How to Leave Etsy and Start a Shop with Squarespace (and why you should!)
Online businesses are more valuable now than ever. People continue to gravitate toward shopping online rather than the traditional brick and mortar. It’s quick, convenient, and accessible to anyone no matter where they are!
Because of this, it’s important that if you have products to sell, you get them available for online purchase ASAP.
So what’s the best way to do this? Even if you’re a new e-commerce business, you’re probably familiar with Squarespace and Etsy! Both platforms are well known for what they can offer, however, they’re quite different and each has strengths that suit different needs.
Squarespace is great for biz owners who also want a beautiful website to accompany their online shop while Etsy is perfect for those who are drawn to the simple marketplace that they’ve become famous for.
Either way, it’s most important that you choose the platform that will help your unique business and make your life as a business owner as easy as possible. That’s why we’ll be breaking down the pros and cons of both Squarespace and Etsy, what you can achieve with each platform, what you should do if you’re already using Etsy and want to make the switch to Squarespace and MORE.
Let’s dive in!
Squarespace vs Etsy: The Pros and Cons of Both Platforms
Before you can make a decision about what platform to use or where you should keep your shop long term, it’s important that you are crystal clear about what each software can offer.
One of the greatest things about Etsy is that it’s an easy-to-use platform with a built-in storefront. Etsy also gives you access to an existing audience and streamlines the selling process.
The downside to using Etsy, however, is a lack of control. When you build your shop via a 3rd party platform, your business becomes subject to the whims of that platform. For example, when Etsy decides to randomly increase their fees (something they have done in the past, yikes!), your profit margins are going to be cut and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Alternatively, Squarespace allows you to take full control over your business by hosting everything in one space that’s controlled by you. From branding to pricing to messaging—you make the decisions for your storefront which gives you more flexibility in serving your clientele!
As you can see, both platforms have enticing features. But that’s just a bird’s-eye view, so let’s break things down a little more granularly to help you understand exactly how each system stacks up against the other.
What is Etsy?
Etsy is a marketplace and e-commerce platform mainly for retailers that offer handmade products, vintage items, digital products, and craft supplies (technically, you can sell anything, but they’ve become most well-known for smaller shops and hand-made goods).
It’s a straightforward and simple option for small businesses and individuals that want to get their products seen by a large audience and selling asap. And this is mostly thanks to the existing Etsy marketplace!
Think of Etsy like a mall. When you set up a shop page, it becomes similar to one of the stores within the mall. You get access to all of the people who are already there and looking for something to buy. These people are Etsy’s pre-established audience which is approximately 95 million active buyers (!!) as of December 2024.
So while you don’t get your own website with Etsy, you do get access to a bunch of potential customers the moment you sign up! You’ll also avoid many of the challenges that come hand-in-hand with starting a shop from scratch, since Etsy is specifically made so that there’s no extra fluff or confusing features. It’s purposely built so that creators can hop on and easily get a store up and running.
At the end of the day, Etsy is a really great starting point. However, for something long term, you might find that the limitations outweigh the simplicity and convenience. If you’re a retailer with a diverse inventory and high product turnover, you’ll almost certainly need a more feature-rich platform like Squarespace or even Shopify (which we’ll touch on a bit later).
It’s also worth noting that Etsy does provide an upgrade solution called Pattern, which enables you to build a store with your own domain and sell whatever you like while still using the Etsy engine. We’re not going to talk in-depth about this today as it’s not the “traditional” Etsy we're all familiar with, but it’s still good to have all the information!
All that being said, let’s dive into some more Etsy specifics:
Design
As you can probably guess, design flexibility is not one of Etsy’s strong suits. Most Etsy stores are going to look very similar and this is because there are limited options when it comes to customization.
Example of an Etsy Storefront
If you like the shop design, then great! If not, you’ll only be able to make changes to the colors, fonts, and photo styles in your store. You can also add your own unique profile image and store banner, but that’s where the customizing ends.
Users of the Etsy Plus premium plan will have access to some additional features, such as different layout options for featuring listings and highlighting specific sections or products, but even still, these features are limited.
Ease of Use
Etsy is extremely easy to use - our favorite thing about it!
This is mostly because there aren’t any complex features to begin with and, as stated above, the customization options are limited. You don’t even really have the choice to make things complicated if you wanted to.
Working with Etsy is also super convenient and straightforward. There aren’t any tricks or hidden steps for getting started and setting up a store takes little effort, even for users who have no web development or online selling experience.
Support
Although it’s unlikely you’ll run into any major issues, if you ever did need help with your store, Etsy has great support (even on the free plan).
Their help center is filled with super useful articles and training materials that should cover everything you would ever need, and they also have an easily accessible support team that you can email with more specific questions!
And if you still can’t find what you’re looking for, Etsy also has a community forum where you can connect with other sellers and seek advice.
Value for Money
At first glance, Etsy looks like the most cost-effective e-commerce platform on the market. It’s free to set up a store and even their premium option (Etsy Plus) only costs $10 per month. Their further upgraded software “Pattern” is also pretty cheap at $15 per month.
What you need to take into consideration, however, are the fees that come with running a store on Etsy! Here are some of the things you’ll end up paying for:
Set-up Fee: You may or may not be charged a one time set-up fee to open your shop depending on what type of promotions Etsy is currently running (this is totally up to their discretion).
Listing Fee: You will be charged $0.20 for each item that you list for sale.
Transaction Fee: When you make a sale, you will be charged a transaction fee of 6.5% of the displayed price for the sold item.
Payment Processing Fee: On top of the transaction fee, Etsy will charge you a payment processing fee which varies depending on the location of your bank account.
So yeah, it’s most definitely not FREE to have your shop on Etsy!
And because you’re paying sales fees, it will start to cost more as you sell more. This means that it’s important to keep a close eye on your sales in order to know just how much you’ll be paying any given month.
You can view some more specifics about Etsy pricing and fees here.
Recap
Advantages of Etsy:
Exposure to a large, pre-existing marketplace audience
Very easy to get started and to use
Inexpensive if you’re just starting out and not yet making many sales (great for beginners!)
Disadvantages of Etsy:
Very limited on design customization options
Limited sales features
High fees
You don’t have full control over your store
It’s possible, as a new seller, to get lost among the thousands of other stores
What is Squarespace E-Commerce?
Here at Big Cat Creative, we are all about Squarespace! You’ve probably heard us go on about it a ton, and that’s because we think it’s the best overall platform to build your entire website on for almost any business type.
And one of the amazing features they offer is Squarespace e-commerce. An online store experience that you can build and manage directly within your existing website.
The biggest difference between Squarespace and Etsy is that Squarespace is an entire website building platform, not a marketplace. Because of this, when you build a shop in Squarespace, you gain a lot more control and creative freedom. It also means that things can get quite a bit more complicated since you have access to tons of extra features both design wise and functionally.
Unfortunately, with Squarespace, you also lose access to the built-in audience that comes with Etsy. That means that you’ll need to work hard to drive traffic to your shop using various marketing strategies like Search Engine Optimization, Advertising and Social Media.
And when it comes to extra or hidden fees, don’t worry, you won’t find any with Squarespace! Because the platform “hosts” your store rather than owning it, you won’t be charged any transaction fees as long as you’re on one of their Commerce subscription plans. You will still have to pay a small payment processing fee, however it’s a fraction of the price compared to Etsy, and if you plan to sell a lot of products, this will end up being the more affordable option.
Now, let’s get into some more Squarespace specifics:
Design
One of the best things about Squarespace is their design flexibility and their library of templates!
You can choose from a ton of beautifully designed templates to start with for your website and customize them to look however you want. Then, when it’s time to add your shop, it will take on all of the same design settings and can even be customized further depending on your needs - you have full control over the design.
And if you’re worried about having too much design freedom, you can always choose to purchase one of our Premium Squarespace Templates for a gorgeous and fully functional Squarespace website.
We also offer expertly designed Shop Page add-ons so that you can have a show stopping storefront up and running quickly! Our Shop Pages are designed to match each one of our Premium Templates, but can also be purchased a-la-carte and added to any Squarespace 7.1 website.
Ease of Use
If you’ve never used the Squarespace Fluid Engine Editor before, there can be a bit of a learning curve, but ultimately, Squarespace was created to be accessible for DIY website designers. This means that all of their features are very intuitive and can be easily learned no matter how much experience you have.
In other words, you’re definitely going to need to put in some practice hours, however, once you are familiar with the platform, making customizations becomes a very simple task!
And, as long as you aren’t trying to do any crazy advanced customizations, building a shop through Squarespace e-commerce is very straightforward. With all of the guidelines and tutorials they provide, you’ll be able to manage the e-commerce dashboard easily and feel like a pro seller fast.
👉 Squarespace 7.0, 7.1, Fluide Engine, Classic Editor - What are the Differences?
Support
The support Squarespace offers is top-notch. You can get in touch with a team member via live chat or email whenever you need and they also have community forums and free webinars for extended support.
Squarespace also has one of the best, most comprehensive help centers out there! You can search any topic you need and find guides, step-by-step tutorials and videos right at your fingertips. You name it, the Squarespace help center will be able to help you work through it.
Value for Money
All in all, Squarespace offers superb value for money.
Squarespace’s Plus and Advanced plans (these used to be considered “Commerce” plans) include unlimited products, professional shipping and tax services, sales funnel analytics, abandoned cart recovery and so much more.
Plus, you have the option to sell digital products, subscription services, and gift cards at no extra cost!
Squarespace also has Etsy beat with their exponentially lower payment processing fees. At 2.7% + $0.30 for Plus and 2.5% + $0.03 for Advanced, you’ll be saving all that "fee money" by going with Squarespace and won’t need to worry about any other added expenses.
Check out more specific details for Squarespace pricing here!
Recap
Advantages of Squarespace e-commerce:
Unlimited product listings
Stylish templates
Easy-to-use DIY site builder and management dashboard
Marketing and SEO features
More control and creative freedom
Disadvantages of Squarespace e-commerce:
No built-in marketplace/audience
Requires more effort to get users to visit store
A bit more complicated and time consuming to use
Some small selling restrictions like only allowing one currency and language
How do Squarespace and Etsy compare to Shopify?
Now that you’ve received the full download on both Squarespace and Etsy, let’s talk about where Shopify lands amongst the two!
Again, if you’re in the e-commerce space (or are trying to be) then you’ve most likely heard of Shopify. It’s another one of the online selling heavy hitters and has a ton of its own incredible features.
First things first, Shopify has always been an e-commerce based platform. That’s what it was created for! The sole purpose of Shopify is to sell products and services online, and they do it well. They offer every possible e-commerce feature from easy checkout to advanced filtering to wholesale - it’s basically an online seller’s Disneyland.
This means that, by nature, Shopify is going to be way more capable for large volume, long term selling.
Squarespace, on the other hand, added e-commerce capabilities later on due to high demand, even though it originally started as a content-based platform, and Etsy really is more geared toward small, grass roots sellers. So, if you’re anticipating the need for more advanced selling features down the line, Shopify should definitely be on your radar!
Here are some other things to consider when it comes to Shopify:
Ease of Use: Shopify isn’t an all-in-one platform and does rely pretty heavily on 3rd party apps or plugins for the various features that you might want on your website. This makes it a little bit more complicated functionality wise as you’ll need to have knowledge of both the Shopify platform as well as any other plugins that you’re using (and some of them aren’t the simplest to use).
Design: Shopify does use templates (or themes as they call them) for getting started, but the built-in customization options are super limited which means you’ll likely need to either learn some custom coding yourself or hire a developer to help you achieve your ultimate goal.
Pricing: Shopify’s pricing model isn’t too different from Squarespace’s other than the fact that they offer some more pricey custom options for large businesses. You’ll also need to consider whether or not the apps & plugins you’re installing cost extra or if you’ll be hiring a developer to help you with some of the more advanced coding.
There is quite a lot more to consider when you add Shopify into the mix, and we have a full Squarespace vs Shopify comparison guide that you should definitely check out if you’re considering Shopify as a potential option!
👉 Squarespace vs Shopify - Which Platform is Better for an Online Store?
How to Leave Etsy and Start a Shop with Squarespace
If you’re reading all of this thinking that it might be time to make a change, or if you’ve been eager to switch from Etsy for a while, now could be a great time for you to take your shop into your own domain (literally) with Squarespace!
The best method for making the switch, in our opinion, is actually to keep your products on Etsy and make the move gradually. If you’re already making consistent sales and have put in the work to list your products on the Etsy platform, then there’s no reason to shut it all down right away.
Here’s what we would do:
Get started with Squarespace. Create an account and start designing your website and online shop. Or, purchase a Premium Template to make things even easier.
Set up a system to redirect your existing audience. Whether this is adding a note along with each sold product or creating a social media strategy, start letting your customers know that you’ll be moving (or already have).
Spend some time selling on BOTH platforms. Eventually, if you start to make enough sales via Squarespace, you might consider permanently shutting down your Etsy shop, but why not take advantage of both platforms for as long as you can?! This won’t hurt you or your business, as long as you can handle the management and upkeep.
Having your shop in multiple places can only help your sales! However, putting all of your eggs in the “Etsy basket” means that you’ll always be subject to their changes, their algorithm and their fees, regardless of whether it works for you or not.
Think about it as diversifying and setting yourself up for long-term success. You don’t need to quick Etsy cold turkey, but you should look out for the best interest of your brand!
How to Create a Squarespace Shop
Alright, if you’re ready to get started on your Squarespace shop now, here’s a super quick step-by-step run down of what to do!
Sign up for a Squarespace account.
Select a template. You can either choose from one of Squarespace’s pre-designed templates or upgrade to one of our Premium Squarespace Templates and Shop Page add-ons!
Design a digital storefront with all your branding in place.
Add products to sell and upload all photos and product descriptions to your shop.
Connect a payment processor. Squarespace supports Stripe, Apple Pay, Paypal, and Square (for in-person selling).
Set up your shipping and tax options (if applicable).
Promote your store!
Now, this is a very simple outline of how to create a Squarespace shop, so if you’re looking for some more in-depth instructions on all that Squarespace e-commerce has to offer, check out our much more detailed blog post here before getting started! There, you’ll learn the ins and outs of adding products, optimizing for SEO, and how to best utilize features like payments, marketing, shipping, accounting, and more.
Squarespace E-Commerce Inspiration
As mentioned previously, one of the biggest advantages that Squarespace e-commerce has over Etsy is the flexibility in design and customization.
Etsy shops all feature a uniform storefront and therefore, it’s pretty easy for your shop to get lost in the crowd. Having your own uniquely customized storefront, on the other hand, can make the shopping experience more engaging and therefore lead to higher conversion rates. Yes, please!
While we're still partial to our stunning Shop Page add-ons, here are a few other unique storefronts that we’ve found inspirational to get your gears spinning:
1. Studio Luxe
In perfect alignment with the brand name, Studio Luxe highlights a luxurious and clean storefront. Their products are displayed in a simple grid but the storefront utilizes design elements like lines and boxes to focus the customer’s gaze on important product features.
2. Natural Quirks
Natural Quirks showcases a bright and bold storefront for their unique floral & fauna-inspired prints. The header features a simple animation that mimics the movement found in nature and their Squarespace shop exhibits their colorful pieces against a neutral cream backdrop.
3. Alexandra Grecco
Alexandra Grecco is the prime example of a minimal accessories shop done right. Bold elements are all the rage right now, but there’s still something to be said about a timeless, all-white aesthetic (especially in the context of weddings). This Squarespace storefront keeps it on-brand with a bright display and plenty of preview photos.
Overall, Squarespace and Etsy are both wonderful platforms with features that allow any business to be successful (if you put in the work!). Deciding which one is best for you really will come down to your personal business needs and what you’re willing and able to accommodate.
It’s also entirely possible to utilize both platforms at the same time! Like we mentioned above, selling products on both Squarespace and Etsy is only going to help your sales, so if you’re not sure where to start or feel like you could use the initial help of Etsy’s built-in marketplace - get set up on both and go from there.
And with Etsy’s free getting started rate and Squarespace’s generous 2 week free trial, you can always experiment with both platforms to see what works for you!
Want more Squarespace tips? Check out these posts:
Crafting the Perfect Sales Page on Squarespace
Where to Find Free Graphics and Icons (and how to use them effectively)
A Complete Guide to Unique Image Layouts in Squarespace
The Best Linktree Alternative: How to Create a Custom Link in Bio Page on Squarespace
How to Add a Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions to Your Squarespace Website
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