Sell in your own store or on Amazon?

It's one of the most common decisions when someone wants to sell online. And it makes sense: Amazon and other marketplaces offer something very tempting, customers from day one; your own store offers something different, control and margin. They're not the same, and it's worth understanding clearly what each path gives you (and takes from you) before you jump in.

What each option is

A marketplace like Amazon is a huge shopping centre of the internet: you put your product in an enormous space that loads of people already come to in order to buy. In exchange for that visibility, you pay to be there and follow their rules.

Your own online store is your high-street shop on the internet: you're in charge of the window, the prices, the relationship with the customer and the brand. The catch is that, at the start, nobody comes in unless you bring people there.

Put like that, the tension is clear: in the shopping centre there's footfall but you compete shoulder to shoulder and you pay rent; in your own shop you have complete freedom but the «open» sign isn't enough to get people through the door.

Selling on Amazon: the good and what it costs

For:

• Customers from day one. You don't have to attract traffic: people are already there looking for products like yours.
• Borrowed trust. Many people buy without fear because they trust the platform, even if they don't know you.
• Logistics sorted. If you sign up for it, they can store, pack and ship your products, and handle returns.
• Getting started is fast. You don't need to build a website: you create your listing and start selling.

What it costs:

• Fees on every sale. The platform takes a percentage of everything you sell, plus possible charges and logistics costs. Your margin gets squeezed.
• You compete inside your own window. Alongside your product appear dozens of identical ones, often cheaper. It's a tough price war.
• The customer is theirs, not yours. You don't keep their details to build loyalty. You sell once and, often, that's where the relationship ends.
• You depend on their rules. If they change the terms or suspend your account, your business wobbles and you have little say.

Selling in your own store: the good and what it costs

For:

• Better margin. You don't pay a per-sale commission to a middleman, so you keep more of every order.
• The customer is yours. You keep their details (with their permission) to sell to them again, send them offers and build loyalty.
• You build a brand. Design, tone, buying experience: everything conveys who you are, and that's an asset that grows over time.
• You're in charge. Your prices, your promotions, your rules. Nobody changes the terms on you from one day to the next.

What it costs:

• The traffic is on you. At the start nobody comes in on their own. You have to work on SEO, social media, word of mouth or advertising to bring in visits.
• More responsibility. The site, the payments, the shipping and the support are on you (or on whoever builds and maintains it for you).
• Results come more slowly. Gaining visibility takes time; it's a long-distance race, not a sprint.

If you'd like to see how we build own stores designed to sell, you'll find it on online stores.

The question that really matters

More than «where do I sell?», the useful question is «what do I want to build?». If you're after fast revenue with a product in high demand and you don't care so much about brand or margin, Amazon gives you an immediate outlet. If you want a solid business, with repeat customers and a brand that's yours, your own store is the one that builds value over the long term. One gives you sales today; the other builds an asset.

Why, for many, the answer is «both»

You don't have to choose. Many people who sell well use both at once, and sensibly: Amazon as a shop window so people discover you and you sell volume, and your own store as the «home» where you take those customers to build loyalty with a better margin. The marketplace brings you new people; your site turns those people into real, repeat customers.

That said, even if you sell on Amazon it's worth having your own store. It's your ground, the only one you fully control, and the one that protects you the day the platform's rules change. Building a good own store first is almost never a mistake.

Before deciding, look at the numbers

Whichever path you take, do a simple sum with your product: how much it costs you, what you sell it for and what you're left with after fees, shipping and expenses in each option. Sometimes a product that looks profitable on Amazon leaves very little margin after fees, and one that would take a while to take off in your own store turns out far more profitable per unit. The numbers save you nasty surprises. And if you want to do that sum for an own store, we'll help you see it clearly on how much an online store costs.