Etsy's fees, explained
| Fee | Amount | Charged on |
|---|---|---|
| Listing fee | $0.20 (USD) | Each listing/quantity sold; renews every 4 months |
| Transaction fee | 6.5% | Item price + shipping + gift wrap |
| Payment processing | ~3% + $0.25 (US); rates differ by country | Total order amount, including tax collected |
| Offsite Ads | 15% (12% if you made $10k+ in the last 365 days) | Orders attributed to an Etsy-placed external ad; mandatory over $10k |
| Currency conversion | 2.5% | If your listing and bank currencies differ |
The two easy-to-miss facts: the 6.5% transaction fee applies to shipping too, not just the item, and payment processing is charged on the total including any sales tax or VAT Etsy collects — so your effective fee percentage is always a little higher than the headline numbers suggest.
Worked example (US seller)
A $35.00 item with $5.00 shipping: revenue 40.00. Etsy deducts the $0.20 listing fee, $2.60 transaction fee (6.5% of $40), and $1.45 payment processing (3% + $0.25) — $4.25 in total, or 10.6% of the order. You keep $35.75, before your materials, labor and shipping label cost. If the same sale had come through Offsite Ads at 15%, Etsy's cut would jump by another $6.00 — which is why high-margin pricing matters for ad-attributed sales.
Pricing backwards from what you want to keep
To net a target amount, price so that: target = revenue × (1 − fee%) − fixed fees. For a US-based, non-ad sale, fees are roughly 9.5% + $0.45 of revenue, so to keep $40 you need to charge about $44.70 across item + shipping. Sellers in 4%-processing countries (UK, most of the EU) should use ~10.5% + the fixed fee. And remember VAT: if you must include VAT in your displayed price, run the gross through our VAT calculator first — Etsy's percentage fees are charged on the VAT-inclusive amount.
FAQ
Does Etsy charge fees on the shipping I charge buyers?
Yes — the 6.5% transaction fee and payment processing both apply to shipping. Free-shipping listings avoid the shipping-fee-on-fee effect, which is partly why Etsy pushes them.
Are Offsite Ads optional?
Only below $10,000 of sales in the trailing 365 days. Above that, participation is mandatory and the fee drops to 12%, capped at $100 per order. The fee applies only to orders attributed to a click on an Etsy-placed external ad within 30 days.
Why is my payment processing fee different from 3% + $0.25?
That's the US rate. Etsy Payments rates differ by seller country — the UK is 4% + £0.20 and much of the EU is 4% + €0.30, for example. Pick your country in the calculator; the fee schedule at the source link is authoritative if yours isn't listed.
Does Etsy take a cut of the sales tax or VAT on the order?
Etsy doesn't keep the tax, but payment processing is calculated on the order total including tax, so a small processing cost lands on the tax amount. Where Etsy is required to collect buyer tax (US marketplace facilitator states, EU/UK marketplace VAT), it remits the tax itself.
What about VAT on the fees themselves?
Sellers in VAT countries who haven't provided a VAT ID may be charged VAT on Etsy's fees on top of the amounts here. With a valid VAT ID, fees are typically reverse-charged — you account for the VAT in your own return.
Sources
All fee amounts are an editorial restatement of Etsy's published Fees & Payments Policy, last checked 2026-08-23. Fees change — the policy page is authoritative.