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How to Migrate from Etsy to Shopify: Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

Complete guide to migrating your Etsy shop to Shopify. Step-by-step process for moving products, managing SEO, and transitioning customers without losing sales.

By EcomToolsHub ·

You’ve built a successful Etsy shop. Now you’re ready for your own branded store on Shopify — lower fees, more control, actual customer ownership. But how do you make the move without losing everything you’ve built?

This guide walks you through the entire migration process, from exporting your products to redirecting your customers.

Before You Start: Should You Fully Leave Etsy?

Short answer: No, probably not.

The smart move is usually to run both platforms during (and after) the transition:

  • Etsy continues bringing in new customers through search
  • Shopify becomes your brand home with better margins
  • You gradually shift marketing focus to Shopify
  • Etsy becomes a discovery channel, Shopify becomes the profit center

This guide assumes you’re adding Shopify alongside Etsy — not abandoning Etsy entirely. That said, the technical steps are the same either way.

The Migration Checklist

Step Time Needed Difficulty
1. Set up Shopify account 15 minutes Easy
2. Choose and customize theme 1-4 hours Medium
3. Export products from Etsy 30 minutes Easy
4. Import products to Shopify 1-2 hours Medium
5. Set up payments & shipping 30 minutes Easy
6. Migrate images and descriptions 2-4 hours Tedious
7. Set up email collection 30 minutes Easy
8. Create redirect strategy 1 hour Medium
9. Launch and test 1-2 hours Medium
10. Customer communication 1 hour Easy

Total time: 8-15 hours depending on your catalog size and how much you want to customize.

Step 1: Set Up Your Shopify Account

  1. Go to shopify.com and start a free trial
  2. Enter your store name (this becomes yourname.myshopify.com)
  3. Answer the setup questions (they help Shopify customize recommendations)
  4. You now have a Shopify store — not live yet, but functional

Tip: Don’t pay yet. Use the free trial to complete setup and import products. Only add payment when you’re ready to launch.

Step 2: Choose and Customize Your Theme

Free Themes That Work Well for Handmade/Etsy-style Products:

  • Dawn (Shopify’s flagship free theme) — clean, fast, versatile
  • Craft — designed for artisans and makers
  • Taste — great for food/consumable products
  • Studio — good for artists and visual products

Customization Priorities:

  1. Logo and branding — upload your logo, set brand colors
  2. Homepage layout — hero image, featured collections, about section
  3. Product page template — how individual products display
  4. Navigation — categories, about, contact, FAQ

Don’t obsess over perfection. Get it “good enough” and launch. You can refine later.

Step 3: Export Products from Etsy

Etsy lets you export your listings as a CSV file:

  1. Go to Shop Manager → Settings → Options
  2. Click the Download Data tab
  3. Click Download CSV for your listings
  4. Save the file somewhere safe

What the Etsy Export Includes:

  • Title
  • Description
  • Price
  • Quantity
  • SKU
  • Tags
  • Materials
  • Shipping info

What It DOESN’T Include:

  • Images — you’ll need to download these separately
  • Reviews — can’t be migrated (start fresh on Shopify)
  • Sales history — stays on Etsy
  • SEO ranking — doesn’t transfer

Step 4: Import Products to Shopify

You have two options:

Option A: Shopify’s Built-in Importer (Free)

  1. Go to Products → Import
  2. Upload a CSV file formatted for Shopify
  3. Map the columns to Shopify fields

The catch: Etsy’s CSV format doesn’t match Shopify’s exactly. You’ll need to reformat the file or use a converter.

Option B: Migration Apps (Easier)

Several apps automate the Etsy-to-Shopify migration:

App Cost What It Does
LitExtension $69 (one-time) Full migration with images, categories, variants
Cart2Cart $29-$99 Automated migration, preserves structure
Matrixify (formerly Excelify) $20/mo Powerful import/export tool

Our recommendation: If you have more than 50 products, use LitExtension or Cart2Cart. The time saved is worth the one-time fee.

If you have fewer than 50 products, manual import might be faster than learning an app.

Step 5: Set Up Payments and Shipping

Payments

  1. Go to Settings → Payments
  2. Enable Shopify Payments (lowest fees, no extra transaction charges)
  3. Add PayPal as a secondary option (some customers prefer it)

Shipping

  1. Go to Settings → Shipping and delivery
  2. Set up shipping zones (domestic, international)
  3. Create shipping rates (flat rate, calculated, or free shipping threshold)

Tip: If you offer free shipping on Etsy, do the same on Shopify. Match the experience customers expect.

Step 6: Migrate Images and Descriptions

This is the tedious part. Images don’t export from Etsy automatically.

Downloading Etsy Images:

  1. Open each listing
  2. Right-click each image → Save As
  3. Organize by product/SKU

Faster method: Use a browser extension like “Download All Images” to bulk-save images from each listing page.

Uploading to Shopify:

  1. Go to each product in Shopify
  2. Upload images
  3. Arrange in desired order (first image = thumbnail)
  4. Add alt text for SEO

Updating Descriptions:

Etsy descriptions often need work for Shopify:

  • Remove Etsy-specific language (“thanks for visiting my Etsy shop”)
  • Update shipping references
  • Add formatting (Shopify supports rich text)
  • Include keywords for SEO

Step 7: Set Up Email Collection

This is critical. On Etsy, you don’t own your customer list. On Shopify, you do.

Setup Checklist:

  1. Add newsletter signup to your footer (built into most themes)
  2. Create a popup offering a discount for email signup (use Shopify’s native popup or an app like Privy)
  3. Connect an email service (Klaviyo, Omnisend, or Sender)
  4. Set up welcome email sequence for new subscribers
  5. Set up abandoned cart emails (Shopify has basic version built-in)

Your email list becomes your most valuable asset. Start building it day one.

Step 8: Create Your Redirect Strategy

You can’t do 301 redirects from Etsy URLs (you don’t control Etsy’s server). But you CAN:

Update Your Etsy Shop:

  1. Add your Shopify URL to your Etsy shop announcement
  2. Update your Etsy profile with a link to your new site
  3. Consider adding a line in product descriptions: “Also available at [yoursite.com]”
  4. Include your website URL in every Etsy shipment (packaging insert, business card)

Redirect Etsy Traffic:

  • Shop announcement: “Visit us at [yoursite.com] for exclusive products and deals!”
  • Social media: Update all links to point to Shopify
  • Business cards: Include only your Shopify URL on new materials

Domain Setup:

  1. Buy a custom domain (yourname.com) — ~$12/year via Namecheap or Porkbun
  2. Connect it to Shopify: Settings → Domains → Connect existing domain
  3. Enable SSL (automatic in Shopify)

Step 9: Launch and Test

Pre-Launch Checklist:

  • All products imported with images
  • Prices are correct
  • Shipping rates configured
  • Payment processing tested (do a test order)
  • Email signup working
  • Contact page with email/form
  • About page telling your story
  • Policies (shipping, returns, privacy) published
  • Mobile version looks good
  • Site speed is acceptable

Test Orders:

  1. Place a test order using Shopify’s Bogus Gateway (Settings → Payments → test mode)
  2. Check email confirmations
  3. Verify order shows in admin
  4. Test on mobile

Go Live:

  1. Remove password protection (Online Store → Preferences)
  2. Your store is now public
  3. Announce to your existing customers!

Step 10: Customer Communication

Don’t ghost your Etsy customers. Communicate the transition:

Packaging Inserts (Start Now):

Include a card in every Etsy order:

“Thanks for your order! Did you know we have our own website? Visit [yoursite.com] for exclusive products and 10% off your first order with code NEWSITE10.”

Email Your Etsy Customers (If You Have Contact Info):

Many Etsy customers don’t give you permission to market to them, but if you’ve collected emails through Etsy Messages or external channels:

“We’re excited to announce our new website at [yoursite.com]. As a thank you for being a loyal customer, enjoy 15% off your first order with code LOYAL15.”

Social Media Announcement:

Post on every platform:

“Big news! We’ve opened our official store at [yoursite.com]. Same handmade products you love, now with exclusive items, better deals, and faster shipping. Link in bio!”

Common Migration Mistakes

Pros

  • DO run both platforms simultaneously (at least initially)
  • DO build an email list from day one
  • DO include website info in every Etsy package
  • DO keep Etsy listings active for search traffic
  • DO offer launch incentives to drive initial traffic

Cons

  • DON'T delete your Etsy shop immediately
  • DON'T expect Shopify traffic overnight (you'll need to market)
  • DON'T copy Etsy descriptions word-for-word without updating
  • DON'T forget to set up abandoned cart emails
  • DON'T skip the email signup — it's your most valuable asset

Timeline: Realistic Migration Schedule

Week Tasks Goal
Week 1 Set up Shopify, choose theme, basic customization Store skeleton complete
Week 2 Import products, add images, update descriptions Products live
Week 3 Payments, shipping, email setup, test orders Ready to sell
Week 4 Launch, announce, start including inserts in Etsy orders Taking Shopify orders
Ongoing Shift marketing focus, build email list, optimize Growing Shopify share

Bottom Line

Migrating from Etsy to Shopify isn’t complicated — it’s just time-consuming. The technical steps are straightforward. The real challenge is building traffic and customer awareness for your new store.

Key takeaways:

  1. Don’t fully leave Etsy — use both platforms strategically
  2. Start building your email list immediately
  3. Use packaging inserts to drive Etsy customers to Shopify
  4. Give yourself a realistic timeline (4+ weeks for a proper migration)
  5. The fee savings on Shopify will pay for the effort many times over

Your Etsy shop got you this far. Shopify will take you further — if you put in the work to make the transition smooth.

Not sure if Shopify is right for you? Read our Shopify vs Etsy comparison first.