Etsy Fees in 2026: The Real Math on a $25 Sale

Etsy's headline fee is 6.5 percent, which sounds survivable until you run a real order through every line. On a $25 item with $5 shipping, the transaction fee is charged on $30, not $25 -- and if that buyer came through an Offsite Ad, another 15 percent lands on the same $30. That is the arithmetic most Etsy income guides skip.

Income projections in this article reflect realistic ranges based on reported outcomes. Individual results vary based on time invested, market conditions, platform changes, and individual execution.

Platform terms, fee structures, and pay rates change frequently. Verify current terms before starting.

The Fees, Verified

Read from Etsy's own Fees and Payments Policy on 2026-07-27 (policy last updated February 13, 2026):

One line above is deliberately not a number. Etsy publishes processing rates by country in a separate Etsy Payments Policy, and that table did not render on a plain page read this pass, so it is flagged rather than guessed. Pull your own rate from your payment account: it is a percentage plus a fixed per-order amount, and the fixed part is what makes small orders expensive.

Running a $25 Order

Item price $25, shipping charged $5, order total $30.

• Transaction fee: 6.5 percent of $30 = $1.95
• Listing fee: $0.20 (the listing renews when the item sells)
• Payment processing: your country's rate applied to $30, plus the fixed per-order amount

Before processing that is $2.15 off a $30 order, about 7.2 percent. Add processing and most US sellers land in the 10-12 percent range at this order size. Then subtract materials, the shipping label (rarely the $5 you charged), and packaging.

The Line That Actually Decides Profitability

Offsite Ads is the fee that turns a working margin into a losing one, and the one sellers understand least. If Etsy advertises your listing off-platform, a buyer clicks it, and they order from your shop within 30 days, you pay 15 percent of the order total on top of everything else. On the $30 order above that is another $4.50, taking total Etsy fees past $6.65 before processing -- over 22 percent.

• Below $10,000 in trailing-365-day sales, you can opt out. Above it, you cannot. Once a shop crosses $10,000 in sales over the prior 365 days, participation becomes mandatory for the lifetime of the shop, and the rate drops to 12 percent permanently -- including if sales later fall back below the threshold.
• The fee is capped at $100 per order. That protects high-ticket sellers and does nothing for anyone selling at $25.

The practical read: a shop selling low-price items on thin margins should look hard at opting out while it still can, and a shop that will cross $10,000 should price with 12 percent baked in from the start.

What This Means for Pricing

1. Price against the order total, not the item price. The 6.5 percent applies to shipping too. Free shipping is not free -- you pay the transaction fee on the shipping you build into the price either way.
2. Assume 20-25 percent goes to Etsy if you are enrolled in Offsite Ads. Not 6.5 percent. Build the real number into the price before setting it.
3. Watch the fixed per-order processing amount on cheap items. It is a far larger percentage of an $8 sale than a $60 one, which is why very low-price listings often lose money after materials.
4. Count listing renewals against slow movers. A listing that does not sell still costs $0.20 every four months. A hundred stale listings is $60 a year for nothing.
5. List in your payment account currency. Otherwise a 2.5 percent conversion fee applies to the sale amount, which is most of a percentage point more than most sellers expect.

Is Etsy Still Worth It?

For physical products at low price points on thin margins, the fee stack is hard to clear, and raising prices beats chasing volume. For digital products, where marginal cost per sale is near zero, a 20-25 percent all-in load against Etsy's buyer traffic is a reasonable trade. Realistic outcomes run wide: many shops make nothing for months, and the ones that work typically take 6-12 months of consistent listing to reach a few hundred dollars a month, at several hours a week of effort.

The number to run before listing anything is simple: order total, minus 6.5 percent, minus your processing rate, minus 15 percent if you are in Offsite Ads, minus materials and actual shipping cost. If that is not a number you would work for, the fix is the price, not the volume.

Two related breakdowns with the same treatment: selling digital planners on Etsy and making money selling digital downloads.

For the full picture across creator and affiliate earnings, see the Affiliate and Creator Income hub.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Etsy charge the 6.5 percent on shipping?

Yes. The transaction fee applies to the price you display plus what you charge for shipping and gift wrapping. For US sellers it does not apply to sales tax. This is why free-shipping pricing needs the shipping cost built into the item price with the fee accounted for.

Can I avoid Offsite Ads fees?

Only while your shop has made less than $10,000 in sales over the prior 365 days. Below that threshold you can opt out. Once the shop crosses $10,000, participation is mandatory for the lifetime of the shop at a permanent 12 percent rate, and a prior opt-out no longer applies.

What is the total percentage Etsy takes?

Roughly 10-12 percent on a typical order without Offsite Ads once processing is included, and roughly 22-25 percent on an attributed Offsite Ads order. The exact figure depends on your payment processing rate, which varies by the country of your bank account and should be read from your own payment account.

Do unsold listings cost money?

Yes. Listings cost $0.20 to create and expire after four months, then auto-renew at $0.20 unless you switch that listing to manual renewal. A shop carrying a hundred listings that do not sell pays about $60 a year to keep them live.

Is Etsy Plus worth the subscription?

Etsy Plus runs $10 a month and includes 15 listing credits worth $3 plus $5 in Etsy Ads credits, so about $8 returns as credits that expire monthly if unused. Close to break-even for a shop that would spend on both anyway, a net cost for one that would not.