If your entire handmade business lives on one platform, you're not just leaving money on the table — you're one algorithm change away from a crisis. Here's why diversification isn't optional.

I want to talk about something I see holding back a lot of handmade sellers who are already doing reasonably well. They've got a shop that's working. Sales are coming in. They've figured out one platform and they're comfortable there. And because it's working, they haven't felt the urgency to go anywhere else.

That comfort is the problem.

I've been selling handmade products since 2013. I've watched dozens of sellers I knew personally go through the experience of a platform change, an algorithm shift, or a policy update that cut their traffic overnight — sometimes by 30%, sometimes by 70%. The ones who survived those moments without panic were the ones who had revenue coming in from multiple places. The ones who didn't were starting over.

I'm not telling you this to scare you. I'm telling you because I made the deliberate decision to diversify early, and it's one of the best business decisions I made. This post explains why — and what that actually looks like in practice.

From Dana's Story: In 2017, I started paying close attention to what was happening to sellers who were 100% dependent on Etsy. I watched people I respected lose significant income when Etsy changed their search algorithm or rolled out a new fee structure. Their businesses hadn't changed. Their products hadn't gotten worse. The platform had simply shifted the terms. I'd been building on Amazon Handmade since 2015 and I was already seeing it as a safer foundation because of the traffic volume — but even then, I knew that putting everything on Amazon wasn't the answer either. The answer was both. Then a website. Then Faire. The goal was never to be anywhere in particular. It was to never be dependent on any single place.

You're Building on Someone Else's Land

Every platform you sell on — Etsy, Amazon Handmade, even your own Shopify store to a lesser degree — has terms of service you agreed to. Those terms can change. The algorithm that drives traffic to your listings can change. The fee structure can change. A platform can suspend your account for a policy violation you didn't know existed. None of this requires them to warn you first or give you time to adapt.

When your entire business revenue runs through one of these platforms, you have no leverage and no backup. When something changes — and something always changes eventually — you're starting from zero on whatever comes next while you're still trying to pay your bills.

When your revenue is spread across multiple channels, a change on one platform is a problem you can manage. It's not a crisis.

Different Platforms Reach Different Buyers

This is the piece sellers underestimate most. The buyers on Amazon are not the same people as the buyers on Etsy. Their search behavior is different, their price expectations can be different, the occasions they're shopping for can be different, and the way they discover products is different.

I've had clients whose gift boxes barely moved on Etsy but exploded on Amazon Handmade within weeks of listing. I've had others whose higher-end jewelry did better on their own Shopify site than either marketplace. You genuinely cannot predict which platform will perform best for your specific products without testing. And the only way to test is to actually be there.

When you're on multiple platforms, you also learn faster. You start to see patterns — which products do well where, which price points resonate with which audiences, which seasons drive traffic on each platform. That information makes you a better seller everywhere you operate.

More Places to Sell Means More Revenue Potential

This one is straightforward but it gets overlooked. If 1,000 people find your products on Etsy this month, that's one group. If 1,000 different people find your products on Amazon this month, that's a different group. If 500 find you on your own website, that's another group. These audiences don't overlap as much as you might think.

You're not dividing your existing sales across more platforms — you're accessing new buyers who would never have found you in the first place. Your total addressable market gets larger every time you add a channel.

And here's something that happens once sellers have been on multiple platforms for a while: buyers start following you across platforms. Someone discovers you on Etsy, finds your website, signs up for your email list, and becomes a recurring customer who buys directly from you. That's how a handmade shop becomes a handmade brand.

Your Own Website Is the Foundation

Marketplaces — Etsy, Amazon, Faire — are all borrowed land. Your own website is something you actually own. When someone buys from your website, they're your customer. You can follow up with them. You can add them to your email list. You can market to them again. No marketplace allows that.

Building your own website is the long game. It doesn't drive traffic the way Amazon or Etsy does in the early days — those platforms bring the buyers to you. But over time, a website with an email list and good SEO becomes a revenue stream that you control. No algorithm can take it away. No policy change can suspend it. It's yours.

The goal isn't to replace your marketplace presence with a website. The goal is to build all of it together, so that your business has a foundation you own and revenue streams you don't.

How to Start Expanding Without Overwhelming Yourself

If you're already established on one platform and the idea of adding another feels like too much, the good news is that you don't have to do everything at once. Here's a reasonable approach:

• Start with your best sellers. You don't need to list your entire catalog on a new platform to test it. Pick 5 to 10 of your strongest products, list them well, and see what happens.
• Build one new channel at a time. Add Amazon Handmade. Get comfortable with it. Then build your website. Then consider wholesale through Faire. Sequential progress beats scattered effort every time.
• Treat each platform as its own thing. Don't just copy your Etsy strategy onto Amazon. Each platform has its own SEO, its own buyer behavior, its own best practices. Learn them separately.
• Think about platform diversification as insurance. You're not adding work for its own sake — you're building a business that can weather the inevitable shifts in any individual platform's policies or performance.

The Platforms Worth Knowing About

Amazon Handmade — The largest customer base of any handmade marketplace by a significant margin. High buyer intent, Prime shipping capability through FBA, and strong conversion rates when listings are optimized correctly.

Etsy — A well-established handmade community with a large buyer base. Fees add up across transaction, listing, and payment processing, but it remains a meaningful channel for most handmade product types.

Shopify (your own website) — The platform I'd recommend for building your own site. You own the customer relationship, you can build an email list, and you're not subject to another company's algorithm. It takes longer to build traffic, but the long-term value is significant.

Faire — Wholesale to retail stores. If your margins support wholesale pricing and you have production capacity, Faire is a strong platform for getting your products into brick-and-mortar retail. Different audience, different sales cycle, different margins — but another real revenue stream.

Ready to Build a Business That Isn't Dependent on Any Single Platform?

Platform diversification is one of the core principles inside The Growth Thread. The membership covers Amazon Handmade in depth — but it's built around the bigger picture of what a sustainable, multi-platform handmade business actually looks like. Because the goal isn't just more sales on one platform. The goal is a business that holds up.

Enrollment isn't always open, but you can get on the waitlist and be first to know when doors open:

Join the Waitlist at TheGrowthThread.com

Not ready for that yet? A good next read is the full comparison of Amazon Handmade vs. Etsy — which platform is better for handmade sellers, and why the real answer is both.