If you sell on Etsy, you've probably noticed that the deposit in your bank account is smaller than the price your buyer paid. That gap isn't one fee — it's three or four stacked on top of each other, and some of them apply to things you might not expect, like shipping and sales tax. This guide breaks down every fee Etsy charges US sellers on a sale in 2026, with worked examples you can check against your own orders.
How much does Etsy take from each sale?
For a US seller, Etsy's standard fees on a sale are a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee on the item price plus shipping, and a payment processing fee of 3% + $0.25. On a $25 item with $5 shipping, that adds up to $3.30 — about 11% of the $30 the buyer paid.
Those are the fees nearly every sale pays. On top of them, a sale that came through one of Etsy's Offsite Ads pays an extra 12% or 15%, which can push the total above 25% of the order.
What is each Etsy fee for?
| Fee | Rate (US sellers) | What it's charged on |
|---|---|---|
| Listing fee | $0.20 | Each listing, renewed every four months or when a multi-quantity item sells |
| Transaction fee | 6.5% | Item price + shipping + gift wrap |
| Payment processing | 3% + $0.25 | The full order total, including sales tax |
| Offsite Ads (only if the sale came from one) | 15% or 12% | The order total, capped at $100 per order |
A few details catch sellers out:
- The listing fee isn't strictly "per sale." You pay $0.20 when you publish a listing, and listings expire after four months unless they renew — Etsy's help center explains that auto-renewal charges another $0.20 each time. For multi-quantity listings, Etsy charges $0.20 again each time one of the items sells and the listing renews.
- Shipping isn't fee-free. The 6.5% transaction fee and the processing fee both apply to what you charge for shipping.
- Tax counts for processing. Etsy collects and remits sales tax, but its payment processing percentage is calculated on the tax-inclusive total.
What does Etsy take at different price points?
Because two of the fees are fixed amounts ($0.20 and $0.25), cheap items lose a bigger share of their price than expensive ones. Assuming free shipping, no sales tax and no Offsite Ad:
| Item price | Total Etsy fees | Share of the sale |
|---|---|---|
| $10 | $1.40 | 14.0% |
| $25 | $2.83 | 11.3% |
| $50 | $5.20 | 10.4% |
| $100 | $9.95 | 9.95% |
The formula behind the table is simply $0.45 + 9.5% of the sale — the two fixed fees plus the two percentage fees. If you sell lots of low-priced items, the fixed $0.45 matters more than you'd think. If you're weighing another marketplace, Etsy fees vs eBay fees puts the same order through both platforms line by line.
How do Offsite Ads change the numbers?
Offsite Ads are ads Etsy runs for your listings on Google, social media and other sites. You only pay when a sale comes from one, but the fee is large: 15% of the order for shops under $10,000 in yearly sales, and 12% for shops above it, capped at $100 per order.
On the same $30 order from earlier, a 15% Offsite Ads fee adds $4.50, taking total fees from $3.30 to $7.80 — 26% of the sale. That's why it's worth reading our breakdown of Offsite Ads fees and the opt-out rules before you set prices.
What other costs aren't in these fees?
The fees above are what Etsy deducts from the sale itself. Several other costs can show up on your Etsy bill:
- Shipping labels bought through Etsy
- Etsy Ads (the on-site ads you choose to pay for, separate from Offsite Ads)
- Currency conversion, if you list in a currency other than the one your bank account uses
- Optional subscriptions like Etsy Plus
Sellers outside the US also pay different payment processing rates, and some countries add a regulatory operating fee. Always check the current numbers in Etsy's Fees & Payments Policy. If you're still setting up, how much it costs to open an Etsy shop adds up the one-time setup fee and everything else before your first few sales.
How do you work out what you actually keep?
Take the order total (item + shipping), subtract Etsy's fees, then subtract what the item cost you to make and what you paid for postage. Using the $25 + $5 example with an item that costs $8 to make and a $5 shipping label:
- Buyer pays: $30.00
- Etsy fees: −$3.30
- Your cost to make it: −$8.00
- Shipping label: −$5.00
- Your profit: $13.70 (a 45.7% margin on the $30)
That's a healthy margin — but notice that the "$8 to make it" number only works if it includes your time. If it only covers materials, your real profit is lower than it looks. If you're not sure how to price that part, our guide to pricing products on Etsy so fees don't eat your profit walks through it.
A related guide covers when to move from Etsy to your own website.
