Imagine pouring your energy into creating products people love, only to find that the platform you sell on suddenly changes the rules. Fees increase. Customer data vanishes behind a wall. Branding gets stripped down to whatever the platform allows. For many businesses, this is the reality of relying solely on marketplaces.

Marketplaces like Amazon, Lazada, or Shopee might feel like the easiest path to visibility, but they come with hidden costs and long-term risks. If you want real control, sustainable growth, and stronger customer relationships, investing in your own E-commerce platform is the move that secures your future.

The Risks of Relying on Marketplaces

Selling on marketplaces may provide immediate exposure, but it comes with strings attached that can hurt your business in the long run. Let’s break them down.

1. Remonetization Risk

One of the biggest dangers of building your business on a marketplace is the constant risk of policy and fee changes. Marketplaces can—and often do—raise commission rates, introduce new service fees, or enforce mandatory advertising costs. These changes eat directly into your profits and leave you with little choice but to comply. Owning your E-commerce store shields you from these unpredictable shifts, giving you stable financial control.

Marketplaces can—and often do—change their fee structures overnight. Imagine you’ve been selling handmade accessories on an online marketplace for years, building a loyal base of buyers. Suddenly, the platform increases commission from 12% to 18% and introduces mandatory advertising costs. Overnight, your margins shrink, leaving you with little choice but to either raise prices (risking competitiveness) or absorb the loss.

2. Lack of Control Over Branding and Experience

Your brand identity is what sets you apart. On a marketplace, however, you’re just another vendor in a massive catalog. The layout, design, and even how your product is presented are dictated by the platform. You can’t create a unique customer journey, personalize your messaging, or highlight your values. With your own E-commerce platform, you own every detail—from design and product placement to checkout flow—allowing you to craft a seamless experience that builds lasting brand loyalty.

Your brand is more than a product listing—it’s your story, your promise, and your identity. Yet on a marketplace, you’re confined to their templates. For example, a premium skincare brand may want to create an elegant online experience with curated product pages, lifestyle imagery, and tailored recommendations. On a marketplace, all of that gets reduced to a standardized grid of thumbnails and reviews. Your brand gets lost in the noise.

3. No Direct Customer Relationship

Customer data is gold, but when you sell through a marketplace, the customer technically belongs to them, not you. You don’t have access to full data, making it nearly impossible to build long-term relationships, personalize future offers, or launch effective remarketing campaigns. Having your own E-commerce store means owning the data and using it strategically to nurture loyalty, repeat purchases, and stronger lifetime value.

When a customer buys your product through a marketplace, the data stays with the platform. That means no email addresses, no purchase history insights, and no chance to nurture loyalty. Picture a boutique coffee roaster who wants to introduce a subscription model for repeat buyers. Without direct access to customer information, they can’t remarket or personalize offers—opportunities slip through the cracks.

4. Revenue Sharing That Cuts Deep

Every sale you make on a marketplace sends a large percentage straight back to the platform. Between commissions, listing fees, and advertising costs, your margins shrink significantly. Over time, this becomes a heavy burden, especially for growing businesses. By shifting to your own E-commerce, you keep more of your hard-earned revenue, reinvesting it into growth strategies like product development, marketing, or customer service.

Between commissions, transaction fees, and listing charges, marketplaces can easily take 15–30% of every sale. For a small electronics brand selling high-volume, low-margin products, this can be devastating. What looks like a profitable channel at first quickly becomes unsustainable when you calculate the long-term cost.

Want to find out how much it costs to build your dream app or web app?

click to find out

Building Your Own E-commerce Is the Smarter Move

Shifting from reliance on marketplaces to your own E-commerce platform puts you firmly in control. It’s not just about cutting costs; it’s about building a foundation for long-term growth.

• Control Over Brand and Experience: You design the storefront, navigation, checkout, and post-purchase experience. A fashion retailer, for instance, can build a store that reflects their style—from minimalist layouts to personalized lookbooks.
• Direct Ownership of Customer Data:Collect insights, track behavior, and build email campaigns that drive repeat sales. With your own store, a health supplements brand can nurture one-time buyers into loyal subscribers.
• Better Margins and Profitability: Every dollar saved from revenue-sharing goes back into your business. Instead of paying marketplace fees, you can reinvest in product development, marketing campaigns, or enhanced customer support.
• Long-Term Independence: Owning your platform means you’re not vulnerable to sudden rule changes. Whether it’s expanding internationally or experimenting with new sales models, you decide the roadmap.

Think of it this way: Relying solely on marketplaces is like renting space in a crowded mall. Building your own E-commerce store is like owning the property—you decide the rules, and every investment goes toward your growth.

How Marketplaces Can Still Play a Role in Your Strategy

Marketplaces shouldn’t necessarily be abandoned—they can complement your strategy if used wisely. Think of them as awareness channels rather than core business platforms.

• Customer Acquisition Tool: Marketplaces expose your products to shoppers who may not have found you otherwise. Once they’re aware of your brand, you can guide them toward your E-commerce site for repeat purchases.
• Testing Ground: New product launches can be tested on marketplaces to gauge demand before rolling them out on your own platform.
• Diversification of Reach: Having both an E-commerce site and presence on marketplaces gives you resilience. If one channel underperforms, you have another to fall back on.

The key is balance: marketplaces should be part of the journey, not the destination.

Lizard Global, Experts In Building E-commerce Platforms Globally

Marketplaces can play a role in your sales strategy, but they should never be the foundation of your business. The risks of remonetization, lack of control, no direct customer relationship, and revenue sharing make it clear: long-term success comes from owning your E-commerce platform.

At word of choiceLizard Global, we help businesses like yours take back control by designing and developing powerful, custom E-commerce solutions. From seamless user experiences to secure payment systems and scalable infrastructures, we make sure your online store is built for growth and customer loyalty.

Ready to stop renting space on someone else’s platform and start owning your digital future? Get in touch with our team at Lizard Global today, and let’s build an E-commerce platform that truly belongs to you.

E-commerce vs Marketplace Glossary

• E-commerce
  • Short for “electronic commerce,” it simply means buying and selling products or services online through a website or app.
• Marketplace
  • An online platform where many sellers list their products for customers to browse and purchase. Examples include Amazon, Shopee, and Lazada.
• Remonetization Risk
  • The risk that a marketplace suddenly changes how much money it takes from each sale—like raising commission fees or adding new charges—making it harder for sellers to stay profitable.
• Commission Fees
  • A percentage of every sale that a marketplace keeps as its cut. For example, if you sell a $100 product and the platform takes 15%, you only get $85.
• Revenue Sharing
  • When a portion of your earnings goes to another party. In this context, it’s the money you share with marketplaces instead of keeping it all for your business.
• Margins (Profit Margins)
  • The money you keep after subtracting all costs (like product costs, marketing, and marketplace fees). Higher margins mean more profit per sale.
• Customer Data
  • Information about your buyers, such as their names, email addresses, shopping habits, and preferences. Marketplaces usually keep this data to themselves.
• Remarketing
  • A strategy where businesses use customer data to show personalized ads or offers to people who’ve already interacted with their brand, encouraging repeat purchases.
• Brand Identity
  • The way your business presents itself to the world—through visuals, messaging, tone, and overall customer experience. On marketplaces, this is often stripped down to plain product listings.
• Customer Journey
  • The entire experience a customer has with your brand, from discovering your products to purchasing, receiving, and coming back for more.
• Scalability
  • The ability of your e-commerce platform to grow with your business. For example, handling more visitors, more products, or more orders without breaking down.
• Payment Gateway
  • The secure system that processes online payments (like credit cards or e-wallets) when customers buy something from your website.
• User Experience (UX)
  • How easy, enjoyable, and seamless it feels for a customer to use your website or app.
• Awareness Channel
  • A platform that helps people discover your brand, even if they don’t buy directly from there. Marketplaces often serve this role.