🔒 Will I make more money on Etsy or Amazon Merch?

This calculator helps you decide whether to invest upfront capital in an Etsy print-on-demand shop or start for free on Amazon Merch. Bella started in 2017 and has made over $130,000 profit. Enter your budget and sales goals below to compare your first-year net profit and find your exact break-even point for both platforms.

You can start for free, but you will struggle against competitors who use professional software. I highly recommend spending money on Canva and ChatGPT to speed up your design process, and getting premium mockups so your listings stand out.

Canva costs $120/year, ChatGPT Plus is $240/year, and the nicest possible mockups are around $100/year. Add another $101 to $200 for a research tool like Merch Informer. As Bella puts it, financially I think if you had $500 to start with, you would be cut above most of the competition.

Etsy requires upfront capital but rewards you with better margins. As Bella explains, if you are selling with Etsy, it is going to cost you $29 to start an Etsy shop, plus 20 cents per listing. You also need reserve cash because Etsy holds your funds until the customer receives the item.

As Bella notes, be comfortable with maybe $200 that you might have to spend to fulfill orders through Printful. In exchange for these costs, you keep more profit per shirt. She states, I think I make more like seven or eight on Printful where I make more like three or four dollars on Amazon.

Your total sales volume dictates which platform actually puts more money in your pocket. Enter your target number of orders for the first year. We will calculate whether Etsy's higher margins offset the upfront fees compared to Amazon's zero-cost launch.

Based on content by Bella on Hella Bella (YouTube).

Original: The TRUE Cost of Starting a Print on Demand Business in 2026