Marketplaces

Etsy Fees Explained: Every Charge a Seller Pays

By the ToolFees team · Updated November 2026

Etsy does not have one fee — it has four. A US seller pays a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee on the item price plus shipping, and 3% + $0.25 to process the payment; if an Offsite Ad made the sale, Etsy takes another 15% or 12% on top. On a $100 item with free shipping the stack totals $9.95 and the seller keeps $90.05. This guide explains each charge, when it applies, and the traps — starting with the fact that Etsy charges its percentages on your shipping too.

Fee 1: the listing fee — $0.20

Every listing costs $0.20 to publish, lasts four months, and the fee is charged again when a listing is renewed — and again for each additional quantity of the same listing that sells. It is the smallest of Etsy’s fees and the easiest to forget: a shop with 200 active listings pays $40 every four months just to keep the shelves stocked, before selling anything. Listings that never sell are pure cost — pruning them is a fee decision, not just housekeeping.

Fee 2: the transaction fee — 6.5% of price plus shipping

On every sale Etsy takes 6.5% of the order total — and “order total” means the item price plus the shipping you charged the buyer. This is the detail that catches new sellers: charging $5 for postage does not shelter that $5, because Etsy charges its percentage on it as well. Offering “free shipping” changes nothing about the fee either — the postage is then inside the item price, where the 6.5% applies to it just the same. The transaction fee is Etsy’s biggest single cut on most orders.

Fee 3: payment processing — 3% + $0.25 (US)

Every Etsy Payments sale is processed at 3% of the order total plus $0.25 for US sellers. Like the transaction fee, it is calculated on price plus shipping. Added to the transaction fee, it means 9.5% of everything the buyer pays is spoken for before the fixed fees — the number to remember when you price, and the reason the worked example further down leaves less than sellers expect.

Fee 4: Offsite Ads — 15% or 12%, only sometimes

The Offsite Ads fee is the one sellers argue about, because it is large and conditional. When a buyer arrives through an advert Etsy’s placed on Google, social media or another site and buys, Etsy charges 15% of the order total — or 12% for shops that have passed $10,000 in annual sales. The fee is capped at $100 per order, and it is only charged on orders that actually came from an Offsite Ad. On an ordinary $45 order nothing changes; on an ad-driven $45 order the fee is another $6.75 at 15%, which can be most of the profit. Sellers cannot know in advance which orders will carry it — which is why pricing needs a margin that survives it.

The whole stack on one $100 sale

Source: Etsy’s Fees & Payments policy (etsy.com/legal/fees). Offsite Ads excluded — add 15% or 12% of the order total when an ad made the sale. Last verified: November 2026

A worked example: a $40 item with $5 shipping

The Etsy fee calculator breaks down any order the same way:

Etsy fees in the UK

The stack is the same shape in Britain with two changes: payment processing is 4% + £0.30 of the order total instead of the US rate, and UK sellers also pay a small regulatory operating fee — an additional percentage of the order total, set in Etsy’s Fees & Payments policy. On a £60 item with free shipping, the main fees total £6.80 and the seller receives £53.20 before that regulatory fee. The Etsy fee calculator UK works in pounds with the UK rates applied.

Where sellers lose money without noticing

Three habits account for most of the damage. First, forgetting that fees are charged on shipping as well as the item — sellers who price the item perfectly and then add postage at cost still lose 9.5% of the postage. Second, setting prices as “costs plus profit” and letting Etsy take 9.5% of the whole price, including 9.5% of the profit itself; our guide to pricing on Etsy gives the formula that fixes exactly that leak. Third, comparing Etsy with other marketplaces on headline percentages alone — eBay’s single 13.25% fee looks worse than Etsy’s 6.5% until the rest of Etsy’s stack is added, a comparison the eBay fees guide works through properly.

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