Who each one suits
Etsy with a print-on-demand supplier suits a designer who wants buyers to find them: gift shoppers search Etsy every day, and a good listing can sell without any audience of your own. You pay for that reach per listing, per sale, per payment and per ad-driven order.
Merch5 suits someone whose buyers already know where to find them. A store of your own costs nothing, takes no share of your margin and includes printing by Customnia in New York, but no marketplace sends you traffic.
You do not have to choose one. Many sellers keep Etsy for strangers and send their own followers to a store where Etsy's 6.5% and Offsite Ads do not apply.
Etsy print on demand vs. Merch5 at a glance
Etsy figures are its published US rates at the time of writing (November 2026); supplier prices vary by product and destination.
| Etsy + a POD supplier | Merch5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Listing | $0.20 per listing; a listing runs four months, and each renewal costs another $0.20 | No listing fees |
| Per sale | 6.5% transaction fee on the order total, shipping and gift wrap included | 0% platform cut of your margin |
| Payment processing | 3% + $0.25 per order for US shops on Etsy Payments; other countries differ | Hosted checkout. No merchant account or payment gateway needed |
| Advertising | Offsite Ads: 15% of an order an ad brings, 12% and mandatory once a shop passes $10,000 a year, capped at $100 per order | No ad fee. You choose where to promote your store |
| Printing | Your supplier's base price plus shipping, billed to you per order | 0% platform cut of your margin. Printing and shipping are charged out of each order after your customer has paid |
| Fees on a $34 tee | About $3.68 to Etsy before ads (US, free shipping), plus the supplier's price | No platform fee; printing and shipping come out of the order, the rest is yours |
| Where buyers come from | Etsy search, recommendations and ads | You bring them: your link, your website widget, a QR code |
| Rules | Creativity Standards: your own designs, production partner disclosed on each listing | Your own store under your own brand |
| Buyer service | You answer messages, cases and reviews | Buyers write to support@merch5.com about orders: tracking, address changes, faulty prints |
| Minimums | None with print-on-demand suppliers | One item |
| Payouts | Daily, weekly, every two weeks or monthly to your bank; new shops generally wait 14 days after a sale | On request, to PayPal or your bank account, no minimum |
Etsy facts from etsy.com/legal/fees and Etsy's help center (deposit schedule) at the time of writing (November 2026). The $34 example assumes a US shop, free shipping and no sales tax in the total; Etsy's fee policy has the current rates.
Etsy or Merch5: which one fits
Pick Etsy if
- You want gift shoppers to find your designs through search
- You have no audience yet and want marketplace traffic from day one
- You are fine paying per listing, per sale and per payment for that reach
- You like Etsy's reviews and badges as social proof
- You will answer buyer messages and cases yourself
Pick Merch5 if
- Your buyers already follow you, visit your site or come to your shop
- You want no listing fees, no transaction fee and no ad fee on your own sales
- You want the store on your own site as a widget
- You want buyer questions about orders handled by support@merch5.com
- You want payouts on request to PayPal or your bank, with no minimum
Try Merch5 next to your Etsy shop
Keep Etsy for the buyers Etsy brings. Send your own followers to a store without its fees.
Upload the same artwork
Pick products and set prices. The production cost is shown next to each one, so you see your margin before you publish.
Share it where people already are
Put the link in your bio and newsletter, print the QR code for markets, or paste the widget into your site.
Etsy print on demand vs. Merch5 questions
About $3.68 for a US seller with free shipping, at the time of writing: a $0.20 listing fee, 6.5% of the order total ($2.21) and payment processing of 3% plus $0.25 ($1.27). If an Offsite Ad brought the buyer, add 15%, or 12% for shops past $10,000 a year: another $4.08 to $5.10. The supplier's price for the shirt and shipping comes on top.
Yes, under its Creativity Standards: the design must be yours, and the company that prints it is a production partner you disclose in Shop Manager and attach to the listings it makes.
Etsy's fee policy makes Offsite Ads optional for most shops, but once a shop has made $10,000 or more in the past 365 days they become mandatory, at the lower 12% rate. The fee on a single order is capped at $100.
Yes, in two ways. Merch5 can be the production partner behind your Etsy listings, as described on the Etsy page, and the same account gives you a storefront of your own for the followers you bring yourself, where Etsy's fees do not apply.
No. Etsy's marketplace traffic is what its fees pay for, and Merch5 has no marketplace. Merch5 is a store you send people to: a link, a widget on your site or a QR code.
On Etsy, you do: messages, cases and reviews are yours to handle, whichever supplier prints the order. On a Merch5 store, buyers write to support@merch5.com about orders: tracking, address changes, faulty prints.
Etsy deposits your sales to your bank daily, weekly, every two weeks or monthly, depending on your setting; new shops generally wait 14 days after a sale before funds are available. On Merch5 you request a payout to PayPal or your bank account whenever you want it, with no minimum amount.
No. Print-on-demand suppliers on Etsy make each item after it sells, and the minimum on Merch5 is one item.
Keep the fees for the buyers Etsy brings.
Your own followers can buy from your own store. Free to open, printed per order.