Etsy or Shopify for a candle maker: the numbers
2026-11-01 · Frontubo
Most articles on this topic stop at “Shopify costs a monthly fee, Etsy takes a cut.” That is true and not much use. What you want to know is at what monthly sales a store of your own costs you less, and what you give up to get there. Here is one worked example for a candle maker. Put your own figures into the fee calculator for the real answer.
The example
- An average order of $28 (one candle, or a candle and a small item).
- Shopify Basic at $39 a month, billed monthly in the US. Billed yearly it is $29. Shopify Payments card fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per order.
- Etsy’s fees as of 2026-10-31: 6.5% transaction fee, 3% + $0.25 payment processing per order, $0.20 listing renewal when an item sells, and, for orders that come through Offsite Ads, 15% of the order (12% above $10,000 in sales over the last year).
- No apps, no custom domain cost, and shipping left out of both sides. Etsy also takes 6.5% of what you charge for shipping, which this example ignores.
What each side takes in a month
| Month | Orders | Etsy, no ad orders | Etsy, 30% of sales through Offsite Ads | Shopify Basic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $500 | 18 | $55.60 | $78.10 | $58.90 |
| $1,000 | 36 | $111.20 | $156.20 | $78.80 |
| $2,000 | 71 | $221.95 | $311.95 | $118.30 |
| $3,000 | 107 | $333.15 | $468.15 | $158.10 |
At $500 a month with no ad orders, Etsy is still a little cheaper. By $1,000 a store costs about $32 less than Etsy with no ads, and about $77 less if a third of your sales come through Offsite Ads.
Where the lines cross
On these assumptions the store is cheaper above roughly $547 a month if you pay for Shopify monthly and none of your Etsy sales come through ads. On the yearly plan it drops to about $406. If 30% of your sales come through Offsite Ads, the figures are about $335 and $249.
The crossing point depends mostly on two things you can look up in your own shop: your average order value and how much of your income Offsite Ads touched. A lower average order makes the flat per-order fees weigh more on both platforms, but more on Etsy because it has two of them and Shopify has one.
What the table leaves out
This is the part that decides it. Fees are the cheap part of selling on Etsy because Etsy brings the shoppers. A new store has none. Everything that makes a store cheaper per sale only helps if people arrive, and each person who arrives through your email list, your market stall or the card in the parcel is one Etsy did not have to find for you.
So the comparison above is really a comparison of your sales from people who already know you. If most of your orders are returning customers and people who follow you, a store pays back sooner than the table says. If almost all of them are strangers who typed “soy candle” into Etsy, the store saves you fees on sales you may never get.
Other costs that do not appear: a domain (usually $10 to $20 a year), any paid apps, your time to set it up and keep it running, and the sales tax and VAT setup, which differs by country.
What we would do
- Under about $500 a month and mostly new customers: stay on Etsy for now. Collect emails with a card in each parcel, and revisit in three months.
- Between $500 and $1,500, with regulars: open a store alongside Etsy. Use it for repeat customers, wholesale enquiries and your own sales. Keep Etsy as the shop window.
- Above that, or when Offsite Ads has taken a lot: the fee difference is large enough that it is worth moving the people who already buy from you to your own store.
Nothing here means closing your Etsy shop. Most makers who open a store keep both.
If you decide to open one
We build ready-made stores for candle makers, soap makers and skincare brands. The Basic design is free, and you pay Shopify for your plan. See the candle designs, or read how to bring your Etsy listings across. We earn from Shopify if you later pay for a plan, so weigh our view of when you should move accordingly. The numbers above do not depend on us.
Sources and limits
Etsy rates: Etsy’s Help Center article “Etsy Fee Basics” and its Fees & Payments Policy, read 2026-10-31. Shopify: its US pricing page the same day. Both change, and the calculator uses the same figures. These numbers are US prices and US card rates; the UK and the euro area differ. We have not run a candle business on either platform, so the example uses your costs as inputs, not ours.