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Choosing an eCommerce Platform

Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Etsy, eBay and Amazon compared: fees, fit and what each one tells you about your sales.

Choosing where to sell decides almost everything that comes after it: your fees, how much of your customer data you keep, and which reports you get. These comparisons put the platforms and marketplaces side by side so you can choose with that in mind.

How should you compare ecommerce platforms?

Start with how you sell, not with the feature list. A maker selling handmade goods, a brand running its own store, and a reseller on marketplaces need different things. Each comparison here covers fees, control over your store, the audience you get access to, and what each platform lets you measure.

What is the difference between a store platform and a marketplace?

A store platform such as Shopify, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce runs your own site, so you keep the customer and the data. A marketplace such as Amazon, Etsy, or eBay brings the buyers but owns the relationship. Many sellers end up on both, which is when reporting across them gets hard.

Which comparisons should you read?