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If you run an ecommerce business, you’ve probably heard the advice: “Get your products everywhere you can — the more listings, the more sales.” I mean, more is always better, right? In this case … no.
So you (or someone you hired) start uploading products to your website, plus eBay, Etsy, Facebook, niche marketplaces, maybe even industry directories. Some copy spreadsheets, some create listings one by one, some outsource it to a VA. Different methods. Same mistake.
Just like having more websites for your business will actually harm your business, this can also be some of the worst advice you’ve ever received.
Because what most of that (bad) advice leaves out is the strategy. Without integration back to your own website, so that ONLY that one site is the authority of everything for your business, every disconnected listing isn’t building your sales — it’s fracturing them.
One client who came to me was (unknown to me) pushing spreadsheets to multiple third-party platforms while I was updating his website with better product data for SEO and visitors. His website was moving forward, exponentially. Those other disconnected listings were pulling him backward. He was fighting against himself and didn’t even realize it, because someone in the past had said this might be a good idea.
The belief: “More platforms = more sales.”
The truth: Disconnected listings don’t multiply your visibility — they hand the authority to someone else.
Let’s not even talk about the fact that all the work you’re pouring into a third party platform can be gone in the blink of an eye. I’ve heard more than one horror story … like this seller who did everything “right” and still got restricted, because eBay could: https://unscrewedmarketing.com/how-this-entrepreneur-lost-their-entire-ebay-side-hustle/
At first glance, having your products scattered across multiple platforms feels like “more exposure.” But what’s really happening is the opposite of growth.
If you’ve improved your product descriptions for SEO or updated details for customers, those changes only live on your site. Old listings on third-party platforms keep showing the outdated version — which means the work you’re doing to strengthen your brand is being undone somewhere else.
Shoppers might see different prices, policies, or even descriptions depending on which platform they hit first. Confusion kills trust — and trust is what drives conversion.
AI and SEO don’t just crawl. It interprets. When it sees your product info in multiple places, it decides which one looks most authoritative. If that’s eBay or Etsy, they get the credit — not you. And once AI or Google sets them as the authority, it’s harder for your site to ever reclaim that position.
Every disconnected listing strengthens the platform’s traffic, trust, and revenue … but not yours. You become a tenant in their ecosystem instead of the owner of your own.
Even on the basic end, say you spend an hour a week updating all of these other places. On one hand, that’s an hour a week that you could have been focusing on making your OWN site better. Beyond that, let’s value your time. For the ease of quick mental math, say your time is worth $25 per hour. And you’ve been feeding products to all those other sites for three years. That’s $4000 of work that you’ve gifted to those other third-party platforms … the big ones who have big staff already … the ones who don’t need your help. What could that $4000 have done for your OWN website?
All that time and money giving your own website authority away to a big business that doesn’t need it.
That’s why the “list it everywhere” approach isn’t a growth strategy. It’s a slow leak of authority, trust, and sales.
The solution is NOT to stop selling on marketplaces. The solution is to set it up so every listing is powered by your own site. You can still BE on all the sites, but when you set it up properly, it actually boosts your own site.
When you integrate through feeds, your website becomes the hub and every platform is just another spoke. Update your product info once — and it flows everywhere consistently.
I’ve set up these kinds of integrations in real businesses:
These setups can be technical and tedious to configure, but once they’re done, they run flawlessly in the background – forever. Updates on your site ripple across every platform — which means your brand stays the authority, not eBay or Amazon.
If your site isn’t working like an unpaid team member—integrated with CRM, email, onboarding, and task flows—you’re paying for decoration, not growth.
Consistency is what search, and now AI, both reward. Centralized feeds keep your website as the source of truth.
Your product data stays aligned, structured, and authoritative — which strengthens SEO signals and keeps AI pointing back to you.
Think of your product listings like breadcrumbs: they should all lead home.
Your website is the only place you own outright, which is why I recommend making it the hub of your entire online presence: https://unscrewedmarketing.com/why-every-business-needs-a-website-and-why-facebook-etsy-or-squarespace-just-doesnt-cut-it/
When you let third-party platforms become the main reference point for your products, you’re not just losing traffic. You’re losing control of your story.
I’ve seen it firsthand: entrepreneurs with entire side hustles wiped out overnight because eBay restricted their account. Years of work, gone — because the platform, not them, had the power.
This is why I never recommend making Shopify, Etsy, or any other third-party platform your primary website. They control the integrations, the rules, and the data. You don’t.
A WordPress + WooCommerce site gives you full control — and the ability to make marketplaces work for you, not the other way around.
Your website is an asset you own—third-party platforms can change rules or cut you off overnight, which is exactly why I recommend owning the full stack. As a matter of fact, I even own my server, which is beyond what most entrepreneurs need (and not what I would recommend.) But that’s how important this concept is!
So how do you clean this up?
I know you’ve heard it: “Just list your products everywhere, the more exposure the better.”
That’s not strategy. That’s copy-paste chaos.
Every disconnected listing is a leak in your marketing bucket. And if your ecommerce strategy is built on leaks, you’re going to feel like you’re constantly running but never getting ahead.
It’s time to unscrew it.
Visibility is only powerful when it’s connected.
So ask yourself: are your listings building your brand, or someone else’s?
If it’s the latter, it’s time to rethink your approach — because every day you wait, more of your authority is slipping away.
Before you spend another dime on TRAFFIC, let's make sure your website isn't leaking AUTHORITY.
Schedule a call to discuss where your ecommerce strategy may be failing you.
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