If you want to know how to migrate from Etsy to Shopify, the short version is this: set up the Shopify store first, export your Etsy listing and order data as CSV files, reformat that CSV to match Shopify’s import template, bring it in through Shopify’s own Store Importer or a third-party app, then review every listing by hand before you point customers at the new store.
Plan for a few hours of cleanup even on a small catalog, because variant rows, images and shipping profiles rarely land clean on the first try, and cleanup is per-listing work rather than something a bulk tool finishes for you.
None of that is difficult on its own. What it costs in time and money, and what you lose that a marketplace was quietly supplying, matter more than the mechanics, and both are covered below before the step list runs out.
Last checked: September 18, 2026. Fees and plan prices change without notice on both platforms. Check the current page for your own country before you act on any figure below.
How to Migrate From Etsy to Shopify: The Steps in Order
1. Set up your Shopify store before you touch your Etsy data. Sign up, and when Shopify asks which platform you are moving from, tell it Etsy. You can generate a starting theme from your existing shop’s URL, which gives you a layout to work from rather than a blank template.
2. Decide what you are actually bringing over. A migration is the natural point to drop listings that never sold, retire duplicate variants and rewrite descriptions that were written for marketplace search rather than your own site. Moving everything by default just moves the clutter too.
3. Export your data from Etsy. In Shop Manager, go to your listings and download the CSV of items currently for sale. Etsy’s export only includes listings that are live at the moment you download it, so anything you have let lapse needs relisting first if you want it in the file. Order and customer history exports the same way, from Settings, Options, Download Data.
4. Reformat the CSV for Shopify’s import template. This is the step every guide underestimates. Etsy’s CSV structure does not match Shopify’s: variant combinations need their own rows, image files need to exist somewhere Shopify can pull them from rather than as bare URLs, and shipping profiles do not carry across at all and have to be rebuilt inside Shopify. Stray commas, quotation marks and line breaks inside descriptions also break the import if you do not clean them first.
5. Import into Shopify. Shopify’s built-in Store Importer app takes the reformatted CSV directly. Third-party apps in the Shopify App Store offer the same function with different handling of variant pricing and duplicate detection, and a manual CSV upload works too if your catalog is small enough that speed does not matter.
6. Review every listing before you launch. Check that images attached to the right variants, prices carried over correctly, and descriptions read like a website rather than a marketplace listing. Import tools move data; they do not fix writing.
7. Decide whether Etsy stays open during the transition. You do not have to close one before the other opens. Many sellers run both for a period, using Etsy as a sales channel while the Shopify store builds its own footing.
For a shop with a few dozen listings, the reformat and review steps together usually run to a few hours of focused work, not a full day. A catalog measured in the hundreds takes proportionally longer, because the cleanup is per-listing rather than a single bulk pass, so the honest way to plan for it is by listing count, not by calendar days.
What Migrating Actually Costs
The mechanics above are close to free. What is not free is what you pay each platform going forward, and the two charge in different shapes: one takes a cut per sale, the other charges a flat monthly fee regardless of sales.
Etsy’s own Fees & Payments Policy page lists a $0.20 fee to publish or renew a listing, a 6.5% transaction fee on the sale price including whatever shipping you charge, and a payment processing fee of 3% plus $0.25 per sale through Etsy Payments (Etsy’s Fees & Payments Policy page, read September 18, 2026). None of that depends on whether anything sells that month, except the transaction and processing fees, which only apply when it does.
Shopify’s own pricing page lists Basic at $25 a month billed monthly or $19 on an annual plan, Grow at $65 or $49 annually, and Advanced at $399 or $299 annually, with Plus starting from $2,300 a month for larger operations (Shopify’s pricing page, read September 18, 2026).
That subscription is due whether you sell one item or none, which is the opposite risk profile from Etsy’s per-sale model. A slow month costs you nothing extra on Etsy and costs you the same fixed fee on Shopify.
Which is cheaper depends entirely on your own sales volume and margin, and no single published number answers it honestly for every shop.
Our full breakdown on how to work out your own break-even point walks through the fee crossover, the payback period on what the move costs, and the retention rate you actually need to hold your income steady, using your own numbers rather than a borrowed one.
What You Lose When You Leave the Marketplace
Etsy’s fee is not only rent for the checkout. It also buys marketplace search traffic, buyer trust built into the platform, and a payment system shoppers already recognize. None of that transfers automatically when you migrate.
A brand-new Shopify store has no search history and no built-in audience, so the visitors who used to find you through Etsy search do not simply follow the export. And a store without reviews, a recognizable badge or an established checkout looks less certain to a first-time visitor than a listing on a marketplace they already trust, even if the product and the seller are identical.
Our piece on how to rebuild the trust signals a marketplace supplied covers what a new store needs to replace that, from real reviews to a clear return policy, and none of it happens automatically the day you import your CSV.
Your customer list is a smaller loss but a real one. Shopify’s own migration guidance notes that Etsy customer email addresses do not carry over for marketing use, because Etsy’s terms restrict using them off-platform, so even a seller with years of order history is starting customer acquisition from close to zero on the new store, whatever the export file contains.
Replacing What Etsy Gave You for Free
Search is the part sellers underestimate most. Etsy’s own search engine indexes and ranks your listings against other Etsy listings, following different signals than Google does against the rest of the web. Moving to Shopify does not just move your listings, it changes which search engine you are competing in, and a seller who only knows marketplace search has to learn store SEO from scratch rather than assume the old habits carry over.
The other piece Etsy supplied without being asked is a payment method shoppers already trusted. Shopify’s own migration guidance, read September 18, 2026, states that Shopify integrates with more than 100 payment gateways and offers Shop Pay for faster checkout, but setting that up and having customers actually feel that trust are two different milestones, and the second one takes longer than the setup does.
A Realistic Timeline After You Migrate
Nothing above happens on launch day. The technical migration, from export to a reviewed, live catalog, can be finished within days for a small shop. What follows it is slower: a new store with no search history typically sees very little organic traffic in its first weeks, whatever the plan or the theme.
Our honest look at what month one actually looks like with no traffic is worth reading before you migrate, not after, because it sets the expectation the import process itself cannot give you.
Should You Run Both Platforms During the Move?
There is no rule against it, and for most sellers it is the lower-risk path. Keeping Etsy open while the Shopify store finds its footing means the income you already have keeps arriving while the new one builds up, rather than betting the whole month on a store with no track record yet.
The tradeoff is running two catalogs, which takes real time to keep listings, prices and inventory in sync across both, and that ongoing tab is worth weighing against the risk of closing Etsy too early, not something to work out by trial and error after the fact.
FAQ
How long does it take to migrate from Etsy to Shopify?
The technical steps, export, reformat, import and review, can be done within a few days for a small catalog. Building organic traffic and buyer trust on the new store takes considerably longer and is a separate timeline from the migration itself.
Can I keep selling on Etsy while I set up Shopify?
Yes. Many sellers run both platforms during the transition, using Etsy as an active sales channel while the Shopify store builds its own search presence and reputation, then scale back on Etsy once the new store is carrying real sales.
Does Shopify’s import tool bring over my Etsy reviews?
No. Etsy’s export covers listings and order history, not the reviews attached to your Etsy shop, since those belong to the marketplace’s own review system rather than to you as portable data.
What does it cost to migrate from Etsy to Shopify?
The migration itself, using Shopify’s own Store Importer, has no separate fee beyond your Shopify subscription. The real cost comparison is ongoing: Etsy charges per sale under its published fee structure, Shopify charges a flat monthly plan fee regardless of sales, and which works out cheaper depends on your own volume and margin, not on either company’s marketing.
Do I need a developer to migrate my Etsy store?
Not for a straightforward catalog. The CSV export, reformat and import steps are documented and can be done without code. A developer becomes useful only if your catalog has complex variants, a large volume of listings, or custom data that does not map cleanly to Shopify’s import template.