Is it better to sell on Amazon or to run your own store?
It is not an all-or-nothing decision. The useful question is not which one wins, but how much margin each channel leaves you and who owns the customer in the end.
Short answer
- Amazon brings traffic from day one, but charges a referral fee per sale plus a subscription if you sell on a professional plan.
- Your own store has a fixed monthly cost and takes no percentage of each order beyond the payment gateway.
- On a marketplace the customer belongs to the marketplace: you get no email address and cannot build loyalty directly.
- Your own store requires investment in acquisition: SEO, content, social media or advertising.
- The most common combination is using the marketplace as a shop window and your own store as the margin channel.
Comparing the two channels
Marketplace versus your own store
| Aspect | Marketplace | Your own store |
|---|---|---|
| Main cost | Referral fee per sale plus monthly plan | Fixed platform fee |
| Traffic | Immediate, but with internal competition | You have to build it |
| Customer data | The marketplace's | Yours |
| Brand | Diluted in the product listing | Full control of design and message |
| Risk | Account suspension or rule changes | Depending on your own acquisition |
Practical example
Example: you sell a product at €40 with a €22 cost. On a marketplace charging a 15% referral fee you pay €6 per sale, so from around 40 orders a month the percentage already exceeds a fixed platform fee. The maths changes if those 40 orders only exist because the marketplace brings the traffic: then your own store does not replace the channel, it complements it.
Common mistakes
- Comparing only the referral fee and forgetting the monthly plan, logistics and internal advertising.
- Relying on a single channel: one account suspension takes the business to zero.
- Copying the marketplace listing descriptions verbatim into your own store.
- Launching your own store with no acquisition plan and expecting sales in week one.
How 4shopy helps
- The cost is a fixed monthly fee, with no percentage on each order.
- Customer and order data are yours and can be exported.
- The catalogue is managed in one place even if you keep selling on the marketplace too.
- Product pages are built to rank and to be cited by AI-powered search engines.