Big Cartel charges you almost nothing but gives you almost no traffic; Amazon gives you 300 million shoppers and takes 30-45% of every sale to get you in front of them.
Table of Contents
- Why This Comparison Matters
- Big Cartel Overview
- Amazon Overview
- Head-to-Head: Pricing & Fees
- Head-to-Head: Features & Automation
- Head-to-Head: Ease of Use
- Where StableCommerce Fits
- Who Should Choose Big Cartel?
- Who Should Choose Amazon?
- Migration Guide: Switching from Big Cartel to Amazon
- Frequently Asked Questions
- The Bottom Line
- Related Articles
- About This Research
Why This Comparison Matters
If you’re comparing Big Cartel and Amazon, you’re probably not choosing between two similar tools. You’re choosing between two opposite bets: a nearly free storefront that nobody finds without your own marketing, or a marketplace with built-in traffic that takes a large cut of every sale.
Sellers who pick wrong end up either paying Amazon fees for traffic they didn’t need, or paying nothing on Big Cartel while their products sit invisible to anyone who isn’t already following them. This guide breaks down the real 2026 numbers on both sides, including pricing, fees, and the practical trade-offs of each platform’s audience.
By the end, you’ll know which platform fits your catalog size, your budget, and how much of your revenue you’re willing to trade for reach.
Big Cartel Overview
Big Cartel is a lightweight store builder aimed squarely at independent artists, musicians, and makers who want a clean place to sell without learning e-commerce software. It has served this niche since 2005, and its feature set has stayed deliberately narrow rather than expanding into a full commerce suite.
Strengths:
- No transaction fees on any plan; you only pay your payment processor’s standard rate
- Genuinely fast to set up; most sellers have a working storefront in under an hour
- A free tier exists (5 products) with zero cost to test whether selling online is worth pursuing
Weaknesses:
- Hard product ceiling of 500 items on the top plan; there is no unlimited tier at any price
- No built-in email marketing, abandoned cart recovery, or dynamic pricing tools
- Zero built-in audience; every visitor has to be brought in through your own marketing
Pricing summary: Big Cartel runs three tiers: Free ($0/month, 5 products), Gold ($9.99/month, 50 products), and Platinum ($19.99/month, 500 products). None of the plans charge a transaction fee; you pay only your payment processor’s cut (typically around 2.9% + $0.30 through Stripe or PayPal). Full current pricing is on Big Cartel’s official pricing page.
Amazon Overview
Amazon is the largest online marketplace in the world, and for most product categories it’s also the first place shoppers search. Selling on Amazon means listing your products inside an existing storefront with over 300 million active customer accounts, rather than building your own from scratch.
Strengths:
- Enormous built-in traffic; new listings can generate sales within days without any outside marketing
- Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) handles storage, packing, shipping, and returns for you
- Prime eligibility and Amazon’s trust signals (reviews, A-to-z guarantee) reduce buyer hesitation at checkout
Weaknesses:
- Referral fees plus FBA costs typically eat 30-45% of gross revenue depending on category and fulfillment method
- You do not own the customer relationship; buyers are “Amazon customers,” and you cannot email them directly after the sale
- Account suspensions can happen with little warning and can freeze revenue overnight
Pricing summary: Amazon offers two seller plans: Individual ($0/month plus $0.99 per item sold) and Professional ($39.99/month flat, no per-item fee, required for advertising and most bulk tools). On top of the plan fee, Amazon charges a referral fee of 8-15% depending on category, plus FBA fulfillment and storage fees if you use Amazon’s warehouses. Current rates are listed on Amazon’s official seller pricing page.
Head-to-Head: Pricing & Fees
| Cost Factor | Big Cartel | Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | Free (5 products) to $19.99/mo (Platinum, 500 products); Gold $9.99/mo (50 products) | Individual: $0/mo + $0.99/item; Professional: $39.99/mo flat |
| Transaction / referral fee | None (only your payment processor’s rate) | 8-15% referral fee, category-dependent (general merchandise commonly runs ~15%) |
| Listing / per-item fee | None | $0.99 per item on the Individual plan; waived on Professional |
| FBA fulfillment (if used) | Not applicable, you ship yourself or use your own 3PL | Roughly $3.22-$3.86 for small standard items; $5-$10+ for larger items |
| FBA storage (if used) | Not applicable | About $0.78/cubic ft (Jan-Sep), spiking to roughly $2.40/cubic ft (Oct-Dec); long-term storage fees apply after 365 days |
| Payment processing | ~2.9% + $0.30 via Stripe or PayPal-style processors | Included in referral fee |
| Advertising | Optional, you control spend | Often functionally required; many active sellers spend 10-20%+ of revenue on Amazon PPC to stay visible |
Disclaimer: Fees change, always verify current rates on official pages before making a business decision.
At low volume, Big Cartel is unambiguously cheaper in dollar terms. A seller doing $1,000/month on Big Cartel’s Platinum plan pays $19.99 plus processor fees; the same seller on Amazon, factoring a 15% referral fee alone, pays roughly $150 before FBA or advertising costs even enter the picture.
That gap doesn’t mean Amazon is a bad deal. It means Amazon’s fee is priced for traffic Big Cartel simply doesn’t provide. If Amazon’s marketplace search sends you customers you’d never have reached organically, the 30-45% effective take rate can still leave you with more total revenue than a cheaper platform nobody visits.
Head-to-Head: Features & Automation
| Feature | Big Cartel | Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Product limit | 5-500 depending on plan | Effectively unlimited (subject to category approval) |
| Built-in traffic | None | 300+ million active customer accounts |
| Order processing | Manual | Manual (FBM) or automated via FBA |
| Inventory management | Basic, manual counts | FBA tracks inventory across fulfillment centers |
| Customer messaging | Direct, unrestricted | Highly restricted; limited to Amazon’s Buyer-Seller Messaging |
| Email marketing | Not included | Not permitted for post-sale marketing outside Amazon’s tools |
| SEO / discoverability | Standard on-page SEO fields only, indexed by Google like any website | Governed by Amazon’s A9/A10 search algorithm, not by traditional SEO |
| Dynamic pricing / A-B testing | No | Available through third-party repricing tools, not native |
| Digital downloads | Yes, natively supported | Limited, mostly geared toward physical goods |
| Fulfillment options | Self-ship only | Self-ship (FBM), Amazon-managed (FBA), or hybrid |
| Brand storefront customization | Full control over design and layout | Limited; Brand Registry unlocks an Amazon Store page but still inside Amazon’s shell |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes (Seller app) |
Big Cartel wins on flexibility and ownership of the customer experience. Amazon wins on scale and logistics infrastructure that would otherwise cost thousands of dollars a month to replicate independently.
Head-to-Head: Ease of Use
Big Cartel is built for sellers with zero technical background. Signing up, uploading products, and going live typically takes under an hour, and there’s no code, no theme customization required, and no complicated settings menu to learn.
Amazon’s account setup itself is also fast, often same-day for the Individual plan. The friction shows up after signup: certain categories require gated approval, some products need a UPC or GTIN barcode (or a brand exemption), and if you’re using FBA, you have to prep and ship inventory to Amazon’s fulfillment centers before a single unit is sellable.
For a seller with product in hand and no barcode requirements, Amazon can go live within days. For a seller entering a gated category or setting up FBA for the first time, two to three weeks of setup and inventory prep is realistic. Big Cartel is faster to launch in every scenario; Amazon is faster to your first sale once live, because the traffic is already there.
Where StableCommerce Fits
Neither Big Cartel nor Amazon solves the problem that shows up once a seller has real order volume: someone has to answer customer emails, restock inventory, run marketing, and manage pricing every single day. Big Cartel leaves all of that manual work to you. Amazon automates fulfillment through FBA but still leaves marketing, pricing, and customer relationships largely out of your hands, and you never own the buyer’s contact information.
StableCommerce takes a third approach: it’s an AI-operated platform where the AI runs day-to-day operations (order processing, customer service, inventory, email marketing, pricing) rather than just assisting with them, on a store you actually own. For a seller who has outgrown Big Cartel’s 500-product ceiling, or who wants Amazon-level operational lift without handing Amazon 30-45% of revenue and all customer data, that middle path is worth evaluating.
The honest downside: StableCommerce is a newer platform than either Big Cartel or Amazon, its app and integration ecosystem is smaller than Amazon’s marketplace or Shopify’s app store, and it’s not the right fit for sellers who specifically want full manual control over every operational decision. If you like doing the work yourself, that’s a real reason to stay on Big Cartel or Amazon instead.
See our full breakdowns at StableCommerce vs Big Cartel and StableCommerce vs Amazon for the detailed feature and fee comparisons.
Who Should Choose Big Cartel?
- You have a small, intentionally limited catalog (under 100 products) and no near-term plan to scale past it
- Budget is the binding constraint and $0-20/month is genuinely what you can commit
- You sell in occasional drops (a few releases a year) rather than running continuous daily operations
- You already have an audience (social following, mailing list, in-person market presence) and don’t need Amazon’s built-in traffic
- E-commerce is secondary to your creative practice, and you want the store to stay simple in the background
Who Should Choose Amazon?
- You have no existing audience and need built-in traffic to get your first sales
- Your product fits a standard category with a barcode/UPC available, or qualifies for a brand exemption
- You can absorb a 30-45% effective take rate and still hit acceptable margins
- You want Amazon to physically handle storage, packing, and shipping through FBA
- You’re testing whether a product has market demand before investing in your own brand and storefront
Migration Guide: Switching from Big Cartel to Amazon
Moving from Big Cartel to Amazon is less a “migration” in the traditional sense and more a parallel setup, since the two platforms don’t share product data formats or customer databases.
Step 1: Export your Big Cartel catalog. Pull your product titles, descriptions, prices, and images from your Big Cartel admin. There’s no direct import tool into Amazon, so you’ll be re-entering this data rather than transferring it automatically.
Step 2: Create your Amazon Seller Central account. Choose Individual ($0.99/item) if you’re testing at low volume, or Professional ($39.99/month) if you plan to sell more than roughly 40 items a month or need advertising and bulk tools.
Step 3: Get barcodes sorted. Most physical products need a UPC or GTIN to create a new listing on Amazon. Handmade and unique items can sometimes qualify for a GTIN exemption, but you’ll need to apply for it category by category; this step alone can add days to your timeline.
Step 4: Decide FBA or FBM. Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) lets you keep shipping the way you do on Big Cartel. Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) means shipping inventory to Amazon’s warehouses in bulk before it’s listed as sellable, which typically takes one to two weeks for a first shipment.
Step 5: Price for the referral fee. Rebuild your pricing model around Amazon’s 8-15% referral fee, plus FBA costs if applicable. A price that worked fine on zero-fee Big Cartel can quietly become unprofitable on Amazon if you copy it over unchanged.
Step 6: Launch and monitor the Buy Box. New listings need reviews and sales velocity to rank. Many sellers run Amazon PPC campaigns from day one specifically to build that early momentum.
Common pitfalls: underpricing because the referral fee wasn’t factored in, choosing FBA before validating demand and getting hit with Q4 storage fees on unsold inventory, and treating size/color variants as separate listings when Amazon expects them grouped as a single parent listing with child variations.
Realistic timeframe: Two to four weeks from account creation to a live, sellable listing for most sellers, longer if your category requires approval or your products need a GTIN exemption application. Keep your Big Cartel store running throughout; there’s no reason to take it down while Amazon ramps up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper overall, Big Cartel or Amazon?
Big Cartel is cheaper in almost every scenario when measured purely in platform fees, since it charges no transaction fee and tops out at $19.99/month. Amazon’s 8-15% referral fee plus FBA and advertising costs typically pushes its effective take rate to 30-45% of revenue. The trade-off is that Big Cartel provides no traffic, so “cheaper” only matters if you can actually generate sales without Amazon’s built-in audience.
Which platform is better for beginners?
Big Cartel is easier to set up and simpler to operate day to day, with no barcodes, category approvals, or fulfillment logistics to learn. Amazon has more moving parts at setup but can produce sales faster for a beginner with no existing following, purely because of built-in search traffic. The better beginner choice depends on whether you already have an audience or need Amazon to supply one.
How long does migration from Big Cartel to Amazon take?
Most sellers can get a basic Amazon listing live within two to four weeks, factoring in account setup, barcode sourcing, and initial inventory prep. Sellers entering a gated category or applying for a GTIN exemption should budget closer to four to six weeks. There’s no reason to close your Big Cartel store during this process; running both in parallel is the lower-risk approach.
Are there hidden fees on Big Cartel or Amazon?
Big Cartel’s main hidden cost is your payment processor’s fee (typically ~2.9% + $0.30), which isn’t charged by Big Cartel itself but is unavoidable regardless of platform. Amazon’s less obvious costs include Q4 storage fee spikes, long-term storage fees on inventory held over 365 days, and advertising spend that’s functionally required to stay visible in most categories. Always check both platforms’ current fee schedules before committing to a pricing strategy.
Can I sell on Big Cartel and Amazon at the same time?
Yes, and many sellers do exactly this deliberately. Big Cartel can serve as your low-cost, full-control storefront while Amazon handles discovery and volume, as long as you keep inventory counts synced manually since the two platforms don’t share data natively. Just be aware that Amazon’s pricing parity expectations mean large price differences between channels can occasionally raise flags.
Which platform has better SEO tools?
Big Cartel gives you basic on-page SEO fields (titles, meta descriptions) and your storefront is indexed by Google like any independent website, so organic search traffic is possible over time. Amazon isn’t indexed the same way; visibility depends entirely on Amazon’s internal A9/A10 search algorithm, which rewards sales velocity, reviews, and relevance rather than traditional SEO signals. If you want Google-searchable product pages, Big Cartel (or an owned website generally) is the only one of the two that offers that.
What kind of customer support does each platform offer?
Big Cartel offers email-based support and a self-serve help center, appropriate for a small, low-complexity platform. Amazon offers seller support through Seller Central, including phone and chat options on the Professional plan, reflecting the larger scale and higher stakes of marketplace selling (account health, policy issues, and suspensions).
What happens to my data if I cancel my account?
On Big Cartel, canceling your plan generally lets you export your product data first; once canceled, your public storefront goes offline and any Big Cartel-hosted customer opt-ins may no longer be accessible. On Amazon, your listings are removed from the marketplace when you close your account, and Amazon retains its own customer purchase records since it owns that relationship, not you. Neither platform hands you a buyer email list on the way out; that’s one reason many sellers build an email list independently of both.
Does Amazon require a barcode for every product?
Most product categories on Amazon require a UPC, EAN, or GTIN to create a new listing. Handmade, custom, or unique items can sometimes qualify for a GTIN exemption, but you have to apply for it per brand or category, and approval isn’t guaranteed. This is one of the more common delays sellers hit when moving from a barcode-free platform like Big Cartel onto Amazon.
Can I sell handmade or one-of-a-kind items on Amazon?
Yes, through Amazon Handmade or standard listings with a GTIN exemption, though the review and approval process is more involved than simply listing on Big Cartel. Big Cartel was built specifically for this seller type and has no equivalent barrier; you can list a one-of-a-kind ceramic piece the same day you make it. Sellers with a rotating, unique-item catalog often find Big Cartel’s lack of friction genuinely valuable compared to Amazon’s listing requirements.
How does StableCommerce compare to Big Cartel and Amazon?
StableCommerce sits between the two: like Big Cartel, it’s your own store with full customer data ownership; unlike Big Cartel, an AI runs order processing, customer service, inventory, and marketing for you rather than leaving it all manual. Compared to Amazon, StableCommerce’s success-fee model (0.5-3% depending on plan) is far lower than Amazon’s 8-15% referral fee, but you have to drive your own traffic rather than relying on marketplace search. See our detailed comparisons at StableCommerce vs Big Cartel and StableCommerce vs Amazon.
Is Big Cartel good enough to run a full-time business?
For a seller with a small, high-margin, made-to-order catalog, yes, plenty of full-time sellers operate entirely on Big Cartel. For a seller planning to scale past a few hundred SKUs or process dozens of orders a day, the 500-product ceiling and fully manual operations become a real constraint eventually. It’s less a question of whether Big Cartel can support a full-time income and more whether it can support the specific scale you’re aiming for.
The Bottom Line
Big Cartel and Amazon solve different problems, and neither one is a strawman here: Big Cartel genuinely wins on cost and simplicity for a small, controlled catalog, while Amazon genuinely wins on reach for sellers who have no other way to get in front of buyers. The right choice depends on whether you already have a way to bring customers to your store, or whether you need the marketplace to supply them.
If you need low fees, full brand control, and a manageable catalog under 500 products, choose Big Cartel. If you need built-in traffic, fulfillment infrastructure, and are willing to trade 30-45% of revenue for access to 300 million shoppers, choose Amazon.
Compare pricing on Big Cartel’s official site or see Amazon’s current seller fees before you commit either way.
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About This Research
Content reviewed and updated: 2026-07-17
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