Etsy vs Amazon Handmade: which should a maker sell on first?

Quick picks

What are Etsy and Amazon Handmade?

So Etsy and Amazon Handmade are both marketplaces. That means one big website where many sellers list items and shoppers come to browse. You don't build your own store. You list items inside theirs.

Etsy is open to anyone who opens a shop. Amazon Handmade is a maker-only section inside Amazon, and you have to apply and be approved before you can sell there.

Now keep in mind the rules on this page about who can sell and what you can list are each platform's own rules, not laws.

Who can sell on Etsy, and who can sell on Amazon Handmade?

Basically, Etsy lets you in first and checks your items afterward. Amazon checks you first.

• Etsy: There's no application. You open a shop with an ID check, a bank account and a card on file, as Etsy's help article How to open an Etsy shop describes. Our how to start an Etsy shop guide walks through the screens.
• Amazon Handmade: You need an Amazon seller account on the Professional selling plan, which is Amazon's $39.99 a month seller package (checked October 16, 2026). Then you apply. Amazon's Handmade page says you submit "information about you, your products, and your process." Amazon's Handmade page gives no approval time and doesn't list what the form asks. Amazon says it uses the application "to ensure customers can buy with confidence."

If you have Amazon's cheaper Individual plan, Amazon's Handmade page says to upgrade to Professional under Manage Your Services to unlock Handmade. Our Individual vs Professional plan guide covers the difference.

What counts as handmade on Etsy and on Amazon Handmade?

So this is where Etsy and Amazon Handmade differ the most. Etsy accepts far more kinds of items.

• Etsy: Etsy's Creativity Standards, last updated June 10, 2025, allow four kinds of items. The first is items made by the seller. The second is items designed by the seller, which includes digital downloads and your own designs made for you by an outside company you name on the listing. The third is items handpicked by the seller, such as vintage. The fourth is items sourced by the seller, such as craft supplies. Etsy doesn't allow items put together from a manufacturer's instructions, or a store-bought item with only a small surface change.
• Amazon Handmade: Amazon's Handmade page accepts items you hand-altered, hand-designed, handcrafted, repurposed or upcycled. Approved makers and groups such as cooperatives and nonprofits can sell. Amazon's Handmade page lists its categories, including Jewelry & Watches, Kitchen & Dining, Artwork, Pet Supplies and Toys & Games. Amazon says items in unlisted categories may not be sold in the Handmade store.

Amazon's category list doesn't show vintage, digital downloads or craft supplies. That's my reading of the list, not a rule Amazon states. Reselling something you didn't make is against Amazon's Handmade rules.

And Amazon can review makers and remove listings. Amazon's Handmade terms say makers will be notified and in most cases can appeal. They also say a maker who repeatedly tries to get around Amazon's decisions may lose Handmade selling permanently.

How do Etsy and Amazon Handmade compare side by side?

Now here are the same facts for both, for a US seller selling to US buyers in US dollars. Every price and fee in this table was checked October 16, 2026.

Etsy's figures come from Etsy's Fees & Payments Policy, last updated October 5, 2026, and its Etsy Payments Policy, last updated July 31, 2026, and Etsy's help page Why hasn't my money been deposited yet? for the 14 day wait. Amazon's figures come from its Handmade referral fees page, its seller pricing page and its Handmade get started page. Our Etsy fees explained page and Amazon seller fees explained page go deeper on each.

Something to note is that some blogs print a higher minimum fee or a different rate for jewelry on Amazon Handmade. Amazon's own Handmade pages say $0.30 and 15 percent, so that's what I use.

Which should a maker start with, Etsy or Amazon Handmade?

So here is my answer for each kind of maker. This section is my opinion, based on the rules and fees on this page.

• If you make personalized items, have no audience, and want to open this week, I'd start on Etsy. Etsy has no application, and personalization is built into Etsy's rules.
• If you make items that aren't personalized, in one of Amazon's listed categories, and you can ship each order within the time you promise, Amazon Handmade is worth applying to. You pay no listing fee and no separate card fee.
• If you sell vintage items, digital downloads or craft supplies, start on Etsy. Amazon's Handmade list doesn't include those.
• If you want to build a following of your own customers, neither marketplace is the answer. Shopify is the one to look at, and there's a short section on it below.

But keep in mind that many makers use both, and nothing on either platform's pages stops you from having a shop on each. Now let's look at the money.

How much do Etsy and Amazon Handmade cost on the same orders?

Basically, Amazon's cut is one flat 15 percent, and Etsy's cut is several smaller pieces added together. So I'll show the math both ways, one order first, then a month of sales.

What I assumed

• Who and where: A US seller, US buyers, US dollars, and buyers paying by card.
• Orders: Every order is $50 for the monthly table, with shipping built into the $50 and no sales tax. That is my assumption, not an average. $1,000 in sales is 20 orders, $3,000 is 60 orders and $5,000 is 100 orders. One item per order.
• Etsy: One $0.20 listing renewal per sale. No Etsy Plus. The one-time set-up fee is left out because it's charged once. These numbers match our Etsy fees vs Shopify fees page.
• Etsy Offsite Ads scenario: 20 percent of sales come from a click on an Etsy Offsite Ad, charged at 15 percent. The 20 percent is my assumption, not an Etsy number.
• Amazon Handmade: Approved, on the Professional plan with the monthly fee waived, no FBA, and every item at the 15 percent rate.
• Left out on both sides: The cost of making the item, postage, packaging, taxes, returns, ads you buy yourself and Amazon FBA fees.

One $30 sale

Here the buyer pays $30 in total, with shipping included.

• Etsy, no Offsite Ads: Transaction fee 0.065 x 30 = $1.95. Card fee 0.03 x 30 + 0.25 = $1.15. Listing renewal $0.20. Total $3.30, so you keep $26.70 before product and postage.
• Etsy, sale from an Offsite Ad: Add 0.15 x 30 = $4.50. Total $7.80, so you keep $22.20.
• Amazon Handmade: 0.15 x 30 = $4.50, which is more than the $0.30 minimum. So you keep $25.50.

So on a $30 sale, Amazon Handmade costs $1.20 more than Etsy without ads, and $3.30 less than an Etsy sale that came from an Offsite Ad.

A month of $50 orders

These fees were checked October 16, 2026. In your first month on Amazon, add $39.99 once for the Professional plan. At $1,000 that first month, Amazon comes to 150 + 39.99 = $189.99, which is 19.0 percent.

Now order size changes the picture. Etsy's flat 25 cent card fee and 20 cent listing fee hurt more on small orders, and Amazon's flat 15 percent hurts more on big ones.

• A $20 order: Etsy is 1.30 + 0.60 + 0.25 + 0.20 = $2.35 (11.75%). Amazon is 0.15 x 20 = $3.00 (15%).
• A $100 order: Etsy is 6.50 + 3.00 + 0.25 + 0.20 = $9.95 (9.95%). Amazon is $15.00 (15%).

And past $10,000 in sales in 365 days, Etsy's Offsite Ads fee becomes 12 percent on every order from an Offsite Ad click, and you can no longer opt out. Our Offsite Ads explained page covers that. Amazon has no fee like it. Our is Etsy worth it page weighs the whole Etsy bill.

What does applying to Amazon Handmade look like, step by step?

So here is what a beginner sees first. The application form itself sits behind Amazon's seller sign-in, so it isn't shown here. Amazon's help pages say you give information about you, your products and your process.

1. Go to Amazon's Handmade page. The headline says "Join our maker-only community of sellers." You'll see two buttons, "Apply to Handmade" and "Watch overview," and a line under them reading "Don't have an account? Sign up today."

   

   Amazon's Handmade page as it looked in February 2025, from Lyrical River Designs' video. The page text above uses Amazon's current wording and prices.

2. If you don't have an account, click "Sign up today." Seller Central, Amazon's website for sellers, shows a "Create account" box with four fields: Your name, Email, Password and Re-enter password. Below them is a yellow "Next" button.

   

   Amazon Seller Central's account sign-up box in a 2025 video, with every field empty, from Lyrical River Designs' video.

3. Make sure your selling plan is Professional. Amazon's Handmade page says Individual plan holders upgrade under Manage Your Services. Amazon's seller pricing page lists Professional at $39.99 a month, checked October 16, 2026.
4. Click "Apply to Handmade," confirm you'll follow the Handmade guidelines, and submit information about you, your products and your process.
5. Check your application status in Seller Central with your email and the confirmation code Amazon gives you.

Amazon's Handmade page doesn't say how long approval takes. One Handmade seller says in a November 2025 video that commenters usually waited 24 to 48 hours. That's one seller's report, not Amazon's word, and she sells a course in the video. One poster in a Seller Central forum thread about two years old said their application was rejected with no specific reason. These are single reports, not rates.

Our how to start selling on Amazon guide covers the full seller account set-up.

What does listing an item on Etsy look like?

Now Etsy has no application, so the next thing a new seller sees is the listing editor. Etsy's newer editor offers a "Choose a listing method" screen with two options, "Standard list" and "Quick list." Etsy labels Quick list "Early access," which means it's a test version, so Etsy may change it.

In Quick list, you add photos and a description, and Etsy fills in suggestions for the category, tags and other details. Tabs along the top then walk you through the rest.

Etsy's Quick list form, with the blue banner saying which fields Etsy auto-filled, as it looked on October 14, 2026, from Mike L Lane's video.

The tabs are Previously entered, Item Details, Item Options, Pricing & Shipping, How It's Made, Legal and compliance, and Settings. At the bottom you can click Cancel, Preview, Save as draft or Publish. Each listing you publish costs $0.20, checked October 16, 2026.

Which one is better for personalized and custom orders?

So Etsy fits personalized work more easily. Etsy's rules say a listing can offer personalization. The first photo on that listing has to show a finished personalized item, not a placeholder like "Your Text Here." Etsy's transaction fee applies to any extra personalization charge you add to the price.

Amazon Handmade handles personalization through the Amazon Custom program. Amazon's Handmade page says you register for Amazon Custom to personalize or set up products to a customer's wishes. Custom products must be shipped by you and can't use FBA. The production time you set can be 1 to 30 days and should include the time for the customization. Amazon's pages describe no way to message a buyer and agree on a price for a one-off piece. So Amazon Custom works for options you set up ahead of time.

What are the shipping rules on Etsy and on Amazon Handmade?

Now Amazon's rules are stricter, and you set them on every listing. These come from Amazon's Handmade fulfilling orders page, checked October 16, 2026.

• You set the quantity and the production time on every listing. If you can't make an item right now, set the quantity to zero.
• You must ship within the production time you set. If you leave it blank, Amazon uses a default of 1 to 2 handling days.
• You must confirm shipment within 30 days of the order date, or Amazon cancels the order and you aren't paid, even if you shipped the order.

On Etsy, you ship the order yourself, and Etsy sells discounted postage labels on its sell page. Etsy has nothing like FBA.

Basically, FBA means you send a batch of items to Amazon's warehouses, and Amazon stores, packs and ships each order. Amazon's Handmade pages say Handmade items that aren't personalized can use Fulfillment by Amazon, and FBA fees are on top of the 15 percent. FBA fees aren't included in the numbers on this page. Our FBA vs FBM page covers the choice.

Which one sends more shoppers to makers?

So Amazon doesn't publish a shopper number for Handmade, and I'd rather say that than guess.

• Etsy: Etsy's Q2 2026 shareholder letter, dated August 5, 2026, reports about 87 million active buyers, meaning people who bought on Etsy, over the last 12 months. The letter says active buyers were roughly flat from a year earlier.
• Amazon Handmade: Amazon's Handmade page gives no buyer count. Amazon's catalog reclassification page says Handmade products appear when customers search and browse in standard Amazon categories, checked October 16, 2026.

Now here are seller reports, and these are single accounts, not rates. In one Seller Central forum thread about two years old, four sellers said their Handmade sales dropped after Amazon's category changes. One said monthly sales fell from $7,000 to under $500, and another said Etsy sales doubled while Handmade fell. You can read the thread yourself.

And the opposite happens too. In a March 2026 video, one Handmade seller said Amazon brought in about $60,000 in 2024, against about $2,000 in her last full year on Etsy. She credited Amazon's Prime shipping through FBA. Those are one seller's figures, with no proof shown, and she sells a course on her channel. So the honest answer is that it depends on what you sell and how you ship it.

How fast does each one pay you?

Basically, a payout is when the platform sends your sales money to your bank account. A reserve is a share of your sales that a platform holds back for a while.

• Etsy: Etsy's help page Why hasn't my money been deposited yet? says a new seller's money is generally ready to deposit about 14 days after a sale. It can take longer. Once Etsy sends a deposit, Etsy's Payments Policy says it generally reaches your bank within five business days. You choose a daily, weekly, biweekly or monthly deposit schedule, and Etsy can also hold or reserve money. Both checked October 16, 2026. Our Etsy fees explained page covers this in more detail.
• Amazon: Amazon's public help pages don't state the US payout schedule. In Amazon's seller forum, a seller posted what they said was an Amazon notice about holding money until seven days after delivery. That notice isn't confirmed on Amazon's public pages. Read that thread as a seller report only.

What happens if your account has a problem?

So both platforms can remove listings or close accounts, and neither publishes how often that happens. Etsy's Creativity Standards say Etsy can remove listings that break its rules, and you still owe the fees for those listings. Amazon's Handmade terms say Amazon can review makers and take away their Handmade selling.

Sellers on both platforms post complaints about holds and removals with little explanation. These are self-selected posts from people who had a problem, so they say nothing about how common it is.

How many helpers can an Amazon Handmade maker have?

Now a helper is a friend, family member or employee who helps you make the items. Amazon's current public pages that are open to non-sellers don't state a limit. An Amazon staff reply in a Seller Central forum thread about two years old said independent makers work alone or "preferably, with fewer than 20" helpers. That rule isn't confirmed on Amazon's pages today, so ask Amazon before you count on it.

When is Etsy the wrong choice, and when is Amazon Handmade?

Now I'd rather tell you straight where each one falls short.

• Etsy is the wrong choice if you expect to pass $10,000 in sales in 365 days and don't want Offsite Ads. Past that point, Etsy charges 12 percent on Offsite Ad orders for the life of the shop, and you can't opt out. Etsy is also a poor fit if your orders are small and many, because Etsy's 25 cent card fee and 20 cent listing fee add up.
• Amazon Handmade is the wrong choice if you sell vintage items, digital downloads, craft supplies or items outside Amazon's listed categories. It's also wrong if you can't confirm shipment within Amazon's 30 day limit, or you want FBA for personalized items, which can't use FBA.
• Amazon Handmade is the wrong choice if you can't wait for approval or you plan to resell items you didn't make, which Amazon's rules don't allow.
• Either one is the wrong choice if you want to message past buyers and build a following.

But otherwise, either one can work. The choice comes down to what you make and how fast you can ship it.

What about Shopify?

So if you already have followers or an email list and want to keep more of each sale, look at Shopify. Shopify charges a flat plan price plus card fees and takes no cut of each sale. But Shopify brings no shoppers of its own. Our Shopify vs Etsy page compares the two for beginners, and our Etsy fees vs Shopify fees page has the full numbers. For Amazon against Shopify, see our Shopify vs Amazon FBA page.

Videos worth watching before you decide

And if you want to see these screens yourself, here are three videos. You can play each one right here on the page, and YouTube's usual controls work, including skipping ahead, changing the speed and going full screen. Under each video is a short summary so you can decide if it's worth your time.

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