Etsy charges three mandatory fees on every sale: a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee on the total order, and a payment processing fee that varies by country. For most US sellers, mandatory fees total about 10 to 12 percent of the order before any optional services.
The fee that surprises growing sellers is Offsite Ads. At 15% (optional under $10k/yr) or 12% (mandatory over $10k/yr), it can double Etsy's take on a single sale. Most sellers don't price for it.
Etsy's fee structure is not actually that complicated, but it is layered. There are three fees you can never avoid, several optional ones you might trigger without realizing it, and a handful of edge-case charges (refunds, currency conversion, listing renewals) that quietly erode margins. This guide walks through each one with real numbers, then shows the same sale calculated four ways for sellers in different countries.
The three fees Etsy charges on every sale
These three apply whether you sell one item a year or a thousand. There is no way to opt out of any of them.
1. Listing fee: $0.20 per item sold
Etsy charges $0.20 every time a listing is published or renewed. Listings stay active for four months, then renew automatically when an item sells or the four months expire. Most sellers think of this as a per-sale fee, but if you have stale listings that never sell, you are still paying $0.20 every four months on each one. A shop with 200 listings that don't sell pays about $120 a year in renewal fees that are easy to miss.
2. Transaction fee: 6.5% of item + shipping
This is the largest single fee for most sellers. Etsy takes 6.5 percent of the total order amount, which includes the item price, the shipping you charge the buyer, gift wrapping, and any personalization fee. Sales tax is not included for US sellers, but is included for sellers outside the US.
The most common mistake here is forgetting that shipping is part of the calculation. If you sell a $25 item with $5 shipping, you do not pay 6.5% on $25. You pay 6.5% on $30, which is $1.95 instead of $1.63. That is also why "free shipping" baked into your price does not reduce this fee. Etsy still takes 6.5% of the total, whether the buyer sees it as item + shipping or item only.
3. Payment processing: varies by country
When buyers pay through Etsy Payments (mandatory in most countries), Etsy charges a fee for handling the transaction. The rate depends on where your shop is based, and this is the area where US-centric calculators tend to be wrong for international sellers.
| Country | Percentage | Flat fee | On a $30 sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 3.0% | $0.25 | $1.15 |
| Canada | 3.0% | $0.25 | $1.15 |
| United Kingdom | 4.0% | £0.20 | $1.40 |
| European Union | 4.0% | €0.30 | $1.50 |
Note that UK sellers also pay a Regulatory Operating Fee of 0.32% on top of everything else, which covers UK Digital Services Tax compliance. France, Italy, and Spain have similar regulatory fees at different rates.
A worked example: $30 sale, US seller
Say you sell a handmade candle for $25 with $5 shipping. Your materials cost $7 and your actual postage cost is $5. Here is what happens to the $30 the buyer pays.
| Item price | $25.00 |
| Shipping charged | $5.00 |
| Buyer pays | $30.00 |
| Listing fee | -$0.20 |
| Transaction fee (6.5% of $30) | -$1.95 |
| Payment processing (3% + $0.25) | -$1.15 |
| Materials | -$7.00 |
| Actual shipping cost | -$5.00 |
| Net profit | $14.70 |
Etsy's take is $3.30, or 11.0% of the sale. Your margin is 49%, which is healthy. But this assumes the sale came in organically. If the same buyer found you through an Offsite Ad, Etsy takes an additional 15% (or 12% if you are above $10k/yr), which on $30 is another $4.50. That cuts your profit to $10.20 and your margin to 34%.
The optional fees that catch sellers off guard
Offsite Ads (12% or 15%)
Etsy advertises your listings on Google, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. When a buyer clicks one of those ads and purchases from your shop within 30 days, you pay an Offsite Ads fee on that order. Shops under $10,000 in annual sales pay 15% and can opt out. Shops at or above $10,000 pay 12% and cannot opt out, ever, even if revenue drops below the threshold later. This is the single most consequential fee in the Etsy system. We wrote a full breakdown of Offsite Ads separately because it deserves its own analysis.
Etsy Plus ($10 per month)
A subscription that includes 15 listing credits, $5 in Etsy Ads credit, shop customization features, and restock request alerts. Worth it only if you actively use all the credits. Many sellers pay for features that sit idle.
Etsy Pattern ($15 per month)
A standalone website builder. Sales through Pattern still incur payment processing fees, but you skip the listing fee and transaction fee on Pattern-only orders. Useful if you want a non-Etsy storefront with Etsy handling payments. Most sellers do not need it.
Currency conversion (2.5%)
If your listing currency differs from your payment account currency, Etsy charges 2.5% to convert. Easy to avoid by matching the two. Canadian sellers listing in USD pay this fee on every sale until they switch to CAD.
The same $30 sale in four countries
This is the comparison most US-centric calculators get wrong. Below is the same item, the same shipping, the same buyer behavior, but the seller is based in different countries. Materials and shipping costs held constant at $12 total for simplicity.
| Seller location | Etsy fees | Net profit | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $3.30 | $14.70 | 11.0% |
| Canada | $3.30 | $14.70 | 11.0% |
| United Kingdom (with reg. fee) | $3.60 | $14.40 | 12.0% |
| European Union | $3.65 | $14.35 | 12.2% |
UK and EU sellers pay roughly $0.30 to $0.35 more per $30 sale than US or Canadian sellers, due to higher payment processing rates and the UK regulatory fee. That gap widens proportionally on larger orders.
Hidden costs nobody tells new sellers about
The refund hit
When you refund a sale, Etsy returns the transaction fee but keeps the payment processing fee. A $30 refund quietly costs you $1.15 in non-refundable fees. If you have a 5% return rate on $5,000 of monthly sales, that is roughly $10 a month in fees you pay on sales you did not keep.
Stale listing renewals
Every active listing renews every four months at $0.20. A shop with 100 stale listings that never sell is paying $60 a year in fees for inventory that produces no revenue. Audit your listings quarterly and deactivate anything that has not sold in a year.
The Share & Save program is the only fee discount
Etsy offers a self-referral program called Share & Save. When buyers come through your personal Share & Save link, Etsy rebates 4% off your bill, dropping the effective transaction fee from 6.5% to 2.5%. For a seller driving $5,000 a month through their own audience (Instagram, email list, in-person markets), that is $200 a month in savings. Most sellers never set this up.
See what every fee costs on your specific product
Type in your prices, shipping, and country. The calculator runs all the math above instantly, including the Offsite Ads and Share & Save scenarios.
Open the calculator →So what is the bottom line?
For a US or Canadian seller running a normal shop without Offsite Ads, Etsy's take is roughly 10 to 11 percent of every order. Add Offsite Ads in and that climbs to 22 to 26 percent on attributed sales. UK and EU sellers add another point or two on top. Price every product with at least the higher figure in mind, then anything that lands without an ad becomes margin you can keep.
The other lesson is that fees scale less than revenue. A $50 sale pays roughly the same flat fees ($0.20 listing, $0.25 processing) as a $20 sale. Higher-priced items have a better effective fee rate because those flat charges are a smaller percentage of the total. If you have the option to bundle small items into a higher-priced product, the fee math favors it.
One last note for sellers thinking about which business model fits this fee structure. Print-on-demand sellers using providers like Printful face the same Etsy fee load as handmade sellers, but with a tighter cost structure on the production side. That makes the math less forgiving when you forget to factor in Offsite Ads, but more predictable for forecasting because the input costs are fixed per unit. Worth understanding the trade-off before choosing a business model.
The Printful link above is an affiliate link. If you sign up through it, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. See our full affiliate disclosure.
Common questions
What fees does Etsy charge sellers in 2026?
Three mandatory fees on every sale: a $0.20 listing fee per item sold, a 6.5% transaction fee on the total order (item plus shipping), and a payment processing fee that varies by country (3% + $0.25 in US/Canada, 4% + £0.20 in UK, 4% + €0.30 in EU). Optional fees include Offsite Ads (12-15%), Etsy Plus ($10/month), and Etsy Pattern ($15/month).
How much does Etsy take from each sale?
For a typical US seller, mandatory fees total about 10 to 12 percent of the total order. On a $30 sale, that is roughly $3.30. If the sale comes through Offsite Ads, add another 12 to 15 percent, bringing Etsy's total take to 22 to 26 percent on attributed orders.
Does the Etsy transaction fee apply to shipping?
Yes. The 6.5% transaction fee applies to the total order amount, which includes the item price, shipping charged to the buyer, gift wrapping, and personalization fees. Sales tax is not included for US sellers but is included for sellers outside the US.
Are Etsy fees the same for sellers in Canada, UK, and EU?
The listing fee and 6.5% transaction fee are the same globally. Payment processing rates differ by country, and UK, France, Italy, and Spain sellers pay an additional regulatory operating fee (0.32% in the UK).
Can I reduce my Etsy fees?
The only built-in discount is the Share & Save program, which rebates 4% on sales from your personal referral link, dropping the effective transaction fee from 6.5% to 2.5%. You can also opt out of Offsite Ads if your shop earns under $10,000 per year, and avoid the 2.5% currency conversion fee by listing in your payment account currency.