Amazon.se, CDON or Your Own Webshop?
By CodexierPublished 6 min read
Amazon.se, CDON and Fyndiq put your products in front of shoppers who already came to buy. Your own webshop puts your brand, your margin and your customer list under your control. Neither is free: marketplaces charge commission and dictate the rules, an own shop costs traffic and setup. This guide compares them on what actually matters and explains the both-channel setup most established Swedish sellers run.
What marketplaces give you
A marketplace solves the hardest problem of e-commerce, getting buyers to look at your product, by renting you a place in a catalogue people already search. It also lends you its trust: a shopper who would hesitate to enter card details on an unknown .se domain buys from Amazon without thinking. For a new seller with a product that competes on price and availability, that is a faster path to the first hundred orders than any own shop.
What they cost in fees and control
The price is paid twice: in commission, and in control. Each marketplace publishes its own fee schedule and changes it regularly, so check the current terms rather than a blog figure. The mechanisms below are stable even when the numbers move.
| Factor | Marketplace | Own webshop |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per sale | Commission per category, plus optional fulfilment fees | Payment fees plus your own marketing |
| Pricing freedom | Price parity rules and price competition on the same listing | Full |
| Customer data | Order data only; the buyer is the marketplace's customer | Yours: email, history, consent |
| Returns and disputes | Marketplace policy applies, often more generous than yours | Your policy within Swedish consumer law |
| Risk | Account suspension can stop all sales overnight | You own the channel |
Model your margin per channel with real numbers: product cost, commission, shipping, returns and packaging. A product that carries margin in your own shop may lose money on a marketplace, and vice versa.
Owning the customer relationship
On a marketplace the buyer is not your customer. You cannot email them, you cannot see them again as a person, and the marketplace can show a competitor on your own product page. In your own shop, every order comes with a consenting email address, a purchase history and a chance to sell again without paying for the visit. That is why brands with repeat purchases, consumables and subscriptions almost always build their own shop early, and why a pure reseller of other people's products often does fine on marketplaces alone.
- Repeat purchase rate is the deciding number: if customers buy again within a year, the customer list is worth more than the marketplace's traffic.
- Brand control matters when packaging, story and service are part of the price. A marketplace listing flattens all of that.
- Your own shop is also where reviews, SEO and content accumulate; see our guide to category page SEO.
Running both without chaos
The both-channel setup fails on the boring details: a product sold twice because stock was not synced, a return accepted under marketplace rules but processed under yours, a marketplace campaign price that undercut your own shop and annoyed a loyal customer.
One stock truth
Stock lives in one system, usually the webshop platform or an ERP, and every marketplace reads from it. Never maintain quantities by hand in two places.
One price rule
Decide whether marketplace prices match, exceed or trail your own shop, and why. Write it down before the first campaign.
One returns desk
Whoever handles returns follows the strictest policy in play. Under Swedish distance-selling law the fourteen-day right applies everywhere anyway.
One bookkeeping route
Marketplace payouts arrive net of fees. Book gross sales and fees separately so VAT and margin reports stay correct.
Most of this is integration work, which is exactly what a Shopify or WooCommerce setup with a marketplace connector covers. Prices for the setup are on the pricing page.
Which to start with
A decision rule that holds for most Swedish sellers:
- Product searched by name or model number, thin margin, little repeat purchase: marketplace first. Add a simple own shop later for brand searches.
- Own brand, repeat purchases or a story that sells: own shop first. Add one marketplace after six months as a discovery channel.
- Unsure: list ten products on one marketplace for ninety days. If they sell at a margin you can live with, you have demand data for the own-shop decision.
Do not start with three marketplaces and a shop at once. Each channel needs its own listings, service rhythm and bookkeeping, and a small team drowns in that before any channel reaches volume.
When you should not buy a webshop from us
If you sell a commodity with no brand, no repeat purchase and a margin that only works at marketplace volume, an own shop will cost you traffic you cannot afford to buy; stay on the marketplace and optimise your listings. If you have not yet sold anything anywhere, sell on a marketplace or through a simple payment link first and let real orders tell you what to build. We build shops when there is evidence of demand and a reason to own the customer. If you want a second opinion on which case you are, a 15-minute call is free.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell on Amazon.se and my own shop at the same price?
Yes. Amazon's terms discourage listing a product cheaper elsewhere, so most sellers price identically across channels and compete on their own shop through bundles, loyalty and service rather than price. Check the current seller terms before planning campaign pricing.
Do I need to charge VAT differently on a marketplace?
Selling to Swedish consumers you charge Swedish VAT as usual, whichever channel. Selling to consumers in other EU countries, the distance-selling threshold and the OSS scheme apply across all your channels combined, not per channel, so track EU sales in one place.
Which marketplaces matter in Sweden?
Amazon.se for reach and search volume, CDON as the established Nordic marketplace, and Fyndiq for price-driven products. Niche marketplaces exist for furniture, fashion and second-hand. Which one fits depends on your category; check where your competitors' products already appear.
Not sure which channel to build first?
Bring your product list and margins to a short call. We tell you whether a marketplace, an own shop or both makes sense for your products, and what a fixed-price shop setup with marketplace sync would cost.
Book a free 15-minute call