Etsy fees in 2026, explained with one order: what you actually keep
Etsy's fees are easy to list and surprisingly hard to add up, because each one is charged on a different base. Below is one order taken apart line by line, for a US seller, using the fees Etsy publishes as of October 2026.
The short version: on the order below, Etsy's own fees take a bit over 11% of what the buyer pays you, and on cheaper orders the share is higher, because $0.45 of the fees is flat. An Offsite Ads sale adds another 15%. Whether that leaves you a profit depends on numbers only you know, so the second half of this article turns them into a break-even price and a target price.
The fees, and what each one is charged on
| Fee | Rate | Charged on |
|---|---|---|
| Listing | US$0.20 | Each listing, for 4 months. A multi-quantity listing renews at $0.20 every time one sells. |
| Transaction | 6.5% | Item price + the shipping you charge + gift wrap. Not on sales tax (US sellers). |
| Payment processing | 3% + $0.25 | The whole order, including any sales tax the buyer pays. |
| Offsite Ads | 15% (12% for shops past $10,000 in 365 days) | Only orders that came from an Offsite Ad click within 30 days. Capped at $100 per order. |
| Currency conversion | 2.5% | Only if your listing currency differs from your payment account currency. |
The detail that trips people up is the base. The transaction fee includes shipping, so free shipping doesn't avoid it, and charging $8 for shipping doesn't escape it either. Payment processing even includes the sales tax, which you never keep.
One order, line by line
Say you sell a hand-poured candle for $24.00 and charge $5.95 for shipping. The buyer is in a state where Etsy collects $2.10 in sales tax on the order. (Tax rates and whether shipping is taxed vary by state; $2.10 is just for the example.)
| Line | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer pays you (before tax) | $24.00 + $5.95 | $29.95 |
| Listing (renewal on sale) | flat | -$0.20 |
| Transaction | 6.5% × $29.95 | -$1.95 |
| Payment processing | 3% × ($29.95 + $2.10 tax) + $0.25 | -$1.21 |
| Etsy deposits | $29.95 - $3.36 | $26.59 |
Etsy keeps $3.36, or 11.2% of the $29.95. The sales tax passes through to the state, but it still raised the processing fee by six cents.
Now your own costs. These are made-up but plausible numbers for a small candle maker:
| Cost | Amount |
|---|---|
| Wax, wick, fragrance, jar | $6.40 |
| Box, filler, label | $1.10 |
| Shipping label you buy | $5.40 |
| Your time: 20 minutes at $18/hour | $6.00 |
| Total costs | $18.90 |
Profit: $26.59 - $18.90 = $7.69 per order, a 25.7% margin on the $29.95.
If you don't count your time, it looks like $13.69. That gap is why so many shops feel busy and broke at once.
The same order, from an Offsite Ad
If the buyer clicked one of Etsy's ads on another site and bought within 30 days, Etsy adds 15% of $29.95, which is $4.49. Your profit drops from $7.69 to $3.20. For a shop that has passed $10,000 in sales in any 365-day period, the rate is 12% ($3.59) and the profit is $4.10.
You can't choose which listings Etsy advertises, and you won't know in advance which orders will be attributed to an ad. Shops that have never reached $10,000 in any 365-day period can opt out in Shop Manager; shops that have can't. Whether to opt out is a real trade-off: you lose the fee, but also any sales the ads were bringing. Look at the Offsite Ads dashboard for a few months before deciding.
The useful question isn't "are Offsite Ads worth it" in general. It's whether your price still makes money on an ad sale. In this example it does, barely. (Our profit sheet for Etsy sellers shows both results for each product: profit and margin on a normal sale and on an Offsite Ads sale.)
Break-even price: the lowest price that doesn't lose money
Leaving the small sales-tax effect aside, Etsy takes 9.5% of the order (6.5% + 3%) plus $0.45 in flat fees ($0.20 + $0.25). So for an order total T (item + shipping you charge):
T × (1 - 0.095) - $0.45 - your costs = profit
Break-even: T = ($18.90 + $0.45) ÷ 0.905 = $21.38. Take away the $5.95 shipping and the item price is $15.44.
On an Offsite Ads sale at 15%, divide by 0.755 instead: T = $25.63, so the item price is $19.68.
Below $15.44 every order loses money. Between $15.44 and $19.68, normal orders make money and ad orders lose it. Our $24 candle is above both.
Price for a target margin
To keep, say, 30% of the order as profit, subtract the margin from 0.905 before dividing:
T = $19.35 ÷ (0.905 - 0.30) = $31.98, so the item price is $26.03.
Rounded up to $26.99, the order is $32.94, Etsy takes $3.58, and the profit is $10.46 (31.8%).
That's $3 more than today's price. Whether buyers will pay it is a separate question, and only testing tells you. But now you know what each price actually leaves.
If you don't sell from the US
The structure is the same; the numbers change. Payment processing depends on where your bank account is: for example 4% + £0.20 in the UK and 3% + CA$0.25 in Canada on domestic orders. Some countries also pay a Regulatory Operating fee on top (0.48% in the UK, 0.50% in Canada, as of October 2026), and Etsy may add VAT on its fees. Swap those numbers into the formula above, or into the Settings tab of our profit sheet for Etsy sellers.
What this doesn't include
- Etsy Ads (the on-site ads you pay per click). That's a monthly cost, not a per-order fee.
- Income tax. Your profit here is before tax.
- Refunds. On a refund, Etsy credits the processing fee proportionally; check the Payments Policy for the rest.
- Listings that expire unsold. Each one cost $0.20 that no sale paid for.
Questions
How much does Etsy take from a $25 sale?
For a US seller with no shipping charged and no sales tax: $0.20 listing + $1.63 transaction (6.5%) + $1.00 processing (3% + $0.25) = $2.83, so you receive $22.17. Shipping you charge and sales tax raise the fees, and an Offsite Ads sale adds 15% ($3.75).
Does Etsy charge the transaction fee on shipping?
Yes. The 6.5% transaction fee applies to the item price plus the shipping and gift wrap you charge. For US sellers it doesn't apply to sales tax, but the payment processing fee does.
Can I turn off Etsy Offsite Ads?
Only if your shop has never made $10,000 or more in any 365-day period. In that case go to Shop Manager → Settings → Offsite Ads and opt out. Above that threshold, participation is required, at 12%.
Not tax or accounting advice. Fees are the ones Etsy published for US sellers, checked on 17 and 18 October 2026 on the pages listed below. Etsy can change them at any time, and your Payment account is always the final word on what you were charged. The candle, its costs and the tax amount are an invented example. No figure here is a prediction of what you will sell or earn.
Sources
- Etsy, Fees & Payments Policy. Listing, transaction, currency conversion. Checked 17-10-2026.
- Etsy Help, What are Payment Processing Fees for Selling on Etsy?. Rates by bank country; charged on the total including sales tax. Checked 17-10-2026.
- Etsy Help, How Etsy's Offsite Ads Work. 15% / 12%, 30-day attribution, $100 cap, opt-out rule. Checked 18-10-2026.
- Etsy Help, Regulatory Operating fee. Rates by seller country. Checked 17-10-2026.
- Etsy Help, fees for multi-quantity listings. Automatic $0.20 renewal after each sale. Checked 17-10-2026.
- Etsy, Payments Policy. Refunds and fee credits. Checked 17-10-2026.