"I want to sell my own products — should I list on Amazon, open a Shopify store, or build a custom site?"
This is the most common question I get. There's no single answer — it depends on what you sell, how many orders per month, and whether you're building a brand. But most people pick by gut feel, then realise six months in that they picked wrong.
This post lays out three paths in real money and real time so you can make the call yourself.
What you're actually buying
Marketplace (Amazon, Etsy, Shopee, eBay): you're renting a stall. The platform owns the traffic, but you don't own your customer data.
Shopify / WooCommerce / Wix Commerce: you're opening a shop. The storefront is yours, but the foot traffic is your problem.
Custom site (Next.js + payment integration): you're constructing your own building. Total customisation, but the highest cost and longest timeline.
The business logic behind each is fundamentally different — it's not "which is best," it's "which suits where you are right now."
A year of real costs (assuming $3,000/month revenue)
Same conditions across all three:
- $3,000/month revenue ($36K/year)
- ~100 orders per month
- 20 SKUs
- Excluding cost of goods (same for all three)
Option A · Marketplace (Etsy / Shopee / Amazon Handmade)
| Item | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Listing fees | minimal |
| Transaction fees (~10-15%) | $4,500 |
| Payment processing (~2.5%) | $900 |
| In-platform ads (suggested budget) | $2,000 |
| Total | ~$7,400 |
Option B · Shopify
| Item | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Shopify Basic ($29/mo) | $348 |
| Theme (one-time) | $300 |
| Apps (avg 3-5 essentials) | $600 |
| Payment processing (~2.9%) | $1,050 |
| Domain | $15 |
| Email marketing (Klaviyo free tier) | $0 |
| Total | ~$2,300 |
Option C · Custom site
| Item | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Build cost ($5,000 one-time, amortised over 3 years) | $1,700 |
| Vercel Pro hosting | $240 |
| Database (Neon / Supabase free tier) | $0 |
| Payment processing (~2.9%) | $1,050 |
| Domain | $15 |
| Optional monthly retainer ($300/mo) | $3,600 |
| Total (with retainer) | ~$6,600 |
| Total (without retainer) | ~$3,000 |
Surface conclusion: Shopify is cheapest
But this table lies. The invisible costs of each option are completely different.
Invisible costs: what actually decides
Three traps with marketplaces
- Customer data isn't yours. Of the 100 people who buy from you, you can't see their email, phone, or repeat-buy patterns. Want to do email marketing next year? You're starting from zero.
- You always have to pay for ads. Skip platform-promoted listings, and your products land on page 15 of search. This is structural — not a one-time cost.
- You're building the platform's brand, not yours. Customers remember "I bought it on Etsy," not your name. When you want to raise prices or go direct, there's no loyal base to follow you.
Hidden costs of Shopify
- You drive your own traffic. Shopify itself has no traffic — IG, Google, ads, all on you. Zero sales for the first three months is the norm.
- Learning curve. You'll need to know some ads, some SEO, some design. Don't want to learn? Add $500-$1,500/month for an agency to run them.
- The app ecosystem trap. Every "useful" app is $9.99 here, $19 there — three months in, you're suddenly paying $100/month in app subscriptions you didn't budget for.
Hidden costs of custom
- Two to three months of zero revenue while building. Time is opportunity cost.
- You need to find a studio you can trust. Plenty of ways that goes wrong.
- You maintain the backend yourself. No giant Shopify support team to bail you out.
Three decision scenarios
Scenario 1 · Just starting, validating market
"I made a small batch of handmade candles, not sure anyone wants them."
Use a marketplace.
- Zero up-front cost
- Built-in traffic
- Fastest way to test demand
- Smallest loss if it fails
When do you outgrow it? Stable monthly revenue past ~$1,500 + customers starting to repeat-buy → consider next step.
Scenario 2 · Steady customers, want to build a brand
"I've sold candles for a year, I have ~500 regulars."
Use Shopify.
- You own customer email, can run email marketing
- No 10-15% marketplace cut
- Full control of brand presentation
- IG traffic flows into your store, not the marketplace
When do you outgrow it? Annual revenue past ~$100K, or you need custom checkout / unusual business logic → consider next step.
Scenario 3 · Established brand, need differentiation
"I do $150K+ a year, want a brand storytelling site + subscription + tiered membership."
Custom build (or Shopify Headless).
- Fully bespoke experience
- Subscriptions, member points, dynamic pricing — all possible
- But only if you already know where customers are coming from. Custom sites don't generate their own traffic either.
Cost of picking wrong (real stories)
Brand A: handmade biscuits. Went straight to a custom site for $4,000. No traffic, didn't know how to run ads, sold 30 boxes in six months. Should have started on a marketplace.
Brand B: skincare. Did very well on a marketplace, $60K/year revenue. But platform fees ate $9,000, and every customer was the marketplace's customer — when they tried to migrate, almost no one followed. Should have moved to Shopify a year earlier.
Brand C: tea. 2,000 regulars, $180K/year, still on basic Shopify. Subscription feature requires a $79/mo Shopify app. Member dashboard requires another $49/mo app. They're paying $1,500+/year in app subscriptions instead of building it once.
My filtering logic (a quick test)
Three questions:
- Can you sell more than 30 orders/month right now?
- Not sure → marketplace to test
- Yes → next question
- Do you have your own audience? (IG followers, mailing list, existing customers)
- No → still marketplace
- Yes → next question
- Is anything unusual about your business model? (subscriptions, configurators, B2B tiers, member points)
- No → Shopify (90% of answers land here)
- Yes → custom site
For most small brands, the answer is Shopify. Marketplace is the testing stepping-stone; custom is the mature-stage option.
Bottom line: figure out which stage you're in
Picking wrong won't kill your business, but it'll cost you six months of detour. Six months you could spend on ads, community, product — every one of which is a better use of time than swapping platforms.
If you're stuck between the three, book a 15-minute call. Tell me your monthly volume, where customers come from, and what you want to build — I'll tell you straight which platform fits, not push you toward whichever one I happen to build on.
FAQ
Q: Can I do marketplace + Shopify at the same time? A: Yes — and it's often the smartest approach. Marketplace handles "traffic discovery, casual buyers"; Shopify handles "brand-building, repeat customers." Use Shopify as the inventory source of truth and sync to the marketplace.
Q: Is Shopify really $29/month? A: That's the subscription. Add payment processing (2.5-2.9%), apps (typically 3-5 = $30-80/month), theme (one-time $180-400) — realistic first-year monthly cost is $80-150.
Q: Won't a custom site save more on processing fees? A: Long term, yes — but the up-front cost + time usually offset it. Below ~$150K/year revenue, Shopify is almost always more economical.
Q: What about WooCommerce? A: Same family as WordPress — fine if you already have WP experience. But Shopify's app ecosystem and customisation flexibility have caught up significantly. Unless your budget is extremely tight and you have someone who can manage WP, I'd recommend Shopify.
Q: Is Stripe good for a global store? A: Stripe is solid for credit cards in most markets. For SEA / Latin America / specific local payment methods (cash-on-delivery, virtual bank transfer, e-invoicing), you'll need a regional gateway alongside it.