How to use it
- Enter the item price the buyer pays for the product.
- Enter the shipping you charge the buyer. Leave it at zero if you offer free shipping.
- Enter your item cost, including materials, packaging and the postage you pay for the label.
- Toggle Offsite Ads to see the effect on a sale that came through an Etsy ad off the site.
- Read the fee breakdown, total fees and profit.
The Etsy fees explained
Listing fee
A flat fee to publish a listing, charged again each time the listing auto-renews after a sale or after it expires. If you sell multiple units from one listing, each sale renews it, so the fee recurs per sale.
Transaction fee
A percentage charged on the total the buyer pays for the item, including the shipping and gift wrapping you charge. This is why moving cost from the price into shipping does not avoid it.
Payment processing fee
Charged by Etsy Payments for handling the buyer's payment. It is a percentage plus a fixed amount, and the rate depends on your shop's bank account country. It is typically calculated on the full order total, including shipping and sales tax collected.
Offsite Ads fee
Etsy advertises listings on other sites, and when a buyer clicks one of those ads and buys within the attribution window, Etsy charges an advertising fee on that order. Shops under a sales threshold can opt out, while shops above it are enrolled and pay a lower rate. The fee is capped per order. Toggle it on to see what a sale attributed to an ad really earns you.
Reading the results
Total fees is the sum of every fee above. Profit is the amount the buyer paid minus all fees and your item cost. If profit is thin or negative with Offsite Ads on, that product cannot absorb advertising costs at its current price.
Worked examples
- Free shipping vs. charged shipping. Enter a price with shipping charged separately, note the profit, then fold the shipping into the price and set shipping to zero. Because the transaction fee covers both, the fees barely change, but the listing may look more competitive.
- Offsite Ads impact. Run a typical sale with the toggle off and on. The difference is the cost of an attributed sale. Use it to decide whether to raise prices on low-margin items.
- Pricing a new product. Enter your cost and test prices until profit reaches the margin you want. The profit margin calculator helps you set that target.
Common mistakes
- Leaving postage out of item cost. The shipping you charge is revenue; the label you buy is a cost.
- Forgetting the renewal listing fee on multi-quantity listings.
- Ignoring sales tax in processing fees. Processing is often calculated on a total that includes tax.
- Forgetting currency conversion. If your listings are in a different currency from your bank account, Etsy charges a conversion fee on top.
- Assuming Offsite Ads are rare. For shops above the threshold, every attributed sale carries the fee.
Tips to protect your Etsy margins
- Price with Offsite Ads turned on so every sale is profitable even when attributed to an ad.
- Bundle low-priced items into sets to spread fixed fees.
- Track fees per product, not just per shop.
- Build a second channel. Many Etsy sellers add their own store and run Google Shopping ads to keep more of each sale. See how we approach that on our Google Shopping ads service page.