Questions and Answers About Running an Etsy Shop and a Shopify Store At The Same Time

Do you have an Etsy shop and thinking about expanding to your own website on Shopify?

Or… maybe you’re currently working on setting up your own website on Shopify, while still maintaining your Etsy shop.

Or… maybe you already have your own website on Shopify, as well as an Etsy shop.

If any of these scenarios apply to you, I’ve got some tips you might find helpful.

I help Etsy shops get started with their own websites on the Shopify platform – and I get asked a lot of questions about what to do with your Etsy shop, while you’re also creating and running a Shopify website.

This article will cover these topics to help you decide how you want to run your Shopify shop along with Etsy .

If you have questions that are not covered here, please post your questions in a comment below, and I will be happy to answer.

Question: Should I close my Etsy shop when I open my Shopify website?

ANSWER:

Obviously this is up to you, but I do recommend that Etsy shop owners keep their Etsy’s shops open (at least for a little while), as they are running their new Shopify websites. There are several reasons for this:

New websites don’t generally just start attracting traffic and sales immediately on their own. It takes time (several months to several years) to start seeing really good sales as a result of promoting and marketing a new website. If you closed your Etsy shop as soon as (or before) your own website was ready, and if you care about or rely on your sales, you could potentially lose out on some sales.
Another reason to keep your Etsy shop open is that you can use your Etsy shop to form relationships with buyers. Once you have a relationship established, those buyers will be able to choose where they wish to purchase from you – your Etsy shop or your website. Include your website on your packaging slips, thank you cards, business cards. Every touch-point with a buyer is your chance to promote your own website!
You can link to your own website from your Etsy shop on your About Page and in your Profile. I highly recommend you do this! This shows the traffic that finds you on Etsy that you also have your own website, and you have the potential to drive more sales to your website. (NOTE: Make sure you read the rules on Etsy regarding “fee avoidance” to ensure you comply with those rules).

TIPS:

If you sell a large variety of items, you might want to consider selling one type of item on Etsy and a different type of item in your Shopify store – at least initially. This way, you can easily promote your own website in addition to your Etsy shop without competing between the two. Then, when you feel your Shopify website is more established, you could switch all products over to your website, if that’s what you wanted to do. Just a possibility.
If you have a blog on your Shopify store, you can also post a link to your blog within the Etsy About Us page. Again, another way to drive more traffic to your website. You can also include a sign-up form on your blog and encourage your Etsy customers to sign up to receive future blog posts via email. That way, you can keep in touch with your customers on a regular basis.

Question: Should I put my Etsy shop on Vacation while I set up my Shopify website?

ANSWER #1:

Again, this choice is yours to make, but I do NOT recommend you put your Etsy shop on vacation while working on your Shopify store. There are several reasons for this:

I have never personally put my Etsy shop on vacation, but I have heard from many sellers on Etsy that you have to build up your momentum again when you return… which makes sense from an SEO standpoint. The main reason is – search engines like fresh content. If nothing is happening on a website, that URL won’t get crawled and indexed as often. So vacation mode can affect your SEO to some degree.
When your shop is in vacation mode on Etsy, buyers who land on your shop obviously won’t be able to purchase from you (none of your products will be shown) and you’ve just lost a potential touch-point with a customer. In my opinion, any sale is a good sale. And now you have a buyer who likes your shop that you can market to. By “market to”, I mean you can include a business card, or Thank You card to that buyer that includes your website URL. You can also include a note about your email newsletter, giving buyers the opportunity to sign up for the newsletter. If they do, you can send them email marketing related to your website. If your shop were on vacation, none of this would be possible.

TIPS:

If you decide to put your Etsy shop on vacation, be sure to change your shop announcement so that your own website is very prominent for customers to see. You could have your announcement say something like: “We’re expanding and we’re excited! Come check out our new shop at [URL to shop here] – where searching is easy and shopping is fun!”
Also make sure your About page on Etsy explains your new website, and make sure that first clickable link in your About page goes to your own website, followed by your blog, and then the other social media outlets you use.

ANSWER #2:

Of course, if you are completely fed up with the never-ending changes on Etsy, and are willing to go full-steam ahead with your own website, then by all means – go for it! Close your Etsy shop and focus 100% of your skills on your own website! Some people don’t want to have to worry about managing two platforms, and do better with just one.

TIP:

If this second answer sounds like your preference, then I do recommend you start promoting your new Shopify website even BEFORE you launch! You can have an “Opening Soon” page for your Shopify website, and you can promote your shop like crazy before it’s even ready to “go live”. This also helps boost your SEO, so that when you do open, you’ll already have an established customer base, email marketing list, and SEO working in your favor!

Question: How can I run my Etsy shop in parallel with my Shopify website?

ANSWER:

There are so many ways you can run your Etsy shop along with your Shopify store. Here are some ideas.

Sell Different Things

As I mentioned above, you could keep both your Etsy shop and your Shopify website open and running at the same time, selling different things in each shop. This allows you to broaden your selling base for both types of items. For example, you could promote your Shopify website to your Etsy customers, and your Etsy shop to your Shopify customers. With this method, whatever type of item you think sells best on Etsy could stay there, and all other items could be sold on Shopify. At some point when your Shopify vwebsite is more established, you could then switch everything over to your Shopify store if you wanted, so that you would only have to maintain sales on one platform.

Sell in Parallel

When you are first starting out with your own Shopify website, selling the same items on both platforms is another possibility. Just make sure you don’t steer your Etsy customers to your own website, as this is considered fee avoidance by Etsy, and your shop could potentially be shut down. For example, if a customer contacts you on Etsy wanting to buy an item you have listed there, don’t tell that customer that you have the same item at a cheaper price on your Shopify website. Complete the sale on Etsy and move on. Don’t forget to include a business card or Thank You card in with that shipment, that lists your own Shopify website – and don’t forget to ask that customer to sign up for your newsletter. Once they see you have your own website, they may wish to purchase from you through your website in the future, versus through your Etsy shop. Nothing wrong with that!

TIP: You can use an app to help you maintain the same inventory on both platforms. For example, an app such as Trunk can be used for inventory management.

TIP: If you initially start out selling the same items on both platforms, when an item listing expires on Etsy, you could choose not to relist it on Etsy and just keep that item listed on your Shopify website. Remember that there are no listing fees on Shopify, so you don’t have to worry about a relisting fee, like you would on Etsy every 4 months.

TIP: Once your Shopify store starts to gain momentum, you’ll have a better feel for what kinds of items would sell better on your Shopify website vs. items that sell better on Etsy. You’ll also have an easier time determining which items you’re willing to pay Etsy a final value commission on, and which items you’re not willing to do that with (those items stay on Shopify). Over time, you might get to a point where you don’t have the same item listed on both platforms, and you can then make a decision as to which platform you prefer over the other (I’m pretty sure I know what platform wins out).

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