ETSY OR SQUARESPACE? Where To Start An Online Business Selling Products

Update: I have moved my website over to Shopify but my opinions shared in comparing these two platforms have not changed!
In this video (not sponsored!), I share my honest thoughts on selling on Etsy and on my own e-commerce website (using Squarespace). There are pros and cons to both, but as a small business, I have a recommendation on how you should start!
0:30 Introduction
0:57 What is Etsy and Squarespace?
2:39 Let's talk Etsy!
2:54 Etsy Pros
7:17 Etsy Cons
12:43 Let's talk Squarespace!
13:44 Comparing Fees
15:09 Other Squarespace Features
15:44 Why I chose Squarespace over Shopify
16:49 My Recommendation!
🍿 In case you missed it...
Selling on Faire Review - • SELLING ON FAIRE REVIE...
Etsy vs. Squarespace - • ETSY OR SQUARESPACE? W...
My Favourite Tools
🖥 Flodesk (email marketing): flodesk.com/c/X2FZTY
🛒 Shopify (my e-commerce website!): shopify.pxf.io/c/2413707/1295...
⚡️ Top Small Biz Essentials - • Best Digital Tools For...
🛒 My Amazon shop - www.amazon.ca/shop/bysarahkim
Find more
💌 Shop Selah Paper - selahpaper.com/
📣 Sign up for email newsletters - view.flodesk.com/pages/63eafd...
❤️ Say hi on Instagram - / bysarahkim
🛒 Buy wholesale - selahpaper.faire.com/user/sig...
About Me
🙋🏻‍♀️ Hi, I'm Sarah - a first time mom chasing her small business dreams in Mississauga, Canada. I started on KZbin to document the early days of starting my home business in 2020 and have since enjoyed capturing life with my husband and baby as well~ I hope these vlogs and videos bring a little laughter and joy to your day!
PS. I may receive a small commission off some of the affiliate links in this description!
Recorded November 2021
#fairewholesale #faire #smallbusiness

[@michaeld1398]

I'm a small business owner. I have a brick and mortar store and an online store. What is being presented here is the absolute straight up truth. I very much enjoyed hearing the pros and cons and your experiences. Best of luck to you.

[@bysarahkim]

Thank you!!! That's really validating to hear haha. Thanks so much for watching and for the comment :)

[@leismith2326]

Square space should sponsor you! Your comparison, pros/cons, explanation was so on point! Thank you 🌸

[@bysarahkim]

I wish! Haha thanks Lei!!

[@leismith2326]

@@bysarahkim I’m sure you will! You have excellent content. They will be the lucky ones sponsoring you!

[@karalynirving3170]

The minute I saw the Bible verses in the Etsy listing portion of the video, I immediately subscribed 😆!! -your local pastors kid

[@bysarahkim]

Haha hi Karalyn! That's so funny :P Yes I sell tons of Christian stationery! :) Thanks for following!

[@sarahm4093]

Same here! I love all of your Christian artwork, Sarah!! And great video. :) Really gives me the motivation to expand beyond Etsy and finally get my shop website done!

[@informedsrthankful2438]

This video was so good and authentic. Thank you for making it and giving the best business advice.

[@katrinarainer3642]

This was extremely helpful! Thanks so much for your insights!

[@maikimdoan2154]

Thank you so much for this!!! I’ve been debating for so long on this, and this was so helpful!!

[@bysarahkim]

I'm so glad!! What are you going to decide on!?

[@JulieEbersole]

Thank you for such a thoughtful and insightful presentation--you articulated your points so clearly and concisely. You have such a calm and relaxed demeanor and your video aesthetic is top notch! Truly a joy to listen to and watch!

[@bysarahkim]

Thank you for saying all that Julie and for watching the video! I'm glad it helped :)

[@SerenMaddison]

Thank you SO MUCH for making this video! You've made some really good points! I'm in the process of building my own shop on Squarespace after being on Etsy for nearly a year. Your website looks beautiful and now I'm super excited at the thought of building a website that could (hopefully) be as beautiful as yours!!! Thank you so much again 🥰

[@bysarahkim]

Seren, it's my pleasure! I honestly loved the process of building my website. It is VERY exciting. I'm glad this was helpful. Woohoo!!

[@GrayMcQuarrie-GVA]

Fantastic video. I found this video to be valuable for me! Thank you!!

[@myriamderosa2539]

Thank you. This was so thorough and generous of you to share. Thank you!

[@bysarahkim]

Aw. Thanks Myriam. I'm glad it helped you.

[@joedc8169]

I just found this this is three years old I hope you're doing well you seem to be very smart and capable business person

[@bysarahkim]

Thanks Joe! That's a very nice comment. I hope it was useful even though it's a bit outdated!

[@ericonly]

Thank you for all the helpful info.

[@mynamesmargo]

Thank you so much for this video. The delivery is clean and clear and insightful. I genuinely appreciate it.

[@bysarahkim]

Thank you Margo! Some things have changed for me but the basis is the same! I'm on Shopify now because it was more useful to scaling up :)

[@mistywebs]

This really helped, thank you!

[@bysarahkim]

Thanks for watching :)

[@racheldasilva8751]

Thank you Selah! This has been so helpful

[@bysarahkim]

I'm so glad it helped Rachel. Thanks for the comment!

[@robertgonzales6545]

I'm chasing down a dream and starting my own furniture making business, and I'd like to say thanks for such a consice and informative video. Incredibly helpful 🙏

[@bysarahkim]

Robert, congrats for starting that!! I'm glad this helped. Things feel so real when a website is up!

[@s.alexiangardner1302]

You are an awesome inspiration!!! Thank you and I love your product.

[@bysarahkim]

Thank you so much!!

[@JanePalma]

Wow thank you so much for this, Sarah. Very interesting! I hope I could start my own website soon for my small business Ink Scripture. Will have to check Squarespace! :D

[@bysarahkim]

I'd highly recommend it. They offer trials too! I have a few 20% off codes as well if you're interested (DM me!)

[@amandaclaxton9618]

This was super helpful. Thank you!

[@bysarahkim]

I'm glad Amanda - thanks for watching! :)

[@carlosvillasenormendoza618]

The comments are extremly good !! i apprecite a lot all you said !!!

[@bysarahkim]

Thanks Carlos! I'm glad it helped :)

[@__khlo.e]

Great info!! Thank you for this

[@bysarahkim]

Thank you for watching Shaeon! :)

[@rachelhaywood833]

Great video! Also, did I hear a squeal at 12:37? The first time I heard it I jumped out of my skin! ha ha. Thanks for the e-commerce advice!

[@bysarahkim]

OH my gosh Rachel... after I uploaded my video, I noticed SO MANY mistakes lol!!! That squeal is SO loud and I had to warn people in the video description lol! So sorry about that haha.

[@annaklava2382]

I jumped so much nearly gave me a heart attack I was not expecting that squeal!

[@kristineleedesigns]

Really informative video. Thank you so much. I am in love with Squarespace as well. I cannot recommend them enough. Love how easy it is to use to make beautiful websites quickly. Hoping my business will grow big enough that I can upgrade to the best plan.

[@bysarahkim]

Hi Kristine!! I'm so glad to hear you like Squarespace too - couldn't agree more. Even their built in font suggestions are better than anything I can choose haha. I only upgraded about a month ago because I wanted to have more control over my Inventory and Shipping options but other than that, I was so happy on the basic plan as well :)

[@thereallyst]

Excellent video! I learned a lot. As I am trying to navigate what to do with my digital design products, I have thought of just setting up another Squarespace site. But I think I will do what you suggested at the end, and set up both and use Etsy as a funnel. Sidenote, one thing I haven't heard other KZbinrs mention is, I'm sure you can always write off the Etsy fees as well as the Squarespace fees on your taxes at the end of the year, so it can help you in the end even if it seems like they are gouging you in the beginning. Once again, great video!

[@bysarahkim]

I'm so glad this was helpful! Thank you so much for that tip. I will DEFINITELY have to look into it. That's a huge deal!

[@arielgardea9745]

Great video!! Super helpful

[@bysarahkim]

So glad Ariel. Thank you!!

[@kylijosephine8117]

Very helpful video!! Thank you!

[@bysarahkim]

Thanks for watching Kyli! I'm actually on Shopify now so I should make an update video :)

[@vanillacookiestar]

Thank you so much for making this beautiful and well explained video!💖It was very helpful and makes me want to create my online store with Squarespace 😇✨🌈

[@bysarahkim]

I’m glad it helped! Thanks for the nice words ;)

[@rdp6096]

Definitely needed this. Etsys fees have been killing me the more I’ve been making and I am at the point now where I can get a square space. Thanks again 😄😄

[@bysarahkim]

Yes! The fees really do add up when you're making more and more. I'm glad this helped :) All the best!

[@leelameka]

Really helpful, thank you 😊

[@bysarahkim]

I'm glad! Thanks for watching :)

[@dustydirtbiker]

Super helpful thank you!

[@bysarahkim]

Thank you for watching! :)

[@replynamrata]

Thank you so much for sharing these insights... could you please also do a video on how to approach for wholesale and what it takes to get your first wholesale client. Thanks!

[@bysarahkim]

Hey! Honestly I'm not really in "Wholesale" yet... I only have 2-3 accounts so far and I've just cold emailed stores in my area and asked the to sell my cards (I sell it to them at 50% of my retail cost). I'd really like to get started on Faire and have applied but haven't been approved!

[@boogalingous1]

Hello! Thank you for the video!

[@bysarahkim]

Thanks for watching :)

[@Iheartbrusselsprouts]

you are right about the pricing ... it's a race to the bottom. Some are just reselling what the bought in bulk from alibaba and the like.

[@bysarahkim]

Totally. People have recommended even going on Amazon but I don't think I can survive on there!

[@SassyTcreates]

Very useful!

[@bysarahkim]

Thanks Sassy! Hope it helped :)

[@dawachung]

Oh my goodness, girl ❤️ This was soooo helpful! Thank you so much for this amazing video! Now time to get to work :)

[@bysarahkim]

Hi Dawa, I'm so glad!!!

[@RachelRummage]

This is the EXACT video I needed! THANK YOU! You could sell this as a course! I would've paid to receive this information! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! I have a pottery business and I have had such a hard time filtering information about online stores.

[@bysarahkim]

I'm so glad Rachel!! This is such an encouraging for me...!!! Thanks for saying that. It's a bit outdated but I'm glad it helped. I'm now on Shopify and can answer any questions if you have :) All the best with your business!

[@Liz-ic6jb]

Her advice is "spot on". Either way you go you have to spend hours promoting your own website or log into Etsy daily and do what's required for Etsy to promote your products. It's best to spend the time promoting your own website. Then list a few of your items on Etsy. Tip: I put my company name in every photo in Etsy. Use Etsy and social media to bring traffic to YOUR site! Best of luck to you!

[@nathanielbrice8725]

Great video! Just started my own Squarespace website after having an Etsy store for a couple of months. Going out on my own with full control and less fees is a good move for me. I’m focused on my products and building my brand and choosing my marketing strategy carefully to be competitive.

[@bysarahkim]

Thank you so much for leaving a comment! I think that was such a good move. I've actually moved to Shopify but Squarespace was a really fantastic option for me while I had it too. I even went back and forth on Etsy, opening and closing it during different seasons! All the best with your business Nathaniel!

[@growamind]

How do you figure out the taxes? There are so many different costs per city, county, state, and more that change for each state and city? This is what turns me off on opening my own store because there isn't a clear path to easily managing all of this.

[@jpknights4662]

This was great information and thank you for making this video. I currently have an Etsy shop and also working on my website using Squarespace. I love Squarespace, but i am having such difficulty with the shipping portion of it. How did you overcome that part and got to work properly?

[@bysarahkim]

Hi JP! Ok so FULL disclosure, I switched over to Shopify in January 2022 because of the problems I had with the commerce side of Squarespace (like shipping). It didn't integrate well with other platforms. That being said, when I did use Squarespace, I used a third party shipping service called ChitChats. I copy pasted each order's address into that service and paid for shipping via ChitChats (and my shipping labels there). In terms of setting up my shipping profiles, I just had a flat rate. I used to do it by weight but it got way out of hand because of all the different products and packaging I had! I hope this helps. I do prefer Squarespace for the website portion (I'm struggling with Shopify) but Shopify seems to have overall better support for commerce in the long run!

[@Thelegendaryskunk]

I started out on Etsy in 2010 but then moved to my own website in 2016. I haven’t looked back since.

[@bysarahkim]

Love to hear that!!!

[@MaikoKazumi]

Thank you for this video I love Etsy but I feel like I’m not growing very much on the platform

[@bysarahkim]

Recently I've found my Etsy has slowed down a lot. It seems like you have to put a lot of effort to keep up with its algorithm and search engine! It's still running in the background for me though, with a couple of sales a week :)

[@susanravella6261]

Excellent information! Do you ever refer your Etsy customers to your website, or isn't that permitted? Thanks for this video!

[@bysarahkim]

Hi Susan! I don't explicitly don't direct customers off Etsy. I don't think that's allowed technically... but I recently added a photo to all/most of my listings with my social handles and websites on it :) I also genuinely enjoy getting Etsy sales too because the traffic is great for finding new organic customers!

[@kathiedelany1265]

Hi Sarah, great information! I'm curious, do you try to sell different items on Etsy than on your website? I'm concerned it would interfere with google search. Thank you if you have the time to reply!😊

[@bysarahkim]

Hi Kathie! It’s actually been a few years since I’ve made that video and I now no longer sell on Etsy. Previously, I had some products that were listed slightly differently on Etsy that on my website. For example, I didn’t offer as many bundles on Etsy, because it was harder on the backend for me. I hope that helps! I’m not sure what you mean by the Google search!

[@panktiporecha7969]

This was very helpful! I have started with my own website on webflow personally.. I'm not sure how popular Etsy is India, but I'm gonna take a peek and set up a shop for passive income if it makes sense for me. Thanks Sarah!

[@bysarahkim]

Hi Pankti! Can't believe you're watching from India! I've been to India twice and really fell in love with some of the cities there. I feel like Etsy would be supported in India as it's a really global platform. As long as you can manage shipping your items, it would be a great option for your business!!

[@panktiporecha7969]

@@bysarahkim oh great!! Thanks for your input, interest and encouragement! I've recently found your channel and Instagram and am glad that you are sharing hour process! Ps. I'm also inspired to write out a book of the bible in calligraphy. Great practice idea! Thanks again Sarah! Cheers!

[@XOAliciaMarie]

My Etsy Cons: drives me nuts that I cannot give some of my products multiple categories! I have a coffee mug that I have to put in my coffee mug category but I would also like to put it under my Sex & the City themed category. I also find it annoying that I cannot rearrange the products in my shop to group like items together so when people go to my Etsy shop link then it can look a little bit more organized. These are the two biggest reasons why I do want my own website. And also my biggest third is just wanting to do active marketing but not pay for ads to go to Etsy’s as if I’m paying Etsy’s for advertising my own products… I want to pay for ads that are gonna go to my own URL so that I can actually show Google that my website URL out there exists.

[@bysarahkim]

Hey Alicia. I TOTALLY AGREE! There was a time when I actually doubled up on listings so I could have them in two categories, but it got SO annoying every time I wanted to update them. I also am trying to be better at inventory management. Definitely go to your own website when you have the means to!! Always better to drive traffic to your own website!~

[@Moonflower6]

do you price the same items on Etsy and Sqarespace? or do you change the prices on each site? just asking because i think your video was very informative, thank you for the honest info on both sites this really helps

[@bysarahkim]

Hi! Yes I charge the same. I know some people charge differently, which is fine, but I had a hard time managing two prices!

[@soneiswild]

how about the management of ur products if u have both etsy and squarespace , isn't a little bit of hustle to manage the sales of the both sites and i should stick to one website what u think ?

[@bysarahkim]

Hi Sone! It is difficult to manage inventory on so many platforms. I also sell on Faire so it's three places for me right now. However I still see them as good streams of income for now as I grow my business so it's worth the extra time and effort for me :)

[@soneiswild]

@@bysarahkim good to know , thx for the replay

[@dezireeishi8833]

Hi! Can i ask a question? I live in the philippines and i just want to build a website where my customers can see all of my products, i wont sell my products on that website, its just like a menu thing for my customer. Do u think i can do that on squarespace? Like remove a button so they can just see the photo? (Thank u in advance)

[@bysarahkim]

Hi Deziree! Yes, I would highly recommend Squarespace for that. They actually started off as a site for photographers and artists to show off their portfolio. So it's a GREAT place to showcase your work!

[@dezireeishi8833]

@@bysarahkim omayghosh, thank you for replying. I will try it later, thank for your help!!!♥️

[@samholmes5572]

empire!!!

[@bysarahkim]

Lol! Yours

[@a.j_kat1115]

I was crocheting while listening and *12:38* jumpscared me

[@bysarahkim]

Ah, I'm sorry. Thanks to your comment I actually decided to cut that part out on KZbin. I don't think what I have to say in those 2 seconds is that important considering my audio mistake is sooo disruptive!! Thanks so much