I've been selling handmade pottery on Etsy for three years, and last month my fees were $340 on $2,100 in sales, which feels like a lot but I still can't quit because that's where the customers are. A friend directs all her traffic to her own Shopify site and pays 2.9% per transaction, but she spends $200 a month on Instagram ads to get people there. Marketplaces take a cut but they also bring the foot traffic — is that trade-off actually worth it for small sellers, or are we just feeding the platform?