Marketplace
Selling on Etsy: three fees, and the fourth one you cannot refuse
Etsy’s core fees are modest and easy to calculate. The number that changes the picture is Offsite Ads — optional below a revenue threshold, mandatory above it, and charged at a rate that dwarfs everything else when it applies.
Rates checked 2026-09-05. Marketplaces revise fee schedules on their own timetable — confirm anything you are about to price against before you use it.
What it costs
| Charge | Rate |
|---|---|
| Account Etsy Plus is optional at around $10 per month and does not reduce fees | $0 / month |
| Listing fee Charged again on renewal, and per additional unit sold from a multi-quantity listing | $0.20 per listing |
| Transaction fee Raised from 5%; includes the shipping you charge the buyer | 6.5% of the total |
| Payment processing (US) Charged separately from the transaction fee, unlike eBay | 3% + $0.25 per transaction |
| Payment processing (UK) Rates vary by the country of your bank account | 4% + £0.20 |
| Offsite Ads, under $10k Optional at this level — you can switch it off | 15% of the attributed order |
| Offsite Ads, $10k and above Mandatory once trailing 365-day sales cross the threshold | 12% of the attributed order |
| Offsite Ads cap Per Etsy’s Fees & Payments Policy; limits the damage on high-value items | $100 per attributed order |
| Currency conversion Applies when your listing and bank currencies differ | Reported at 2.5% over market rate |
You ship it, and shipping is inside the fee base
Etsy has no first-party fulfillment network for general sellers. Shipping is your cost and your logistics — but what you charge the buyer is taxed by the transaction fee.
| Item | Effect |
|---|---|
| Buyer-paid shipping | Inside the 6.5% transaction fee |
| Sales tax collected Etsy charges processing on tax it collects, but not the transaction fee | Outside the transaction fee, inside payment processing |
| Etsy shipping labels Worth comparing against independent label services on heavier parcels | Discounted, not always cheapest |
A worked example
A $30 item with $5 shipping, US seller, no Offsite Ads attribution. Fulfillment and storage figures are illustrative; substitute your own before making a decision.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Item + shipping | $35.00 |
| Transaction fee at 6.5% | −$2.28 |
| Payment processing, 3% + $0.25 | −$1.30 |
| Listing fee | −$0.20 |
| Left to you | $31.22 |
Platform take: 10.8% of the order total — but roughly 24% if the same order is attributed to Offsite Ads at 15%.
What catches sellers out
The $10,000 threshold changes your business, not just your rate
Below roughly $10,000 in trailing 365-day sales, Offsite Ads is optional at 15%. Above it the rate falls to 12% and participation becomes mandatory. Crossing the threshold means a share of your orders permanently carries a double-digit advertising charge you did not choose.
The listing fee is per unit sold, not per listing created
A multi-quantity listing charges $0.20 again for each additional unit as the listing auto-renews. Sellers modeling a single $0.20 across a hundred units are out by nearly twenty dollars per hundred sales — small in isolation, structural on low-price goods.
Two percentage fees, not one
Unlike eBay, Etsy charges the transaction fee and payment processing separately. The working combined figure for a US seller is around 9.5% plus fixed charges. Guides quoting "6.5%" are quoting one of two percentages.
Currency conversion is a real line for non-US sellers
If your listings and your bank account are in different currencies, a conversion charge over the market rate applies on top of everything else, and it is in addition to any charge your own bank applies.
Figures the sources disagree on
These are recorded rather than resolved. Where published rate cards conflict, the honest position is to name the conflict and send you to the primary source.
| Figure | The disagreement |
|---|---|
| Effective take rate | Published figures range from "roughly 10%" to "20–30%". The difference is almost entirely whether Offsite Ads is included. Both can be true; ask which one the article is describing. |
| Offsite Ads threshold and cap | The $10,000 trailing-revenue threshold and the per-order cap are consistently reported but are Etsy policy and subject to change. Confirm in Shop Manager. |
Where it fits, and where it does not
Worth considering for
- Handmade, vintage, craft supply and personalised goods, which the audience actively searches for
- Digital downloads, where there is no fulfillment cost and the fee stack is the entire cost of sale
- Small sellers below the Offsite Ads threshold who want to keep advertising optional
Works against you if
- Mass-produced goods, which sit awkwardly against Etsy’s handmade positioning and its policy enforcement
- Very low-price items, where two fixed charges plus two percentages compound badly
- Sellers approaching $10,000 who have not modelled what mandatory Offsite Ads does to their margin
Sources
- Etsy seller fees 2026: complete breakdown, Craftybase Secondary accessed 2026-09-05
- Etsy fees complete guide 2026: all costs for Etsy sellers, EcomCalcTools Secondary accessed 2026-09-05
- Etsy fees explained: every fee you’re paying in 2026, Marmalead Secondary accessed 2026-09-05
- Etsy fees 2026: every seller cost explained, FeeCalculator Secondary accessed 2026-09-05