Etsy fees: about 10% of a sale, 25% with an Offsite Ad

A US Etsy seller pays three fees on every sale: $0.20 to list, 6.5% of the item price plus shipping, and 3% + $0.25 for payment processing. On a $50 item with $5 shipping, that comes to about $5.68, or 10.3% of the order. If the sale came through a 15% Offsite Ad, the total rises to about $13.93, or 25.3%.

The numbers

Assumptions: the fee rates come from Etsy’s Fees & Payments Policy and Etsy’s Offsite Ads help page. Everything else is our assumption: 20 orders of a $50 item plus $5 shipping, 3 of them through Offsite Ads at 15%, 10 auto-renewals, a $5 label and $10 of materials per order, 25 hours of work in the month, and 20% set aside for tax. Figures are rounded half up to the cent, and percentages to one decimal place.

The three fees on every sale

The working:

1. Listing: $0.20
2. Transaction: $55 × 0.065 = $3.575
3. Processing: ($55 × 0.03) + $0.25 = $1.65 + $0.25 = $1.90
4. Total: $0.20 + $3.575 + $1.90 = $5.675, which rounds to $5.68
5. Share of the order: $5.675 ÷ $55 = 10.3%

What sits behind those lines:

• The transaction fee covers shipping as well as the item. Moving money from the item price into shipping doesn’t lower your fees. The rate rose from 5% to 6.5% in April 2022.
• The 3% + $0.25 processing rate is for a US bank account. The rate depends on where your bank is, and Etsy says it can change it at any time.
• A listing lasts 4 months. Each renewal costs another $0.20, and auto-renew keeps charging until you turn it off. Editing a listing is free. Private listings aren’t charged until they sell.
• Our examples leave out sales tax. For US sellers, the transaction fee isn’t charged on collected sales tax. We couldn’t confirm whether the processing fee applies to the tax part, so on a taxed order your processing fee may differ a little from these figures.

Etsy fees at five order sizes

The fixed $0.45 (the listing fee plus the processing flat fee) takes the biggest share of small orders. On large orders, the percentages do most of the work.

Without ads, the core share falls from 12.5% on a $15 order toward 9.5% on large ones. With an Offsite Ad, it stays at about a quarter of the order.

The formula, for your own prices

The three core fees reduce to one line:

Core fees = $0.45 + 9.5% × (item price + shipping + gift wrap)

The $0.45 is the $0.20 listing fee plus the $0.25 processing flat fee. The 9.5% is the 6.5% transaction fee plus the 3% processing fee. Then adjust for the fees that only apply to some sales:

• Offsite Ads: add 15% (or 12%) of the order, capped at $100.
• Currency conversion: add 2.5% if your listing currency differs from your payment account currency.
• Share & Save: subtract 4% of the eligible order total.

In a spreadsheet, put the order total (sales tax excluded) in cell B2:

• No ad: =0.45+0.095*B2
• Offsite Ad at 15%: =0.45+0.095*B2+MIN(0.15*B2,100)

To work backwards from the amount you want to keep after core fees, divide (target + $0.45) by 0.905:

1. Target: keep $50.00
2. ($50.00 + $0.45) ÷ 0.905 = $55.75

To keep $50 even when a 15% Offsite Ad applies, divide by 0.755 instead:

1. ($50.00 + $0.45) ÷ 0.755 = $66.82

If you use an online calculator, check that it applies 6.5% to shipping, includes the $0.25 flat fee, has an Offsite Ads option and applies the $100 cap. Some popular fee guides still carry 2023 or 2024 dates. The core rates are the same, but the tax and payout rules have changed since then.

Offsite Ads: the biggest swing in the total

Offsite Ads are ads Etsy runs on other sites. You pay only when a buyer clicks one and buys from you within 30 days. One click can lead to more than one charged order.

• Rate: 15% of the order for shops under $10,000 in sales in any 365-day period. 12% once a shop has made $10,000 or more.
• Cap: $100 per order. At 15% the cap kicks in above $666.67 ($100 ÷ 0.15). At 12% it kicks in above $833.33 ($100 ÷ 0.12).
• Opting out: only shops that have never reached $10,000 can opt out. Once a shop reaches it, Offsite Ads apply for the life of the shop.

On-site Etsy Ads are a separate, optional cost-per-click product. The minimum daily budget is $1, and new sellers start with a $25 daily maximum.

Fees only some sellers pay

Etsy Plus includes 15 listing credits (worth $3) and $5 of Etsy Ads credit each month. If you’d have bought all of that anyway, the net cost is $10 − $8 = $2 a month. If you wouldn’t, it costs the full $10. Unused credits don’t roll over.

Items listed on both Pattern and Etsy still pay the Etsy listing fee. Pattern renews automatically, and its fees aren’t refunded.

A listing that never sells costs $0.20 × 3 renewals = $0.60 a year on auto-renew. For 100 such listings, that’s $60 a year.

Worked example: a month of 20 orders

Assumptions (swap in your own):

1. 20 orders, each a $50 item plus $5 shipping.
2. 3 of the 20 orders came through Offsite Ads at 15% (the shop is under $10,000).
3. 10 unsold listings auto-renew during the month.
4. Each shipping label costs $5, the same as the buyer’s shipping charge.
5. Materials and packaging cost $10 per order.
6. 25 hours of total work: 20 hours making and packing, plus 5 hours on photos, listings, messages and post office trips.
7. 20% of net set aside for tax.
8. US seller with a US bank account, not in Texas, no currency conversion and no refunds. Phone, internet, fuel and the setup fee are not counted.

The working:

1. Gross: 20 × $55 = $1,100.00
2. Core fees: 20 × $5.675 = $113.50
3. Offsite Ads: 3 × ($55 × 0.15) = 3 × $8.25 = $24.75
4. Renewals: 10 × $0.20 = $2.00
5. Total Etsy fees: $140.25 (12.8% of gross)
6. Labels: 20 × $5 = $100.00
7. Materials: 20 × $10 = $200.00
8. All costs: $140.25 + $100.00 + $200.00 = $440.25
9. Net: $1,100.00 − $440.25 = $659.75
10. Net per hour: $659.75 ÷ 25 = $26.39
11. After the tax set-aside: $659.75 × 0.80 = $527.80, or $21.11 an hour

The three ad-driven orders cost $24.75 in ad fees. The core fees on four ordinary orders come to $22.70.

What changes the answer

• Time moves the result most. If the same month takes 50 hours instead of 25, net falls to $659.75 ÷ 50 = $13.20 an hour before tax. Compare that with your state’s minimum wage.
• Share of sales from ads: if all 20 orders came through Offsite Ads, ad fees would be $165.00 instead of $24.75. Net would fall by $140.25 to $519.50, or $20.78 an hour.
• Order size: core fees are 12.5% of a $15 order and 9.7% of a $215 order.
• Location: a Texas seller pays $3.575 × 0.80 × 0.0625 = $0.18 more on a $55 order. Currency conversion adds $55 × 0.025 = $1.38. Sellers outside the US pay different processing rates and may pay a Regulatory Operating Fee, so check the rates for your own country.
• Refunds: some refunds don’t return the fees (see below).
• Cash-out habits: an Instant Transfer every day costs up to $1 a day.

The same $55 order six ways

Share & Save is free and optional. If a buyer orders within 30 days of clicking a link you shared, Etsy refunds 4% of the eligible order total. It is the only line in the table that lowers your fees.

Compared with: other hustles

The $26.39 an hour in our worked month depends on assumption 6. Etsy pays for output, so slow making or slow sales push the hourly rate down, and so does unpaid time spent on photos and messages. For a side-by-side view, our weekend side hustles ranking puts net pay at $7 to $17 an hour. Our DoorDash driver math works through gas, wear and tax the same way. If Etsy would sit alongside a day job, the side hustle with a full-time job numbers show what a typical month brings in.

When Etsy gives fees back

• Refunds through Etsy Payments: the processing fee is credited back in proportion to the refund. These refunds are only possible within 180 days.
• Cancelled sales: the listing and transaction fees are credited back.
• Refunds Etsy covers: if Etsy pays a full refund through its protection program, the processing, transaction and Offsite Ads fees are not credited back. Since May 2026, Purchase Protection covers up to $250 of a buyer refund on any eligible order, including orders over $250.

Getting paid: deposits, reserves and Instant Transfer

Etsy takes its fees out of your sales first and deposits what’s left. It can’t pay out to PayPal or to a card. Deposits can be daily, weekly, biweekly or monthly. New sellers get weekly deposits on Mondays by default, and daily deposits need a minimum balance. Money generally reaches your bank within 5 business days of Etsy starting the deposit.

Instant Transfer costs 1% of the transfer, with a minimum of $0.25 and a maximum of $1, and money usually arrives within 30 minutes. Each transfer must be at least $25, you can make one a day, and the daily limit is $500. A $25 transfer costs $0.25, and any transfer from $100 to $500 costs $1.

Etsy can also place a reserve, which holds back part of each physical-item sale (digital sales aren’t affected). Triggers include a first sale, a sudden jump in orders or refunds, missing tracking and late shipping. Valid tracking releases the funds, and most reserves are lifted within 90 days. Support agents can’t remove a reserve, and the share held varies by account. A new shop should budget for its first payouts arriving late.

Taxes: 1099-K, sales tax and Texas

• 1099-K threshold: a payment platform only has to issue a 1099-K when payments are over $20,000 and there are more than 200 transactions. The IRS confirmed that this threshold was restored, replacing the $600 rule.
• Etsy’s own rules: Etsy sends a 1099-K to sellers above the federal threshold or their state’s threshold. Sales across shops under the same SSN or EIN are added together. Etsy asks for your taxpayer details once you reach $500 in sales in a year.
• No form doesn’t mean no tax. The IRS says the reporting change doesn’t change whether income is taxable.
• Sales tax on orders: Etsy calculates, collects and remits sales tax as the marketplace in US states that require it.
• Texas: Etsy charges 6.25% sales tax on 80% of the transaction fee. For now, only the transaction fee is taxed.

The 20% set-aside is a stand-in for your own rate. Your actual tax depends on your income, your state and your deductions. This is arithmetic, not tax advice, so check with a tax professional before relying on any figure here.

What changed in 2026

None of the headline rates changed in 2026. Etsy revised its fees policy on 13 February and 5 October 2026 and kept the same rates. The October revision moved the fee-avoidance rules into the Off-Platform Transactions policy. Purchase Protection now covers up to $250 on any eligible order. Instant Transfer began as a paid test in late 2025 and is now a standard option. From 9 July 2026, sellers outside the US must ship to US buyers Delivered Duty Paid, or those orders lose Purchase Protection. Separately, sellers using calculated shipping can no longer add handling or package fees, and Etsy suggests building those costs into the item price.

Before you open a shop

Account owners must be 18 or older. Teens aged 13 to 17 can sell only through a parent’s or guardian’s account, using the parent’s email, ID and financial details, and under-13s can’t use Etsy. You’ll need a residential address, a bank account in an eligible country, a credit card, and identity verification, which for new shops includes a photo ID and selfie check.

New sellers are a common target for scams. Etsy says it will never send a link asking you to verify your store, email or bank details. Real staff messages appear in the “From Etsy” folder with a staff badge, and Etsy has no customer service phone number. Warning signs include overpayment offers, QR codes sent to “confirm” a purchase, and “buyers” who want to move to email.

Sources

• Etsy Fees & Payments Policy
• How Etsy’s Offsite Ads work
• Etsy deposits and Instant Transfer
• Etsy 1099-K help page
• Etsy sales tax on seller fees in Texas
• IRS FAQs on the 1099-K threshold

Verdict in one number

10.3%

That is Etsy’s core cut of a $55 order, but price as if it could be 25%, because any sale might come through an Offsite Ad.