Etsy Fees Example: What a $35 Sale Really Costs You

This Etsy fees example follows one ordinary $35 order and tracks every cent Etsy takes, so you can see what lands in your bank account. Most sellers know the percentages. Fewer have actually run them on an order, with shipping, sales tax and the occasional Offsite Ads sale included.

Quick answer: Here’s an Etsy fees example. On a $35 order ($30 item plus $5 shipping) with $2.80 sales tax, a US seller pays a $0.20 listing fee, a $2.28 transaction fee (6.5%) and a $1.38 payment processing fee (3% + $0.25). That’s $3.86 in total, about 11% of the order. If the sale came through Offsite Ads, add another $5.25.

Below you’ll find the full breakdown, three more scenarios, a comparison table and a formula that works backward from the profit you want to the price you should charge.

What fees does Etsy charge on a sale?

A standard Etsy sale has three fees, plus a fourth one that only shows up sometimes. Etsy publishes the current rates on its official Fees & Payments Policy, which you should check before you reprice anything, because the numbers do change.

• Listing fee: $0.20 per listing. It renews every four months, or when an item sells. If a buyer orders several units from one listing, you pay another $0.20 for each extra unit.
• Transaction fee: 6.5% of the order total. That covers the item price, shipping and gift wrap, but not sales tax.
• Payment processing fee: in the US, 3% + $0.25 per order, worked out on the total the buyer pays, including sales tax. Other countries have different rates. For example, the UK rate is 4% + £0.20.
• Offsite Ads fee (only sometimes): 15% of the order total if Etsy’s ads brought you the sale. It drops to 12% once you pass $10,000 in sales over 12 months, and it’s capped at $100 per order.

You may also run into a 2.5% currency conversion fee if your listing currency differs from your bank currency, plus a regulatory operating fee in some countries. Neither applies to the US example below.

Etsy fees example: a $35 order, line by line

Here’s the scenario. You sell a $30 handmade necklace and charge $5 for shipping. The buyer is in a state with 8% sales tax, so Etsy collects $2.80 in tax on top of the $35 order.

Step 1: Work out the fee base

Two different totals matter here, and confusing them is the most common mistake in DIY fee math:

• Order total (no tax): $30 + $5 = $35.00. The transaction fee and the Offsite Ads fee are based on this.
• Total the buyer paid (with tax): $35 + $2.80 = $37.80. The processing fee is based on this.

Step 2: Apply each fee

1. Listing fee: $0.20
2. Transaction fee: 6.5% × $35.00 = $2.275, rounded to $2.28
3. Processing fee: (3% × $37.80) + $0.25 = $1.134 + $0.25 = $1.38

Total Etsy fees: $3.86, or 11.0% of the $35 order. The $2.80 of tax goes to the state, not to you, and Etsy sends it there directly.

Step 3: Subtract your real costs

Fees aren’t your only costs, though. Say the necklace used $6 of materials and $1 of packaging, and the shipping label cost $4.50:

• Revenue: $35.00
• Minus Etsy fees: −$3.86
• Minus materials and packaging: −$7.00
• Minus shipping label: −$4.50
• Left over: $19.64, before you pay yourself for your time

If the necklace took 45 minutes to make and pack, that $19.64 works out to about $26 an hour. That’s not bad, but it’s thinner than the $30 price tag makes it look.

What happens when the sale comes from Offsite Ads?

An Offsite Ads sale adds 15% of the order total, which makes it the biggest single fee you’ll see on Etsy. On the same $35 order, that’s $5.25.

• Standard fees: $3.86
• Offsite Ads fee: 15% × $35 = $5.25
• Total fees: $9.11, which is 26% of the order
• Left over after costs: $14.39 instead of $19.64

That’s 27% less profit on the same necklace, and you don’t get to choose which orders come through the ads. Etsy tags the order when a buyer clicked an ad and then bought within 30 days. You’ll see an “Offsite Ads fee” line on the order in your Payment account.

If your shop has made less than $10,000 in the past 12 months, you can opt out under Shop Manager → Settings → Advertising. Once you pass that threshold, the program becomes mandatory at the 12% rate.

Two more Etsy fees examples: cheap items and multi-quantity orders

The fixed parts, the $0.20 listing fee and the $0.25 processing charge, barely matter on a $35 order. On a cheap item, though, they eat a big share of the sale.

Example: a $5 digital download

No shipping, and to keep things simple, no sales tax:

• Listing fee: $0.20
• Transaction fee: 6.5% × $5 = $0.33
• Processing fee: (3% × $5) + $0.25 = $0.40
• Total: $0.93, or 18.6% of the sale

That’s almost double the rate on the necklace. That’s why sellers of printables and stickers often bundle products, or set a higher minimum price, rather than listing lots of $2 items.

Example: three units in one order

A buyer orders three $12 bookmarks from one listing, and you charge $4 shipping (no tax, for simplicity):

• Listing fees: $0.20 + (2 × $0.20) = $0.60, one for each unit sold
• Transaction fee: 6.5% × $40 = $2.60
• Processing fee: (3% × $40) + $0.25 = $1.45
• Total: $4.65, or 11.6% of the order

Note the extra listing fees. Etsy charges $0.20 for each additional unit sold from a multi-quantity listing, which a lot of sellers don’t account for.

Etsy fees example comparison table

Here are all four scenarios side by side. Sales tax only changes the processing fee, and it’s included only in scenario A.

The pattern is clear. Normal orders cost about 10-12% in fees, cheap items cost 15-20%, and an Offsite Ads sale costs over 25%.

How do you price so Etsy fees don’t eat your profit?

Work backward from the profit you want rather than adding fees on top at the end. The percentage fees, 6.5% + 3% = 9.5%, come out of every dollar, including the dollars you add to cover the fees themselves.

The back-solve formula

Order total = (costs + target profit + $0.45) ÷ (1 − 0.095)

Here, $0.45 is the fixed $0.20 listing fee plus the $0.25 processing charge. Using the necklace numbers:

1. Costs: $6 materials + $1 packaging + $4.50 label = $11.50
2. Target profit: $20
3. ($11.50 + $20 + $0.45) ÷ 0.905 = $35.30 order total
4. Split it however suits your shop, for example $30.30 item + $5 shipping, or $35.30 with “free” shipping

That’s the base price. If Offsite Ads matter to your shop, run the formula again with 0.245 (9.5% + 15%) to see your worst case. Here that gives $42.32. Next, decide whether to price somewhere in between, or to opt out of the program.

For the wider pricing side of this, such as labor rates, wholesale and retail markups, see our guide on how to price handmade products for Etsy. To check margins on any product quickly, use the free small business profit margin calculator.

Where do Etsy fees show up, and how should you track them?

Every fee is listed in Shop Manager → Finances → Payment account, and you can download a monthly CSV statement there. The catch is that those fees come out of your deposits automatically, so the money that hits your bank is already net of fees. If you only log deposits, you’ll understate both your revenue and your expenses.

The right approach is to record gross sales and fees separately each month. That matters for two reasons:

• Taxes: Etsy fees are a deductible business expense. You report gross sales, which in the US is also the figure on any Form 1099-K, and then deduct the fees. We go through this in do you have to pay taxes on Etsy.
• Decisions: once you track fees by product, you can see which listings Offsite Ads quietly turn unprofitable.

If you’d like to set this up yourself, our Etsy shop bookkeeping spreadsheet setup guide walks through the columns.

The done-for-you shortcut: Etsy Seller Profit Kit

Running these numbers by hand for every listing gets tedious quickly, and it’s easy to make mistakes. The Etsy Seller Profit Kit bundles the three spreadsheets Etsy sellers ask for most: a bookkeeping tracker, a product pricing calculator and a jewelry pricing calculator. They work in Google Sheets and Excel.

• Enter your material, packaging and labor costs, and the fee math is done for you
• See your profit per item before you publish a price
• Log monthly sales and fees separately so tax time is easy

It’s a one-time purchase with no subscription. If you’d rather buy through Etsy, you can grab it on our Etsy shop instead.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Etsy take from a $10 sale?

On a $10 sale with free shipping and no sales tax, Etsy takes about $1.40. That’s a $0.20 listing fee, a $0.65 transaction fee and $0.55 in processing, or 14% in total. If the sale came from Offsite Ads, add another $1.50, which brings it to $2.90 (29%).

Does Etsy charge fees on shipping?

Yes. The 6.5% transaction fee and the processing fee both apply to what the buyer pays for shipping, and so does the Offsite Ads fee. Building shipping into your item price doesn’t avoid fees. It just moves them to a different line.

Does Etsy charge fees on sales tax?

Partly. The transaction fee leaves out sales tax, but in the US the payment processing fee is calculated on the full amount the buyer paid, including tax. That’s why the $35 example above pays processing on $37.80.

Are Etsy fees tax deductible?

Yes. Listing, transaction, processing and advertising fees are all ordinary business expenses. Report your gross sales and then deduct the fees, rather than reporting only what was deposited. Otherwise your income won’t match your 1099-K.

Can I avoid the Offsite Ads fee?

Only while your shop is under $10,000 in sales over the past 12 months. Below that, you can opt out in your advertising settings. Above it, you’re enrolled automatically at 12%, so build that worst case into your prices for the products that are most likely to be advertised.