Etsy puts you in a marketplace with millions of other sellers. Your listings compete for attention, and Etsy takes 6.5% of every sale. E2C gives you your own branded store, your own customers, and fees that are less than a third of Etsy's.
Etsy and E2C solve different problems. Here's what sets them apart.
On Etsy, customers shop "Etsy" first — your shop is one of millions. E2C gives you a standalone store at your own URL where your brand is front and center. No competing listings, no Etsy branding.
Etsy charges 6.5% transaction fee + $0.20 per listing + payment processing. E2C charges just 1.99% + payment processing. For most sellers, E2C's total take is less than half of Etsy's.
On Etsy, the customer relationship belongs to Etsy. On E2C, your customers contact you directly through your built-in inbox. Your customer list is yours — not locked inside a platform you don't own.
A side-by-side look at what each platform provides.
| Feature |
E2C Store
$0/month
|
Etsy
Free + fees
|
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $0 | $0 (or $10/mo for Etsy Plus) |
| Transaction fee (platform) | 1.99% | 6.5% |
| Listing fee | None | $0.20 per listing (every 4 months) |
| Offsite advertising fee | None | 12–15% (mandatory for eligible sellers) |
| Your own branded store URL | — | |
| Store customization | Very limited | |
| No competing sellers on your page | — | |
| Own your customer data | Limited — Etsy owns the relationship | |
| Unlimited products | Yes (at $0.20 each) | |
| Product variants (size, color, etc.) | ||
| Built-in analytics | ||
| Built-in marketing tools | Etsy Ads (paid) | |
| Customer reviews | ||
| Customer message inbox | ||
| Credit card required to start | Not required | Payment method required |
| Built-in marketplace traffic | E2C marketplace | |
| Start Free | etsy.com |
Etsy's Offsite Ads fee (12–15%) applies automatically when Etsy promotes your listings externally. Pricing as of 2025.
Etsy is a shared marketplace — your products sit alongside millions of other sellers and you compete for visibility within Etsy's platform. E2C gives you your own independent store at your own URL. Your brand is front and center, there are no competing sellers next to your products, and you control the customer experience.
Etsy charges 6.5% transaction fee + $0.20 per listing + payment processing (3% + $0.25 in the US). E2C charges 1.99% + payment processing. At $1,000/month in sales, E2C costs roughly half of what Etsy does. At $5,000/month, you save around $245/month — that's $2,940/year.
Etsy's built-in marketplace traffic is a genuine advantage, especially for new sellers without an audience. E2C offers both a standalone store and access to the E2C marketplace. While the E2C marketplace doesn't get as much traffic as Etsy, it's still a possible source of traffic. You can also drive your own traffic through social media, word of mouth, email, and your store's QR code. E2C includes marketing tools to help — but building an audience takes time and effort.
Yes, many sellers do exactly this. They use Etsy for marketplace discovery and E2C as their standalone branded store to build direct customer relationships and reduce fees over time. Since E2C is free to start, there's no cost to running both in parallel.
Etsy automatically promotes eligible listings on external platforms like Google and Facebook. When a sale results from one of these ads, Etsy charges an additional 12–15% fee on top of the regular transaction and processing fees. This is mandatory for sellers who have made at least one sale — you cannot opt out once you reach this threshold. E2C has no equivalent fee.
Yes. You can download your product data from Etsy and add your listings on E2C. Our support team is available to help you get set up. Most stores are ready to launch within a day.
Many sellers use both: Etsy for discovery and E2C as their primary store to build direct relationships and reduce fees over time.