Sellers looking for Etsy alternatives are usually solving one of two problems: they want a different marketplace with different fees and discovery odds, or they want to stop paying marketplace fees altogether by owning their own storefront. Here is how the most commonly compared options stack up, with Bear Grips Pro Shops covered last since the right fit depends on whether the seller already has an audience to sell to directly.
| Platform | Storefront model | Seller fees | Order minimum | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etsy | Marketplace listing | Listing + 6.5% transaction + processing | None | Sellers who want built-in shopper search traffic |
| Merch by Amazon | Marketplace listing on Amazon | Royalty-based, no upfront listing fee | None | Sellers wanting Amazon's shopper base, tier-gated approval |
| Redbubble | Marketplace listing, artist storefront | Platform sets the base price, seller adds margin on top | None | Artists selling design-led merch across many product types |
| Shopify + a POD app | Seller-owned store, self-built | Shopify subscription + POD app per-item cost, no marketplace transaction fee | 1 piece typically | Sellers who want full store control and are willing to build it |
| Bear Grips Pro Shops | Branded shop included | None, fixed catalog price with margin the vendor sets | 1 piece | Gyms, studios, small businesses, creators wanting an always-open shop with no build required |
Merch by Amazon runs on a royalty model where Amazon sets the retail price band and pays the seller a per-unit royalty, with account tiers that gate how many designs a seller can list at once. Redbubble similarly sets much of the pricing structure itself, with the artist adding a margin on top of the base. Both trade seller control over pricing for access to a very large existing shopper base, the same tradeoff Etsy makes with its own fee structure.
Bear Grips Pro Shops: Custom Apparel for Your Team. No Minimums. Free Shipping.Building a store on Shopify and connecting a POD app removes Etsy's marketplace transaction fee, but replaces it with a Shopify subscription, app fees, and the work of building and maintaining a storefront, product pages, and checkout from scratch. It is the most control-heavy alternative and the one that requires the most setup time before the first sale.
Etsy remains a reasonable choice for a seller with no existing audience who needs marketplace search traffic to find first buyers, and who is comfortable paying the listing, transaction, and processing fee stack in exchange for that discovery. See the full Etsy fee breakdown for exactly what that stack costs on a sample order.
Bear Grips Pro Shops sits between the marketplace group and the Shopify-plus-app route: a branded storefront is included with no build required, and there is no marketplace transaction fee taken out of the sale. The catalog runs 63 apparel and headwear products from Bella+Canvas, Next Level, Champion, Gildan, Sport-Tek, and other recognized brands, tees from $19.88 VIP base and hoodies from $36.88, with free US shipping folded into every price and no order minimum. A built-in affiliate program also pays 10% of a referred vendor's subscription plus $1 per unit they sell.
Storefront, fixed pricing, and free shipping in one system. No marketplace fee, no build required, free to start.
Start FreeEtsy, Merch by Amazon, and Redbubble are all marketplaces with built-in shopper traffic and a fee or royalty structure. Shopify plus a POD app and Bear Grips Pro Shops both give the seller a branded shop, but Shopify requires building it while Bear Grips Pro Shops includes it.
Shopify paired with a POD app removes Etsy-style transaction fees but adds a monthly platform subscription. Bear Grips Pro Shops removes marketplace fees and includes the storefront in one system.
A marketplace (Etsy, Merch by Amazon, or Redbubble) is usually the better starting point, since built-in shopper search is the main advantage those platforms offer.
It works best for a business, gym, studio, or creator that already has somewhere to send buyers directly, such as an email list, social following, or existing customer base, since the platform does not include marketplace search traffic.
Bear Grips Pro Shops