Published on: February 28, 2023
Reading Time: 7 Minutes
Baffled by Etsy seller fees? In this post, we will break down each of these fees. Then, use this information to price your items. Fees are operating costs. Don’t let them eat into your profit margins!
Tip! eRank’s Profit Calculator makes it easy to calculate the estimated cost of creating and selling your items. When pricing, start by establishing your profit margin. This makes it easy to arrive at a product price that’s fair for both you and your customers.
Set-Up Fee
Please note that Etsy may require that you pay a one-time set-up fee before you can open your shop. Once the platform has processed your payment, customers will be able to purchase your items. Etsy charges this fee as a measure of verifying your banking information. For more details on set-up fees, read this article in the Seller Handbook.
Listing fees
When you add a product to your Etsy shop, that is called a listing. Listing fees are what you pay to list products for sale on Etsy. Etsy will charge you a listing fee of $0.20 USD for each individual listing you post. This fee applies to both physical items and digital downloads. Since it is a fee for listing an item, each listing incurs this fee whether or not the item sells.
Here’s a tricky bit many miss! If you have the quantity set to more than one on a given listing, every time one unit sells you will be charged another $0.20 listing fee. Etsy sees this as required to “renew” the listing. Even if the listing is only a day old. Otherwise, if you’ve had no sales from that listing, after four months you will be charged $0.20 to renew it.
Tip! To keep your listing active when that four-month period expires, Etsy’s default is to renew it for you automatically. This will add $.20 to your bill. Do you prefer to control when your listing renews (for seasonal items, for example)? Just open the listing template and deselect Automatic under Renewal options.
Note that there are two listing-fee exceptions. When you create a private listing for a customer, you will only owe a listing fee if it sells. And for those of you who have an Etsy Pattern site, this fee does not apply to listings there.
Transaction fee
This fee is charged whenever you make a sale. Excluding any sales taxes that apply, it’s 6.5% of your item’s price + shipping cost + gift-wrapping if the customer opts for that. This fee is deducted from your Etsy balance at the time of sale.
Payment processing fee
For each sale you make through Etsy Payments, you will be charged a payment processing fee. The fee amount depends on the country in which your bank account is located. To find out how much Etsy payments fees are in your country, check out this section in Etsy’s “House Rules” article on Etsy Payments Policy. Etsy payments fees are a percentage of the total sale price plus a flat fee per order. In the US, it is 3% + 0.25 USD per order.
Deposit fees, Value Added Tax (VAT), listing currency conversion fees, and additional “browsing” currency conversion charges
Also note that in nine countries, for deposits below designated thresholds a deposit fee will apply. Refer to the same chart in the section linked above. For details about VAT fees and currency conversion fees, see the notes below the table.
Offsite Ads fees
Etsy offers two types of paid advertising to sellers. Etsy Ads are the ads that appear on Etsy in shoppers’ search results. These are voluntary. In other words, sellers are free to choose whether to use them or not. There are no fees associated with Etsy Ads; you simply pay the cost per click each time a shopper clicks on your ad. For more information on Etsy Ads, read this blog post.
Offsite Ads are just that: they appear offsite on platforms Etsy has partnered with, such as Google and Instagram. When a shopper clicks on your offsite ad, Etsy will charge you a fee on any sale to that customer from your shop that follows from that click – whether it be on the same day, or the next 30 days. These fees are deducted from your balance on the day of the sale.
Note! If your shop has made less than $10,000 USD per year, Etsy will charge you a 15% fee per order. As long as you stay under the $10,000/year threshold, you are free to choose whether to use Offsite Ads. However, once your shop has made more than $10,000 in any year, going forward you cannot opt out of using Offsite Ads. But the fee assessed decreases to 12%. Do you sell high-ticket and/or luxury goods? The good news is that Offsite Ads fee never exceed $100 per order. This threshold applies regardless of the order’s total revenue. For more information on Offsite Ads fees, click here.
Other fees
In-person selling fees
Did you know you can sell your items listed on Etsy in-person using a Square reader? This is a convenient way to bring in new customers who may not be comfortable with making purchases online.
Want to sync your listings with Square? If so, you will be charged the same $0.20 renewal fee per sold listing that you accrue with online orders. If you choose not to sync your listings, each sold listing will also accrue a $0.20 transaction fee. This will be displayed as a “Square manual” fee in the Activity Summary or your Etsy payment account. Sales processed via Square are not subject to the 6.5% transaction fee or payment processing fees that we mentioned earlier. However, they will be subject to Square’s payment processing fees.
Regulatory Operating Fee
Depending on your location, you may be charged a Regulatory Operating Fee for every Etsy transaction. This is a fixed percentage of each item’s price and the price of shipping. If the order includes gift-wrapping and/or personalization, those will be factored into the item’s price. Regulatory operating fees differ depending on country. To find out if your sales will be subject to a regulatory operating fee, check out this article.
Factoring an online marketplace’s selling fees into the prices of your goods can be confusing. Even so, knowing the cost of doing business on your platform of choice is important if you want to maintain adequate profit margins. We hope that this article helps you choose the right prices for your items and grow your sales!
RESOURCES
Fees & Payments Policy – Our House Rules (Etsy)
Selling on Poshmark, eBay and Facebook Marketplace – eRank Blog
