Guide

Amazon or Shopify, or both?

By . Published October 5, 2026, rewritten October 8, 2026. Fees and features checked against Amazon's and Shopify's own pages on October 5.

Part 1

Amazon charges for the shopper, Shopify for the payment

Do this first

  1. Look up your category's referral fee on Amazon's pricing page.
  2. Price one product's FBA fees in Amazon's revenue calculator.
  3. Work out what one Shopify order costs you in ads.
  4. Compare that with Amazon's referral fee on the same order.
AmazonShopify
Monthly planProfessional, $39.99 a month (Individual is $0.99 per item sold)1Basic, $39 a month, or $29 a month paid yearly. Grow is $105, or $79 yearly2
Cut of each saleA referral fee by category, with a $0.30 minimum in most. 15% in Home and Kitchen, and 15% above $10 in Beauty, Health and Personal Care1Card rates from 2.9% + 30¢ on Basic, and from 2.7% + 30¢ on Grow2
On a $24.99 kitchen item$3.75 referral fee, before FBA feesAbout $1.02 in card fees, before what it cost to bring the visitor
Who brings the shopperAmazon. They're already searching its storeYou, through ads, email, social and search

Amazon's FBA fees vary by size tier and season, so they're left out. Amazon's revenue calculator prices them for one product.

  • Amazon's $3.75 buys a shopper who's already searching. Shopify's $1.02 only takes the payment.
  • The gap is $2.73 on a $24.99 item, before fulfillment on either side. If ads to win one Shopify order cost more than that, Amazon is the cheaper place for that sale.

Part 2

Amazon serves demand that exists, Shopify keeps the customer

Do this first

  1. On Amazon, track sessions and conversion against the referral fee.
  2. On Shopify, track what each order costs to acquire against what that customer buys in a year.
  3. Put subscriptions, bundles and repeat offers on Shopify, where the email address is yours.
  • Amazon is for demand that already exists. A shopper typing your category into Amazon is mid-purchase, so a product with a clear search term and good reviews sells without you buying the click.
  • Shopify is for customers you keep. The order, the email address and the next purchase are yours, so subscriptions and repeat buyers live there. Every visitor costs something to bring, so a $1.02 card fee doesn't make it cheaper on its own.
  • Margin decides the mix. Which channel actually makes money works it through on one brand, with ads and cost of goods included.

Part 3

Run both from one inventory with 2 tools

Do this first

  1. Connect your Amazon account through Shopify's Marketplace Connect app.
  2. Check that listings, orders and inventory sync in your Shopify admin.
  3. Send Shopify orders to Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfillment, so one FBA pool ships both.
  4. Add the 3.5% surcharge and the October 15 to January 14 peak fees to your MCF costs.
One inventory, two storefronts Your Shopify store and your Amazon listings sync through Shopify's Marketplace Connect app. One pool of FBA stock ships Amazon orders through FBA and Shopify orders through Multi-Channel Fulfillment, unbranded by default, in 3 business days standard or 2 expedited. Your Shopify store Your Amazon listings Marketplace Connectsyncs listings, orders and inventory One pool of FBA stock MCF ships Shopify orders FBA ships Amazon orders MCF: unbranded by default, 3 business days standard or 2 expedited
How the 2 tools connect, from Shopify's and Amazon's help pages read October 5, 2026.
  • Marketplace Connect, formerly Codisto, links your catalog to Amazon, and to Walmart, Target Plus and eBay in the US. Changes in your store carry across.3
  • Multi-Channel Fulfillment ships from the same FBA stock in unbranded packaging by default, 3 business days standard and 2 expedited. In the US a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge applies, and peak fees run October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027.4
  • The cost is 2 dashboards. Each channel now reports in its own terms, on its own calendar.

Part 4

The trap: reading the two apart

Do this first

  1. Add Amazon and Shopify revenue into one weekly line.
  2. Compare the last 13 weeks with the same weeks last year.
  3. Explain a falling channel only after you've checked the total.
  • A falling channel stops meaning a falling business once demand can move between them.
  • In our fictional Kestrel Kitchen sample, Amazon's ordered product sales fell 20.8% over 13 weeks against the year before and sessions fell 30.8%. Shopify net revenue rose 82.3% (each channel's own measure, which is why they need adding up), and the business grew 11.3%.
  • Read Amazon alone and you'd fix a listing that wasn't broken. Amazon down, Shopify up: is the business shrinking? walks the 3 checks, and a monthly business review adds up every channel first.

Part 5

Common questions

Can I sell on Amazon and Shopify at the same time?

Yes. They're separate accounts, and Shopify's Marketplace Connect app links them, so listings, orders and inventory sync between your Shopify admin and Amazon.

Should I sell on Amazon or Shopify?

You don't have to pick. Amazon serves shoppers already searching, and Shopify keeps the customers you bring. Start with the one your buyers already use, and read the two as one business once you add the second.

Can I fulfill Shopify orders with FBA inventory?

Yes. Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfillment ships orders from other channels out of the same FBA stock, in unbranded packaging by default, in 3 business days standard or 2 expedited.

Is Amazon or Shopify cheaper?

Per order, Shopify's card fee is usually lower than Amazon's referral fee, but Shopify doesn't bring the shopper. Compare the referral fee with what you pay to get a visitor to your own store.

Selling on both? We'll read them as one business

Sentopi builds a monthly report across Amazon, Shopify and every other channel you sell through: what moved, why, and what to do first, the way the Kestrel sample is. The first month is free. After that it's priced per brand and quoted on the call, with no contract, and we never log in to your accounts.

Get your first month free See the sample report

Sources

  1. Amazon. How much does it cost to sell on Amazon? Selling plans and referral fees. Read October 5, 2026. Link
  2. Shopify. Pricing. Read October 5, 2026. Link
  3. Shopify Help Center. Shopify Marketplace Connect app. Read October 5, 2026. Link
  4. Amazon Supply Chain Services. Multichannel Fulfillment (MCF). Read October 5, 2026. Link

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