Bear Grips Pro ShopsBest Print-on-Demand Marketplaces vs Your Own Shop in 2026
- A marketplace brings existing browsing traffic; your own storefront brings full pricing control and the customer relationship.
- Etsy, Redbubble, and Merch by Amazon are the three marketplaces most often compared for print-on-demand sellers.
- Every marketplace listed here takes a structural cut of pricing, branding, or customer ownership in exchange for its traffic.
- Bear Grips is a branded storefront model: no marketplace fee structure, no shared traffic, the seller owns the shop and the customer.
The best print-on-demand marketplace and the best print-on-demand storefront answer two different questions. A marketplace like Etsy, Redbubble, or Merch by Amazon answers "where do I find buyers who are not already looking for me." A storefront answers "how do I keep everything about a buyer I already have." Most sellers eventually need both, but understanding what each one actually costs in control, not just in dollars, is the real comparison.
What a marketplace actually provides
Etsy, Redbubble, and Merch by Amazon each bring a built-in audience of browsing shoppers who were not necessarily searching for a specific seller. That is genuinely valuable, especially for a brand new design with no existing audience of its own. In exchange, each marketplace controls significant parts of the transaction: Etsy charges listing and transaction fees per sale, Redbubble sets much of the base price itself, and Merch by Amazon places sellers into production tiers governed by the platform.
Marketplace vs storefront compared
| Model | Built-in traffic | Who sets the retail price | Who owns the customer contact | Branding control |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etsy | Yes, marketplace search | The seller, minus listing and transaction fees | Etsy, largely | Limited, within Etsy's shop template |
| Redbubble | Yes, marketplace-wide product pages | Redbubble sets much of the base price | Redbubble | Minimal, uploads a design to an existing template |
| Merch by Amazon | Yes, Amazon shopper base | The seller, within Amazon's program rules | Amazon | Minimal, listing lives on a standard Amazon product page |
| Bear Grips Pro Shops | No, the seller drives its own traffic | The seller, in full | The seller | Full, a branded shop with its own layout and logo |
The customer ownership question most sellers skip
On Etsy, Redbubble, or Merch by Amazon, the marketplace holds the buyer's account, email, and order history, and a seller cannot simply export that list to email a new drop announcement directly. On an independent storefront, every sale belongs to the seller's own customer record. For a seller planning to build a repeat-purchase brand rather than sell a single design once, that ownership question usually matters more than the traffic difference.
Why sellers often run both
The realistic setup for many sellers is a marketplace listing for discovery alongside a branded storefront for the buyers who already know the brand and want a full catalog. A new design can go up on Etsy or Redbubble to test demand with no marketing spend, while an established audience (an Instagram following, a gym's member base, a team's parent list) gets pointed straight to a branded shop that keeps the full margin and the customer relationship.
Which one to start with
A seller with zero existing audience and an untested design benefits from marketplace traffic first. A seller with any existing audience, even a small one, keeps more of every sale and the full customer relationship by starting with a branded storefront. See the custom t-shirt company comparison for how storefront platforms differ once that decision is made.
Own Your Shop and Your Customer List
No marketplace fees, no shared templates. Set your own retail price and keep the full margin, free plan available.
Start FreeFrequently Asked Questions
Does a marketplace or a storefront make more money per sale?
A storefront typically keeps more of each sale since there is no marketplace listing or transaction fee, but a marketplace can produce more total sales for a brand new design with no existing audience.
Who owns the customer on Etsy or Redbubble?
The marketplace does, largely. Sellers generally cannot export a buyer's contact information the way they can with their own storefront's customer records.
Can I sell on Etsy and run my own shop at the same time?
Yes, many sellers do both, using a marketplace for discovery and a branded storefront for an existing audience or repeat buyers.
Does Bear Grips work like Redbubble or Merch by Amazon?
No. Bear Grips is a branded storefront, not a shared marketplace. There is no shared product template, no marketplace fee structure, and the seller sets the full retail price and keeps the margin.
