple and clear table with all your orders, to validate them, print their shipping labels or refund them.

But no marketing or analysis tools are present.

With an online store with Panierdachat, connect your online store to your Facebook page in one click, follow your visitors with the Google Tag Manager, analyze your rank on the search engines with Google Analytics and link your Google Ads ads to achieve your goals. .
And collect the email addresses of your visitors to build a database of interesting customers and prospects to communicate with them through the integrated newsletter. Or use the transactional emails to communicate special offers to your loyal visitors.
Expand your B2B customers by offering exclusive discounts.

With analytics and marketing tools, build customer loyalty, and increase sales more easily.

Fees

In the case of marketplaces, the costs are multiple and most of it is related to sales.
To sell on Amazon’s marketplace, it will cost 30 CAD / month plus a 20% tax on each of your sales will be added.
With Etsy, for every item on sale you will pay 0.25 CAD every 4 months to only appear on the marketplace. A commission of 5% will also be collected for each of your sales to which you will add the fees of Etsy Payments amounting to 4% + 0.25CAD in Canada.
In summary, with a marketplace you will feel a big shortfall once you make some sales.

With your Panierdachat online store, no commission is taken on your sales and you do not pay extra for your products on sale.
With the Silver package for example, you will pay $ 44.95 monthly. Regular banking fees will be paid by your payment system and that’s it.
In addition with Panierdachat you can choose to offer your products on your online store but to pay by check or cash at the store pickup. As this no fees will be generated.
In summary, with your own online store, you know in advance your monthly fees that will not change according to your sales volume.

Start an amazing experience.
Create your online store
Begin for free

A professional appearance

By being a seller in a marketplace, visitors are reassured thanks to the serious image of the marketplace (Etsy, Amazon …) this confidence is reflected on you. The aspect that may seem negative is the professionalism of your services.
Being on a marketplace, visitors associate you with a small craftsman doing business as entertainment and they know that services like delivery is not always the most professional.

With your own professional online store, the image you radiate is that of a serious and professional company. By linking your store to your social networks, you put even more trust in the visitors who discover you because you show them a happy community of products and satisfied with the service.

Don’t have your online store yet ? Open an account on our easy-to-build e-commerce platform!

Bonus

The simplicity of creating a professional online store with the Panierdachat platform will amaze you. And you can discover for free all the benefits of the platform for 14 days!

Start an amazing experience.
Create your online store
Begin for free
Recent posts