You built something worth selling. Now, where do you sell it?
If you're reading this, there's a good chance you already have an Etsy shop. Maybe it's ticking along nicely, or maybe you're starting to wonder if the platform is holding you back. Either way, you've asked yourself the question: do I actually need my own website?
It's one of the most common questions small business owners face, and the honest answer is: it depends. But the more you understand about how Etsy works, and what a website could do for you, the easier that decision becomes.
Let's walk through it together.
What Etsy does really well
Let's be fair to Etsy, because it genuinely is a brilliant place to start. When you open a shop, you're instantly visible to millions of buyers who are already there looking for handmade, vintage, and unique products. You don't need to worry about hosting, payment processing, or building an audience from scratch.
For many sellers, Etsy is where the dream began, and that's worth acknowledging.
Etsy's real strengths include:
• A built-in audience of buyers who are ready to spend
• Simple setup with no technical knowledge needed
• Trust. Customers already know and feel safe with the platform
• Etsy SEO puts your products in front of people searching within the marketplace
• No upfront costs to get started
For a brand new business, that's a genuinely powerful launchpad. But as your business grows, so do the cracks.
The hidden costs of relying on Etsy alone
Here's where things get a little uncomfortable and where a lot of sellers are surprised when they do the maths.
Etsy's fees in 2025 include:
• Listing fee: £0.16 per item listed, renewed every four months
• Transaction fee: 6.5% of every sale (including postage)
• Payment processing: 4% + £0.20 per transaction via Etsy Payments
• Offsite Ads: 12–15% commission if a sale comes through an Etsy ad you didn't ask to run
• Subscription (optional): Etsy Plus at £9.60/month for a few extra features
Add those up on a £40 handmade item and you could be handing over £5–£7 per sale before you've even covered materials, postage, or your time.
A seller doing 50 sales a month at £40 average could be paying Etsy over £3,000 a year in fees alone. That's money that could fund your own branded website, and then some.
But fees are only part of it. The deeper issue is control.
The control problem: it's Etsy's platform, not yours
This is the conversation most Etsy sellers eventually have, sometimes prompted by a policy change, sometimes by a sudden drop in views, sometimes by the creeping anxiety of building something on ground that doesn't belong to you.
When you sell only on Etsy, you're accepting some significant limitations:
• Etsy can change its algorithm at any time and your traffic changes overnight
• Your shop can be suspended or limited without much warning or explanation
• You have no access to your customers' email addresses to market to them directly
• Every customer you earn stays in Etsy's ecosystem, not yours
• Your branding is constrained by Etsy's templates and design limitations
• You're competing with every other seller on the platform, including lower-quality products at lower prices
None of this means Etsy is bad. It means Etsy is a marketplace, and marketplaces have their own interests at heart. That's just the nature of the arrangement.
So what does your own website actually give you?
A lot, as it turns out.
Your own website, particularly a well-built Shopify store, gives you a home that's entirely yours. Your brand. Your customer data. Your rules.
1. You keep far more of every sale
Shopify's basic plan costs around £25/month and charges a small payment processing fee (typically 1.5–2% with Shopify Payments). Compare that to the 10–20% you're potentially losing on every Etsy sale, and the numbers shift significantly in your favour as your volume grows.
2. You own your customer relationships
On your own website, you capture email addresses, build a list, and talk to your customers directly, through newsletters, launch announcements, or a simple thank-you message. That relationship is yours, and it compounds over time.
3. Your brand can actually breathe
Etsy shops look like Etsy shops. Your own website looks like you. Your photography, your colours, your story, your tone of voice, all of it working together to create something that feels genuinely premium and worth paying for.
4. You're not at the mercy of an algorithm
Good SEO on your own website is an asset that builds over time. A well-written product page or a helpful blog post can rank on Google for years, sending you consistent traffic without you paying for it.
5. You look more established
Right or wrong, customers perceive businesses with their own websites as more professional and trustworthy. For anyone looking to stock wholesale, approach retailers, or attract higher-value customers, having your own site matters.
Does that mean you should leave Etsy?
Not necessarily, and this is an important nuance.
Many successful small businesses run Etsy and their own website side by side. Etsy handles discovery (new customers who don't know you yet), while the website handles retention (repeat buyers who come back because they love your brand).
The goal doesn't have to be abandoning Etsy. It can simply be not being dependent on it.
Think of Etsy as a market stall - great for footfall and finding new customers. Your website is your actual shop, where people come because they specifically want you.
When does it make sense to get your own website?
Here are some signs the time is right:
• You're making consistent sales on Etsy and want to start building something more permanent
• You've noticed your Etsy views fluctuating for no obvious reason
• You want to expand your product range beyond what Etsy suits
• You're thinking about wholesale, press coverage, or working with stockists
• You're ready to invest properly in your brand and how it's presented
• You want to run your own promotions, discounts, and email campaigns
If several of those feel familiar, you're probably ready.
What does getting a website actually involve?
This is where a lot of people get stuck, not because it's that complicated, but because the internet makes it sound overwhelming. There's a lot of noise about themes, plugins, domain names, and whether to use Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, or something else entirely.
At Cobblestone Digital, we take that noise away. We build clean, custom Shopify stores for small businesses, sellers, makers, and independent retailers, at a fixed price of £800. That includes everything from design and branding to setting up your products, payment processing, and making sure the site is optimised for search engines from day one.
We don't do complicated. We do websites that work, that feel like you, and that you can actually manage yourself once they're live.
Curious about whether the timing's right for you? We're happy to have a no-pressure chat, no jargon, no hard sell, just an honest conversation about what a website could do for your business.
Etsy vs your own website: a quick comparison
Etsy
• Great for getting started and finding new customers
• Built-in audience, instant credibility
• High fees (10–20% per sale)
• No access to customer data
• Limited branding and customisation
• Vulnerable to algorithm changes and policy updates
Your own website
• Full ownership of your brand and customer relationships
• Much lower ongoing fees once established
• Complete design freedom
• Builds long-term SEO and organic traffic
• Requires some upfront investment and a little ongoing management
• No built-in audience, you bring the traffic
The bottom line
Etsy is a wonderful place to start, and for many sellers it remains a valuable part of the mix even after they've launched their own site. But building a business entirely on a platform you don't own is a risk that grows as your business grows.
Your own website isn't just a nice-to-have. It's a long-term investment in something you control, your brand, your customers, and your income.
If you're at the stage where you're ready to take that next step, we'd love to help you do it properly.
Visit Cobblestone Digital to find out more about our Shopify website packages for small businesses, or just get in touch for a friendly, obligation-free conversation.
Frequently asked questions
Can I have both an Etsy shop and my own website?
Absolutely, and many sellers do. You can link between the two, run promotions across both, and use Etsy for discovery while your website builds long-term loyalty.
Do I have to move all my products over straight away?
Not at all. You can launch with a curated selection and build from there. In fact, a focused launch often works better than trying to replicate everything at once.
Will having my own website hurt my Etsy SEO?
No. Etsy's search ranking is determined by factors within Etsy itself, your listing quality, reviews, and shop activity. Having a separate website doesn't affect that.
How much does a Shopify website cost to run monthly?
Shopify's basic plan is around £25/month. You'll also pay for your domain name (typically £10–£15/year). Transaction fees with Shopify Payments are usually 1.5–2%. So for most small sellers, total running costs are under £40/month, often far less than you're paying in Etsy fees.
How long does it take to get a website built?
At Cobblestone Digital, most projects are complete within two weeks, depending on how quickly we can gather your content, photography, and branding details.