Almost every small seller faces the same choice early on: list products on a big marketplace, open your own online store, or do both. Each path works for some businesses and hurts others. The right answer depends less on which option is "better" and more on your margins, your products and how much you want to own the relationship with your buyers.
This guide walks through what each option gives you, what it costs, and how to compare them with your own numbers.
What a marketplace gives you
A marketplace is a shared shopping site where many sellers list their products side by side. Its main advantage is simple: shoppers are already there.
- Ready traffic. You do not have to bring every visitor yourself.
- Built-in trust. Some buyers feel safer paying on a site they already know.
- Quick start. You fill in listings and start selling, often within days.
- Shared logistics. Many marketplaces offer their own delivery or fulfilment programmes.
For testing a new product or reaching buyers fast, these are real benefits.
What a marketplace takes in return
The trade-off is control. On a marketplace you play by someone else's rules.
- Fees on every sale. Most marketplaces charge a percentage of each order, sometimes plus listing, storage or advertising costs.
- Price pressure. Your product sits next to competitors, often sorted by price. Buyers compare in one click.
- Limited customer data. The buyer belongs to the marketplace. You may not be able to contact them after the sale or build a repeat relationship.
- Rule changes. Fees, ranking rules and policies can change, and your sales can move with them.
- Little room for your brand. Your product page looks like everyone else's.
What your own online store gives you
Your own store is a site under your name, where you set the prices, the design and the rules.
- Control over prices and margins. No one ranks you next to a cheaper copy.
- Your customer base. Every buyer who signs up or orders becomes part of your own customer list. You can see their order history and offer them something next time.
- Your brand. Pages, product descriptions, photos and policies all tell your story.
- Predictable costs. With a flat subscription platform, your cost does not grow with every order.
What your own store asks of you
Owning the store also means owning the work.
- You bring the traffic. Search, social media, word of mouth, ads or offline customers. Nobody sends shoppers to you by default.
- You build trust. Clear contact details, delivery and returns pages, and real reviews matter more when buyers do not know you yet.
- You run the operations. Orders, stock, returns and customer questions are your job, so the tools you choose matter.
How to compare the real costs
The fees you see on a pricing page are only part of the picture. A fair comparison looks at the cost per order on each side.
Marketplace cost per order:
Marketplace cost = (order value × commission %) + fixed fee per order + share of other monthly costs (ads, storage, listing fees)
Own store cost per order:
Own store cost = (monthly platform fee + monthly marketing spend) ÷ number of orders per month + payment provider fee per order
Payment provider fees apply in both cases if you accept online payments, so do not forget them on either side.
Example with made-up round numbers
These figures are an example only, to show how the formula works. Use your own numbers.
- Average order: 50
- Orders per month: 200
- Marketplace commission (example): 15% plus 0.5 per order
- Own store: platform subscription 30 per month (example) and marketing 400 per month (example)
Marketplace cost per order: 50 × 15% + 0.5 = 8.00
Own store cost per order: (30 + 400) ÷ 200 = 2.15, plus your payment provider fee.
In this example the own store is cheaper per order, but only because it already gets 200 orders a month. At 20 orders a month, the same costs become 21.50 per order, and the marketplace looks better. That is the key insight: a marketplace cost grows with sales, while an own store cost shrinks per order as sales grow.
When each option makes sense
A marketplace often fits when:
- you are testing whether a product sells at all;
- your product is a commodity that buyers search for by name on marketplaces;
- you do not yet have any way to bring traffic yourself.
Your own store often fits when:
- you sell repeat-purchase products and want buyers to come back;
- your brand, design or service is part of what you sell;
- you already have customers from social media, a physical shop or wholesale;
- marketplace fees eat most of your margin.
Doing both is common. Many sellers use a marketplace for discovery and their own store for repeat buyers, loyalty offers and better margins. If you do both, keep stock counts accurate so you do not sell the same item twice.
A checklist before you decide
- Calculate your gross margin per product after cost of goods.
- Work out the marketplace cost per order for your category.
- Estimate how many orders per month your own store can realistically get in the first six months.
- Compare cost per order at that volume, including payment provider fees.
- Decide how important repeat customers are for your product.
- Check how much time you can spend on marketing and operations each week.
Where RedCart fits
RedCart is built for the "own store" side of this choice. It gives you a storefront with a product catalog, cart, checkout and orders, plus a customer base (CRM), warehouses with per-SKU stock, personal discounts and promo codes, and a dashboard, all on one ERP core and one shop database. A buyer who orders appears on a customer card with their addresses and order history, so the relationship stays with you.
On cost: RedCart does not take a commission on sales; payment provider fees are separate and not included. That makes the own store formula above easy to fill in, because the platform part is a fixed monthly figure.
Summary
Marketplaces trade margin and control for ready traffic. Your own store trades effort for ownership of prices, brand and customers. Put both options into the cost-per-order formula with your real numbers, and the choice usually becomes clear.
If you are leaning towards your own store, you are welcome to create a RedCart account and set up your store with us.