Thinking About Leaving Etsy? Read This First.

I see this conversation come up constantly in Etsy groups, and I get it. The fees are frustrating, it feels like they are taking every other nickle and dime. You’re putting in the work, and it can feel like someone else is the profit.

So the natural next thought is: I’ll just build my own website and keep all the money.

And yes, having your own site is important. But what gets missed in that conversation is that Etsy isn’t just hosting your products, it’s bringing people to them.

When you leave Etsy, you’re not just leaving the fees. You’re leaving the traffic too.

You can have a beautiful Shopify or Squarespace site, great photos, strong branding, all of it. But if no one is actually making it to that site, none of it really matters. A website doesn’t magically create sales. It needs traffic, and driving that traffic takes consistent effort through social content, email, or paid ads.

Etsy, on the other hand, is built for discovery. People are already there searching for products like yours. When you list your items, you’re tapping into an audience that’s ready to buy, not starting from scratch.

So when people say they want to leave Etsy completely, what they’re really doing is walking away from built-in visibility without always having a plan to replace it.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have your own website. You absolutely should. But it doesn’t need to be an either-or decision.

The makers I see doing this well are using both.

They keep Etsy as a way to get discovered by new customers, and they build their website as their home base. Then, when they’re sending people directly from social, email, or word of mouth, they send them to their site and keep more of that sale.

That’s the difference. Etsy brings the people. Your website is where you send them.

If you’re still growing, Etsy is one of the best tools you have to learn what works and get in front of real buyers. Your website becomes more powerful as you build an audience alongside it.

So instead of pulling everything off Etsy out of frustration, it’s worth thinking about how the two can work together.

Use Etsy for discovery.
Use your website for control.

If you are a maker ready to take their business to the next step, let’s chat. Or learn more about my Marketing for Makers service where I become your marketing multi-tool.