How to leave Amazon Marketplace and not lose sales: Confession of a seller 2026
In 2024, we, like thousands of other sellers, complained in chats about paid acceptance. In 2025, we scowled at automated promotions that were killing margins.
We are the brand team IWANT Concept Store. We had a store that had been around for a long time. And, frankly, it worked poorly everywhere.
At Amazon Marketplace / Etsy we were stifled by commissions and competition. There was silence in our own online store, because the content was “like everyone else”, and advertising drained the budget.
We are at a dead end. Either close down or change something radically. We chose the third:create your own technology to survive.
This is how ETERN8 was born. And in this article, I’ll tell you how we transformed an unprofitable store into a profitable D2C brand, and how you can follow our path.
Why did we decide to flee marketplaces?
Let's face it. If you sell clothing on Amazon Marketplace / Etsy, your P&L (profit statement) looks bad:
📉 Reality of seller 2026:
- Commission and logistics: minus 30-45% of the check.
- Advertising (Autobidders): another 15% just to be on the first page.
- Redemptions 30-40%: The rest of the goods travel around the country at your expense, turning into rags.
But the worst thing is that we did not own the client. We paid to attract the same buyer over and over again. We were tenants who could be evicted at any time.
The problem was not with the site. The problem was the content.
When we analyzed why our own site wasn't selling either, we realized a sad truth:our visual was boring.
A regular catalog on a white background. Shot in an inexpensive studio, the model is tired, the light is flat. In 2026, in the era of TikTok and visual noise, such content is “white noise.” The client scrolls through it in 0.1 seconds.
We needed content on the level of Vogue or Balenciaga. But the budgets for such filming amount to millions, which we did not have.
The birth of ETERN8: How we hacked the system
We realized that if we can't hire a photographer for $10k, we should create a digital version of it.
We spent months developing our own AI engine (Visual Base). We taught the neural network not just to “draw pictures”, but to preserve the texture of our fabric, the fit of patterns and generate photorealistic models.
⚡ What has changed:
- Instead of a boring studio: Our models now “walked” through neon Tokyo, sat in Parisian cafes and posed on Mars.
- Video 9:16: We started generating video walkthroughs that held attention.
- Website: We rebuilt our store on a fast engine (Next.js), removing everything unnecessary.
The result of the IWANT Concept transformation
As soon as we uploaded new AI content to the website and social networks, the magic of numbers began to work:
Advertising CTR
x3
People clicked because they saw an unusual, expensive picture.
Conversion
2.5%
Growth from 0.8% thanks to quality content and fast website.
Average bill
↑ Growth
The product began to look visually more expensive than its real price.
Margin
+40%
We took back the commission that we previously gave to Amazon Marketplace / Etsy.
The IWANT Concept Store website is the result of transformation using ETERN8 Core
We didn't just "leave Etsy". We have built a system where the marketplace has become just one of the sales channels (for stock), and the main profit now goes through our website.
The Hybrid Transition Strategy for You
We went through this pain so you could take a shortcut. You don't need to develop your own AI engine - you can use ours. Here's your action plan:
Step 1: Repackaging (Visual Sprint)
Forget about boring photos. Send us your products (or even sources of old photos). We will run them through ETERN8 Visual Base. In 24 hours you will receive content that looks like a million.
Step 2. Own your home (Independence Sprint)
Don't make a website on your knees. We will deploy for you a copy of our engine - a fast store that is already integrated with DHL/UPS and payments. This is your asset that no one will take away.
Step 3. Trojan horse
Start adding flyers with a QR code to your orders for Amazon Marketplace / Etsy: “15% discount on the new collection only on our website.” Refill the base. Take people with you.
Instead of output
Leaving the marketplace needle is scary. But even worse is to stay there and slowly lose profits. We at ETERN8 are not just a web studio. We are sellers who created the tool for ourselves.
👉 See how AI has changed our brand
View IWANT portfolio and case
👉 Download Guide for free
Or download our PDF guide, where we outline the transition numbers in detail.