I've just started my own business selling some of my better photographs snd my mum's paintings. I did consider Etsy as an alternative to my own site, but in the end I wanted more control so I developed my own off the back of Woocommerce. (Recommended by the way if you want your own ecommerce site). The problem with your own site is traffic. So you've got the opposite problem with Etsy really. Too much competition, and too much traffic going all over the place. There seems to be a very fine line between the two. I'm still glad I opted for my own design, my own control, and bespoke look, but I haven't ruled out Etsy as well.
A for maintaining the website, yes it's a lot of work really, but not as much as developing it from the ground up. I'm finding the social media side of it almost a full time job in its own right. I've had some success with Facebook ads and one with Instangram (I'm on Instagram also) but word of mouth tends to be better on all couints.
But it is a slow buirner for sure.