Etsy vs Squarespace: Which E-Commerce Platform to Choose?

Today, online shopping is a way of life – a way of life that is quickly changing the world. With over 4.66 billion active internet users and 2.14 billion people who purchase goods online frequently, it is no news that creating an online store for your product is the surest way to create awareness and generate sales from all over the world.

If you are reading this, chances are you are looking for the best e-commerce platform to host your business and you have narrowed it down to the best two: Etsy and Squarespace.

Both platforms are great depending on the type and need of your business. In this article, we would explore these two platforms in-depth considering the ease of use, design, investments, support and features of both platforms. We hope that at the end of the article, you will get enough information to conclude.

Are you ready? Let’s go!

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related article: 50 Stunning Squarespace Website Examples

Esty Vs Squarespace

Etsy

Etsy is an e-commerce platform that is best for retailers who offer vintage products, handmade items and craft supplies. One cool thing about Etsy is its marketplace with over 37.1 million buyers making it easy for businesses to generate sales without trying too hard. Etsy is like a mall containing stores offering different products. If you own a small business and you want to generate sales without too much effort, Etsy is a great place to start. Not to mention that it is pretty straightforward to create a shop therefore no coding experience is required.

Etsy offers a service called ‘pattern’ where you can create your website and sell any kind of products but the website is still hosted on the same Etsy engine. Before you fall in love with Etsy, there are limitations to consider. The first thing to take note of is; when joining Etsy, you are creating a shop page not an independent website therefore the customization on how you want your store to look is limited.

Etsy only offer options to change your fonts, color, photo styles, upload your unique logo and add your home description. Apart from that, all Etsy stores look pretty identical.

It is also important to note that Etsy continuously changes its algorithms, so there is no assurance that you optimizing your listing for algorithm today would pay off tomorrow.

Another thing is that, it is against Etsy rules to pull out emails from your customers which is a great disadvantage because Email marketing is a great marketing strategy to generate leads and drive more sales for any business, big or small.
Also, they offer a decent forever free plan on their platform, so you can set up a store with $0 but they charge some extra fees which we would explain in the ‘investment’ part of the article.

Advantages	Disadvantages
It is simple and straightforward to use	Limited customization features
No coding experience required to set up your store	High competition
Existing marketplace for your products	Expensive if you have a high sales turnover
Collaborative community of Etsy sellers	Whatever affects the e-commerce platform affects your store.
Etsy gives an initial boost to new sellers	It is against the rules to get your costumers email

Etsy shop examples

Etsy is an online marketplace for buying and selling handmade goods, vintage items, and craft supplies. Sellers on Etsy have the opportunity to open their own shops where they sell their handmade wares to shoppers across the world.

Squarespace commerce

Squarespace Commerce is a great website builder where you can create any type of website, including online stores.
If you are passionate about branding, having autonomy over your store and creating a voice in your niche, Squarespace commerce is the best website for the job.

Unlike Etsy, Squarespace provides a platform where you can build your e-commerce website independently, that is, it isn’t a marketplace and you are not building upon an existing website. Squarespace provides tons of stylish templates to choose from, it also provides a wide range of customization options to let your website stand out.

Also, on Squarespace, you have access to the list of all your previous customer’s email. This is a major difference between Etsy and Squarespace because, having access to the list of your customers would help you list more products tailored to their needs, you also have the chance to follow-up thereby converting them from buyers to loyal customers.

The more creative freedom you get, the more complicated the customization process becomes but once you get familiar with the process, it is super easy to design your website the way you would love it.

On Squarespace, you can have unlimited products, POS, customer accounts and more. It comes with a lot of features that make your website look professional and that is one of the major differences between Squarespace and Etsy. Unlike Etsy, it does not offer a free plan but a two- week trial. You can decide to check it out and see for yourself.

Another major difference is that Squarespace doesn’t provide a marketplace of existing buyers thus the workload falls on you to build your customer base. Squarespace is the best choice to go with if you have a medium business with a high inflow of sales, because they do not charge a transaction fee on all plans, and their transaction fee is low compared to Etsy. We would see more of this in the latter part of the article. Follow along.

Advantages	Disadvantages
Super easy user interface	Some features are only available on top plans
No transaction fees	No existing marketplace
Advance E-comerce analitycs	It is more expensive initial start up cost
Sync your products to Instagram	Time to build a website, or money to hire someone
It’s an all-in-one platform	-
Autonomy of your website	-

Squarespace commerce Shop examples

Squarespace is a content management system that makes it easy to build professional-looking websites and online stores.

Since we’ve seen an overview of the two platforms. Let’s take an intrinsic look at each platform by narrowing it down to ease of use, design, investment, features and support.

related article: 15 Premium Squarespace Templates For Any Business

Ease of Use

Etsy

Etsy is super easy to use with no complex features. Setting up a store is straightforward even to those who have little web experience. It is super easy to list your products, manage orders and observe traffic.

When you create an Etsy Pattern website, it automatically imports all products on your Etsy shop to your pattern website seamlessly. You can as well manage both your Etsy shop and Etsy pattern website from your Etsy shop manager.

The dashboard is intuitive giving information about your shop views, orders, revenue and listing. When it comes to the ease of building your store, Etsy takes the award home. In a personal opinion, I do not think there is any similar platform that is as easy as Etsy. Simple and straightforward.

Squarespace

With creative freedom comes an advanced customization process. Like we mentioned earlier, you have the freedom to make your website stand out but the customization needs some getting used to. Once you get familiar with the customization and features, it becomes super easy to make customization, from your fonts to your management dashboard. Even with this, it doesn’t mean it is so complicated that you would need a degree in programming languages to figure it out. You can figure it out with a little help.

Design

Etsy

When it comes to design, Etsy was rated 2.5 out of 5 stars. Here is why. There are limited design options available. You can only change your fonts, colors, upload your logo, banner and home descriptions. The only extra customization that comes with the premium plan is that you can highlight your top-performing products. Etsy tries to keep it straightforward for small business owners which is considerate at their path but also makes all the stores look alike.

However, on Etsy Pattern, you have 10 themes that you can choose from and tweak as you desire. You can add and remove content pages on your website, add a product review and a search bar option. That is it for Etsy

Squarespace

Unlike Etsy, Squarespace commerce has tons of beautiful, modern templates that you can choose from. Squarespace is unbeatable when it comes to its beautiful designs and you have access to a wide range of Google and Adobe fonts. You also have access to advanced customization tools such as adding your own fonts.

You can take your customization further by writing codes in the advanced customization tools. Because the customization needs a getting used to, it may take a while to become familiar with it, once you get to find how the ‘know hows’, you have the freedom to be as creative as possible.

Investment

This is a part we have all been waiting for. Let’s look at the different pricing involved in getting your store set up.

Etsy

Etsy is one of the cost-efficient platforms you can find out there when it comes to pricing.
It has a forever free plan to set up your store. For Etsy plus, it charges $10 per month. Pattern by Etsy where you can run an ‘independent’ store with a custom domain charges $15 per month thus when it comes to cost-efficiency, it does a great job!

There are other things worth considering though. Etsy includes a transaction fee for each of the products you list. It charges $0.20 per listing and takes 5% transaction fee and 4% payment processing fee per sale. Overall, you get charged 10%. It may be suitable for businesses that have a low in-flow of sales but when it comes to medium businesses with a higher in-flow, that can be a disadvantage.

Squarespace

Squarespace offers a high return for your investment. It offers a 14 days trial without asking you to enter your card details! After this, there is three e-commerce subscription option available to you, all these options include unlimited storage and bandwidth, a custom domain for a year, 24/7 customer support alongside other unique features.

It has a wide range of features such as customizable templates, starter layouts i.e. pre-designed structures for specific purposes such as contact, about, blog, portfolio, products, custom CSS,

commenting system, POS, abandoned cart emails, customer accounts and many more. We will look extensively at this in the feature session of the article

To access all these features, you would need to sign up for the ‘advanced’ plan. The business plan goes for $18/month, basic commerce goes for $26/month while advanced commerce goes for $40/month. You can check out more on the price listings and what they have to offer. You get charged 3% transactional fee on a business plan but on basic and advanced commerce plans, there is no transactional fee deducted.

Features

Squarespace

Squarespace has varieties of features depending on the plan you are on. We will be looking at the general features available starting from the business plan. There is another subscription plan called the personal plan that isn’t mentioned here because it doesn’t support e-commerce features. It is only useful for personal websites like portfolios and blogs.

The basic feature available for all e-commerce plans are;

Free custom domain: You do not need to pay for a custom domain if you do not have one, it covers your domain for a whole year.

Premium integration and blocks: You can decide to grow your websites and make the customer experience on your website more enjoyable by integrating your website to consumers’ needs.

Professional Email from Google: Nothing beats having a professional email for your business. You would have one professional Gmail and google workspace account free for a year

Unlimited Bandwidth and Storage: You can scale with confidence, there is no limited storage that guides your site.

SEO for Site visibility: Even if you have no clue about SEO, Squarespace gives you a thorough guide on how to rank your website on google.

Website Metrics: You can track website visits, traffic sources, geography and much more. SSL security: You do not have to worry about whether your website is safe or not. Squarespace got you covered.

CSS and JavaScript customization: If you want to take your customization to the next level using code, it is available for you on Squarespace.

Fully integrated E-commerce: I am talking about product catalogue management, shipping tools, inventory and much more.

There are more features available for other plans such as customer accounts, gift cards, donations, customer accounts, abandoned cart recovery, advanced shipping and commerce APIs.

There are powerful features on Squarespace that you can take advantage of depending on how much you are willing to invest.

Check out this free, simple content management system from Squarespace.

Etsy

These features are available for the Etsy plus subscription plans

Credits for shop listings: In the Etsy plus, you are provided with 15 listing credits monthly and $5 Etsy Ads credit which is not bad for the subscription fee. Take note that you need to use these credits within the month or it expires. Not to worry, you still get the same credit amount every month.

Custom web address discounts: You get a discount on Hover, a domain site, for your custom domain. If you already have a domain, you are ready to go

Restock requests: This is another useful feature provided by Etsy. Shoppers can view your sold- out products and sign up to receive alerts when you upload new ones. This would help you keep track of the popularity of your products.

Advanced shop customization: You would have access to multiple banner options, a new layout option for featuring listings and the ability to feature specific listings or shop sections.

General Discounts: If you are in the US, Canada, European Union or the United Kingdom, there are discounts on shipping boxes. Also, you get a 30% discount on business cards and other printable from Moo.

Support

Squarespace

All Squarespace users have access to 24/7 customer support through email and live chats. The live chat is open Monday through Friday, 5:30 am to 8:00 pm Eastern time. They have an extensive help center to find answers. Due to billions of users hosting their websites on Squarespace, they have an active community forum where you can get help.

They also offer a large library of self-help resources and they host webinars and workshops that discuss building your site. They have a Dev Center where you can find resources, including API documents as a developer.

Oh! One last thing, they provide a detailed, well-curated blog that provides you with tips and Squarespace product news.

Etsy

Etsy provides great support for its users. Although live chats are not available, they offer great phone support that is accessible from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm Eastern time and they allegedly respond to phone calls within five minutes. Also, they offer an in-depth resource library in their help center for both buyers and sellers.

You can find guides on different topics like marketing, shipping, selling and much more. Etsy’s seller handbook is particularly useful for new store owners. Their blog, called the Etsy journal is also available and lastly, they have an active community where you can get help and answers to your questions.

Squarespace: Our verdict

Squarespace is a reputable e-commerce platform known for its quality designs, powerful customization and functionality. It is the best option to brand your business and provide optimum customer support through personalized features on your website. Though it may require adaptability to its customization process, it pays when you get used to it.

You are given the liberty to make your business stand out and be known for its unique tone and voice.
Looking at the downside of Squarespace, although it offers a lot of features set such as customer emails, POS, commenting features, it requires coding experience to add smaller features like countdown timers and personalized features. Also, all features such as promotions are not involved in the business and basic commerce plans.

If you are thinking about starting a business, or want to revamp your current website I can help. Let me do the hard work for you! I am a Squarespace Web Designer based in Seattle, and serving clients worldwide. Reach out to me if any of that sounds interesting

Etsy: Our verdict

Etsy is a great place to start small especially if your business offers vintage and handmade products. You do not have to put in much effort as they already have an existing pool of buyers, thus sales are guaranteed. Also, there are learning guides to navigate the selling culture in Etsy. This is extremely helpful if you are a new seller. Needless to talk about the ease of setting up a store in hours.

The downside to Etsy is that there are limited customization options for your store therefore it is hard to stand out.

Another thing is that their algorithms frequently changes, therefore optimizing your listing for algorithm may not be as productive as you may have imagined due to the fluctuating nature of Etsy algorithms.

You have to comply with every new invention that Etsy introduces. For example, Etsy recently introduced a star seller badge and it gives first place priority to the shops that earn it. One of the rules to earn the star seller badge is to reply every customer message that enters your inbox within 24 hours. As we all know, that is close to impossible. Especially if you are a business owner with lot of activities fighting for your attention daily.

Also, reviews show that there have been unpleasant reports from buyers getting inferior products or no products at all. You’ve got to make sure that your business is highly reputable and stand out from other stores.

Although there is a low chance that it would happen, when Etsy is affected, your store may be affected as well. This is because it is built on the Etsy platform.

The fees can be expensive considering the number of sales you generate per month thus it is not advisable to host a medium business on Etsy.

Esty Vs Squarespace: Final thought

Etsy and Squarespace are great platforms depending on the goals of your business. I believe it is good to host your business on both platforms and not put your egg in one basket. It is great to have your website hosted on Squarespace because of branding and personalization but it takes a longer time and SEO knowledge to get customers to know your business. But with Etsy, you get access to the marketplace and can use product tags to rank in the marketplace.

Till not convinced? Try them out

No platform is perfect, they all have their pros and cons but making the best use of what they offer is the best way to scale your business.
I hope this detailed article helped you conclude on the best platform to host your business. See you another time!

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