Ko-fi vs Etsy: Which Path Should You Take? [Expert’s Guide]

Just as a race car’s performance depends on its engine, your online business’s success relies on the platform powering it. Hence, if you want it to survive and thrive in the long run, choosing the right platform can make all the difference. And if you are weighing Ko-fi vs Etsy, you have come to the right place.

In this blog post, we will compare the two platforms under crucial facets and let you decide which platform better suits you.

Let’s find out which one is!

Etsy vs Ko-fi: What are they and how do they work?

Before we dive deeper into the detailed comparison, we think it is important to help you better understand the core concept of Ko-fi vs Etsy first.

An overview of Ko-fi

If you are familiar with Buy Me a Coffee or Patreon, you probably have heard of Ko-fi. Technically, it is a crowdfunding and tipping service platform that allows artists to receive financial support from their fans as one-time donations or monthly subscriptions.

What makes Ko-fi different from other tip jar platforms is that you can use Ko-fi to sell your products online besides receiving donations. But does Ko-fi offer the same level of selling capabilities compared to Etsy? We will review this in more detail below.

 

 

An overview of Etsy

Unlike Ko-fi, Etsy is a purposely built eCommerce marketplace for sellers to sell handmade, vintage items rather than a crowdfunding platform for digital creators.

Compared to popular online marketplaces like eBay or Temu, Etsy differentiates itself with the marketplace’s specialized focus on quality handmade crafts instead of mass-manufactured items.

>> Relevant reading: selling on Etsy vs eBay | selling on Etsy vs Temu

 

Ko-fi vs Etsy: Which is the right choice for artists?

Now that you have a better grasp of Ko-fi vs Etsy’s core concepts, it is time to see how the two platforms stack up against each other regarding pricing, popularity, audience, SEO, marketing features, and payment options.

1. Selling costs and fees

Verdict: Ko-fi has fewer costs and fees compared to Etsy. Both Etsy vs Ko-fi require a low upfront investment. However, as your store grows, Etsy’s various selling costs and fees can add up to your expenses.

Ko-fi’s selling costs and fees

Ko-fi does not charge you anything to receive donations from fans on your profile page. If you choose to use the platform’s Membership, Shop, and Commission features, Ko-fi will charge you a 5% fee on your income.

However, the best part about Ko-fi’s pricing plan is that if you upgrade to the Gold plan at just $6/month (billed yearly), you will be free of all charges. Ko-fi’s Gold plan also gives you some premium features like exclusive content selling, the ability to set prices for your donations, etc.

 

it is noteworthy that you still need to pay PayPal and Stripe for payment processing fees, which vary from 2.9% + $0.30 to 3.49% + $0.49 in the United States.

Etsy’s selling costs and fees

On the other hand, Etsy charges three primary fees for listing and selling your handmade items on its marketplace.

Let’s say you are selling handmade bracelets on Etsy. Here’s how the Etsy fees would apply:

1. • Listing fee:
     
     • • Base: You list a bracelet for sale on Etsy. For this, you pay the marketplace  a base fee of $0.20 per listing
       • Auto-renewal: If you set your bracelet to automatically renew every time it is sold, you will be charged an extra fee of $0.20 each time the listing renews.
       • Multi-variant: Suppose your bracelet has two different versions (e.g., black and white). Etsy treats each color as a separate product. So, if you list all two color variants, you will need to pay $0.20 for each variant
       • Private listing: If a specific customer requests a custom bracelet and you create a private listing just for them, Etsy will charge you $0.20 for this private listing.

• • Transaction fees: Etsy will charge you a referral fee (aka commission fee) of 6.5% of the total amount in your listing currency per successful transaction
  • Payment processing fees: Depending on the payment services, this fee will vary. For instance, it is a standard 3% + $0.25 in the United States.

2. Popularity

Verdict: Etsy is a much more popular platform than Ko-fi. Ko-fi’s monthly traffic isn’t that low. However, it seems insignificant and falls short compared to Etsy’s 96 million active buyers.

Ko-fi’s popularity

According to the latest data from Similarweb, Ko-fi has 9 million monthly traffic, with a plurality coming from the United States.

Though this is not a bad number, Ko-fi clearly isn’t a popular platform with a large built-in audience like Etsy.

Etsy’s popularity

In comparison with Ko-fi, Etsy has a much more extensive built-in audience base. According to the data brought by Statista, Etsy currently has 96+ million active buyers and 9+ million sellers with a monthly traffic of 430 million.

Hence, if you are looking for a marketplace with a huge built-in audience, Etsy would make much more sense than Ko-fi. Though you will have to deal with the increasing competition, you still have more visibility and exposure on Etsy.

>> Relevant reading: how to sell on Etsy for beginners

3. Search engine optimization

Verdict: Etsy beats Ko-fi when it comes to search engine optimization. Etsy’s robust keyword optimization tools and product discovery features give sellers a significant advantage over Ko-fi’s limited SEO capabilities.

Ko-fi’s search engine optimization

Ko-Fi’s main limitation compared to Etsy is its lack of internal search functionality and product discovery features. Unlike Etsy, which has a robust search engine allowing customers to find specific products or browse various sellers, Ko-Fi relies heavily on creators bringing their own audience.

This absence of search engine optimization within Ko-Fi creates several challenges:

• • Limited discoverability: New customers can’t easily find products or creators on the platform.
  • Dependence on the external following: Creators need an established audience elsewhere to drive traffic to their Ko-Fi page.
  • Trust barrier: Without widespread recognition, potential customers may hesitate to use Ko-Fi, even if prices are more competitive.

In essence, Ko-fi’s current SEO structure makes it more of a tool for creators to monetize their existing audience rather than a marketplace to acquire buyers like Etsy.

Etsy’s search engine optimization

On the other hand, Etsy offers far more SEO features to help sellers optimize their product listings on the marketplace. To name a few, here is a list of the SEO features Etsy offers:

• • Keyword optimization: Etsy allows sellers to use relevant keywords in titles, tags, and descriptions. The platform recommends using all 13 available tags for each listing to maximize search potential.
  • Attributes and categories: You can select specific attributes and categories for their products, helping Etsy’s search engine understand and categorize items more accurately.
  • Personalized search: Etsy tailors search results based on shoppers’ habits and preferences. So if you use descriptive, long-tail keywords in your product descriptions, your products will be more likely to get seen.
  • Recency boost: Did you know that new listings and recently renewed items will tend to receive a temporary boost on Etsy’s search rankings? Therefore, our advice is to introduce more items regularly.

 

With that being said, Etsy’s algorithm considers factors like click-through rates, favorites, and purchases to determine a listing’s quality and relevance. This means you have to put in effort to constantly optimize your listings. However, many sellers said that this effort pays off well when you get a hang of Etsy’s ranking algorithm.

4. Sales and marketing

Verdict: Etsy has many more sales and marketing features to offer. Ko-fi is cool in the sense that it allows creators to sell commissions and open a store besides receiving fan donations. However, its eCommerce capabilities are quite limited and don’t even come close to the diverse selling tools Etsy offers sellers.

Ko-fi’s sales and marketing features

Apart from acting as a tip jar platform, Ko-fi also offers two powerful tools that make it a versatile space where you can connect with your fans and sell your work:

• • Commission: The commission system allows you to manage your workload efficiently. You can open or close commission slots as needed. For example, you might open five slots for custom portraits and close them when you are fully booked.
  • Ko-fi’s shop: The platform offers you a quick and easy way to set up an online store. Here, you can sell a wide range of items, both digital and physical products, ranging from wallpapers, game mods, or tutorials to stickers, prints, or crafting kits.

Etsy’s sales and marketing features

As a purposely built eCommerce marketplace, it shouldn’t come as a surprise how many selling functionalities Etsy provides sellers with. To name a few, here are some highlight sales features that Etsy offers natively for sellers signing up to sell on their platform:.

• • Etsy’s on-site ads: Etsy offers a powerful internal advertising system that allows sellers to promote their products directly to potential buyers browsing the platform. You can set your own bid and choose which items to promote on the platform.
  • Etsy’s off-site ads: Besides on-site promotion, Etsy also extends your reach beyond its platform through its off-site advertising program. If you sign up for this, Etsy will automatically advertise your products on major search engines like Google, as well as popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
  • Discounts and coupons: Etsy provides a built-in discount and coupon feature that allows you to create and manage various promotional offers. You can set up percentage or fixed-amount discounts, create time-limited sales, or generate unique coupon codes for specific customer groups.
  • Social media integration: You can easily share your shop updates, new product listings, flash sales, and other promotional content directly to Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter without leaving the Etsy interface.
  • In-person selling with Square: For sellers who are based in the US, UK,Canadar or Australia and have a physical store, you can integrate Etsy with Square to accept your customers’ in-store payments.
  • Print-on-demand capabilities: As long as you create the original artwork or design, you can partner with approved production companies (called Production Partners on Etsy) to fulfill and ship your POD products to your customers..

5. Payment options

Verdict: Etsy offers more payment options than Ko-fi. While Ko-fi is limited to only two payment providers, Etsy Payments allows sellers to offer various payment methods.

Ko-fi’s payment options

As of writing this article, Ko-fi only supports creators on the platforms to get paid in two payment methods, which are Stripe and PayPal.

Etsy’s payment options

When you launch an Etsy store, you will be using Etsy Payments, which allow you to offer your customers various payment methods, such as:

• • Credit and debit cards
  • Etsy credits and Etsy gift cards
  • PayPal
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay
  • Klarna installment payments
  • Klarna Invoice
  • iDEAL
  • Sofort

Depending on your location, you might have more or fewer payment methods. However, compared to only two payment providers of Ko-fi, Etsy is clearly on the winning side.

>> Relevant reading: Etsy competitors for digital products

Pros and cons of selling on Ko-fi vs Etsy

Just like any other platform, Etsy vs Ko-fi each has certain highlights and setbacks.

Ko-fi’s pros and cons

Pros	Cons
✅ Ko-fi provides an easy way for content creators to receive financial support from their fans ✅ It comes with the ability for artists to create a moderate online store to sell their goods besides receiving donations ✅ Very affordable to get started	❌ The platform doesn’t come with many marketing features so you need to have an existing fan base first ❌ Its sales capabilities can be quite limited compared to purposely-built eCommerce marketplaces like Etsy ❌ Ko-fi isn’t as popular as Etsy so you have to put in more effort to drive traffic to your profile or shop

Etsy’s pros and cons

Pros	Cons
✅ The marketplace has an extensive built-in audience of over 96 million active buyers ✅ Various SEO features to get your products seen on the marketplace ✅ Greater sales and marketing features to manage and promote your store	❌ Etsy charges 6.5% transaction fees, which can add up to cost for large volume stores ❌ High competition within the Etsy marketplace can make it challenging for you to stand out

Which is better, Ko-fi or Etsy?

Apparently, Etsy vs Ko-fi are different in their core model and target audience. Therefore, choosing between the two platforms should be easy as long as you know what kind of business you want to launch.

Here’s a full recap:

Choose Ko-fi when you:

• • Are looking for a simple, cost-effective tip-jar service to receive your fan donations and sell your merch to them occasionally
  • Want to sell commissions such as proofreading, drawing customer portraits, etc.
  • Already have a fan base that you can bring to Ko-fi

Choose Etsy when you:

• • Want to sell your own handmade, vintage, or craft supply items in an established marketplace
  • Need diverse payment options and built-in eCommerce tools
  • Are looking for a marketplace with a large customer base and stable traffic

Final words

All in all, Ko-fi vs Etsy are two very distinctive platforms with different value propositions:

• • Ko-fi positions itself as a “fun and friendly way to receive donations and messages of support from fans”
  • Meanwhile, Etsy defines itself as “a global online marketplace, where people come together to make, sell, buy, and collect unique items”

So, do you want to create a profile to ‘get a coffee’ from your fans and casually sell your merch or list and sell your handmade items on an established marketplace? Mastic hopes this article can help you choose the one that better aligns with your demand and budget.

Frequently asked questions