Compare Payhip vs Etsy Shops

So as many of you are aware, I use both Payhip and Etsy as a platform to host my shop.  The 2 platforms are very different from each other but both do, in my opinion, a good job handling my needs for a shop.  I'm going to discuss the pros and cons of each as a consumer and as a seller.  Then I'll explain why I end up using both platforms.

From a consumer's perspective:

Payhip is individualized per shop, there is no way to search mass listings like Etsy.  This is probably most like a web store for a specific seller.  The main perk of purchasing through the Payhip platform is that pattern updates can be easily distributed to everyone that has purchased a pattern.  My shop currently is only using Paypal as a payment method since I have disabled Stripe for the time being (more on this in the seller's perspective).  Sign up for Payhip using my affiliate link!

Etsy is a multi-seller platform and you can find a lot of different things sold on the Etsy platform.  There are multiple payment methods and options for checkout through Etsy.  Since it's a multi-seller platform, you can keep all your purchases in one spot.

From a seller's perspective:

Payhip:

• Payhip does not charge a listing fee but does charge a transaction fee in addition to the Paypal/Stripe credit card processing fee. There is a monthly payment method that will reduce the transaction fee, but I currently use the free method which means I have a 5% transaction fee that is paid to Payhip for each transaction.  Paypal has its own set of fees (which went up last August) and so does Stripe.  I currently have Stripe disabled because my site was used for card testing recently which means stolen credit card numbers were used on my page to test if they worked.  Until Payhip adds some more security features to prevent this, I'm not activating Stripe as a payment method again.
• Listing products is fairly easy, and running sales, etc. is not difficult.
• I could get a domain name for my Payhip shop so it looks like my store, but I haven't done that yet.
• Payhip has continually expanded its product offerings to now include digital and physical products, subscriptions, a course, and coaching service.
• The best part is the ability to email the customers of a certain product and update.  This means if there is a pattern correction or a preorder for a pattern, I can easily email the customers a new download link.
• The downside is that since it's my store, you need to know me before you'll end up at my shop, unlike Etsy.
• Payhip does not automatically collect taxes for you but it will automatically do VAT.

Etsy:

• Etsy's best benefit is the discoverability of new-to-you shops.  Since it's a massive platform with tons of sellers, new customers can find your shops through search or offsite ads.
• There is a cost associated with being on the platform. In addition to the $0.20 listing fee per product (with a listing expiration), there are transaction fees (6.5%), credit card fees, shipping fees, and offsite ad fees (15%), (pretty much fees for everything) that do add up.
• Starting April 11 (yesterday), the fees did increase for sellers and a lot of people were really upset. I can see why it's upset people, but I can also see how Etsy can increase fees and still have many of the sellers stay.  I can also see the more successful Etsy sellers migrating to their own shops in the future to diminish the number of fees they need to pay to sell their products.
• Etsy will automatically do VAT and US taxes for your orders and take care of the sales tax obligations.
• There is no easy way to contact all the customers who purchased the same product to share updates.

So why am I sharing this with you?

I use both platforms for reaching customers like you!  Regardless if you've been here since the beginning or just now found me, I want to be in the space where my patterns/products are most easily accessible.  Now that you are here, my recommendation is to purchase on Payhip versus Etsy because the automatic pattern updates would be a benefit for you, the customer.  Honestly, because of the changes in fees in Etsy and the costs of printing becoming higher, I'm considering migrating all of the paper patterns to Payhip as well and figuring out the sales tax obligations myself. This is also foreshadowing that my pattern price structure will, unfortunately, be revisited after my move.

Anyway, I hope this was informative for you!  If you do shop on Etsy, please don't click on the offsite ads (sellers do not have the ability to opt-out of being included in offsite ads).  Instead, go to Etsy and search for the product you saw.  The cookie from clicking the ad lasts for 30 days and the seller will be charged a 15% fee on the product.

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