How Much Does It Cost to Sell on Etsy? Etsy Fees 2026

You price a planner at $10 and make your first sale. Then you open your Payment account and see less than you expected. Listing fee, transaction fee, processing fee. Where did it all go?

This happens to almost every new seller. Etsy fees are not huge, but there are several of them, and they add up fast on low-priced items.

This lesson answers the question every beginner asks: how much does it cost to sell on Etsy? You will see every fee, what triggers it, and real examples on $10, $25, and $100 sales. All fees come from Etsy’s Fees and Payments Policy and Help Center, checked in October 2026, for sellers with a US bank account.

How Much Does It Cost to Sell on Etsy?

It costs a one-time shop setup fee to open an Etsy shop, then $0.20 per listing. When you sell, Etsy charges a 6.5% transaction fee and, for US sellers, a 3% + $0.25 payment processing fee. On items priced between $10 and $100, that adds up to about 10% to 14% of each sale.

Optional costs like Etsy Ads, Etsy Plus, and shipping labels come on top. Offsite Ads can add 12% to 15% to a sale, but only when a sale comes from one of those ads.

Etsy Fees at a Glance

Fee	Cost (US sellers)	When it is charged	Required?
Shop setup fee	One time, varies by location	When you open your shop	Yes
Listing fee	$0.20 per listing	When you publish or renew a listing	Yes
Transaction fee	6.5% of item price, shipping, and gift wrap	Each sale	Yes
Payment processing fee	3% + $0.25	Each sale through Etsy Payments	Yes
Offsite Ads fee	15%, or 12% for shops with $10,000+ in yearly sales	Only on sales from Etsy’s offsite ads	Optional under $10,000
Etsy Ads	Your daily budget	When your ads run	Optional
Etsy Plus	$10 per month	Monthly subscription	Optional
Pattern website	$15 per month after a 30-day free trial	Monthly subscription	Optional
Shipping labels	Depends on carrier and service	When you buy a label on Etsy	Optional
Currency conversion	2.5%	Only if your listing and bank currencies differ	Avoidable

Now let’s look at each fee in plain words.

1. Shop Setup Fee

New sellers pay a one-time, non-refundable fee to open a shop. Etsy’s Help Center says the cost varies by location and is shown during shop setup. Etsy says the fee helps fund support for new sellers and security checks.

Etsy does not publish one flat amount. Seller tools like eRank and Craftybase report a range of about $15 to $29. When we opened our shop, we were charged $19.

Quick tip: You will see the exact amount before you pay. It appears in the “Total due now” section during setup.

2. Listing Fee: $0.20

Every time you publish a listing, Etsy charges $0.20. You pay it whether the item sells or not.

Here is what beginners often miss:

Listings expire after four months. If auto-renew is on, Etsy charges another $0.20 and the four-month period starts over.
Each sale renews the listing. When an item sells and the listing renews, you pay $0.20 again.
Extra quantities cost extra. If a buyer orders 3 of the same item, you pay $0.20 for each additional unit.
Private listings cost $0.20, charged only when the buyer purchases.
Editing is free. Changing a title, photo, or price does not cost anything.

Quick tip: For digital products, every sale triggers a $0.20 renewal. On a $3 printable, that is almost 7% of the price on its own.

3. Transaction Fee: 6.5%

When you make a sale, Etsy charges 6.5% of the total order amount. That includes:

The item price
Any shipping you charge the buyer
Any gift wrapping you charge

For US sellers, the transaction fee does not apply to sales tax, according to Etsy’s Fees and Payments Policy.

Example: You sell a $30 item and charge $5 shipping. The transaction fee is 6.5% of $35, which is about $2.28.

Quick tip: Charging low shipping and raising the item price does not avoid this fee. Etsy charges 6.5% on both.

4. Payment Processing Fee: 3% + $0.25

Etsy Payments handles checkout, so buyers can pay with cards, PayPal, and other options. For sellers with a US bank account, Etsy charges 3% + $0.25 per order.

Etsy’s Help Center says this fee is taken from the total sale price, including shipping and any applicable sales tax. That is why your real processing fee can be a few cents higher than you expect.

This fee is separate from the 6.5% transaction fee. You pay both.

Good to know: If you refund a sale, Etsy credits your processing fee proportionally to the refund amount.

5. Offsite Ads Fee: 12% or 15%

Etsy pays to advertise listings with partners such as social networks and search engines. If a buyer clicks one of those ads and orders from your shop within 30 days, you pay an Offsite Ads fee on that order.

Your shop’s sales in the past 365 days	Offsite Ads fee	Can you opt out?
Under $10,000	15% of the order total	Yes
$10,000 or more	12% of the order total	No, participation is required

Etsy’s Help Center says the Offsite Ads fee will never exceed $100 for an order, no matter how large the order is.

You only pay this fee when an ad leads to a sale. If you opt out, you never pay it, but you also lose that free advertising.

Quick tip: Low-priced items get hit hardest. A 15% fee plus standard fees can take more than a quarter of a small sale. Check your margins before you decide to stay in.

6. Etsy Ads (Optional)

Etsy Ads promote your listings in Etsy search results and other places on Etsy. You set a daily maximum budget in the Advertising dashboard in Shop Manager, so you control how much you spend.

There is no required spend. Many beginners wait until their listings have strong photos and a few reviews, because ads send traffic but cannot fix a listing that does not convert.

7. Etsy Plus: $10 per Month (Optional)

Etsy Plus is a monthly subscription for $10. According to Etsy’s Help Center, each month you get:

15 credits for creating or renewing listings
$5 in Etsy Ads credit
Extra shop customization options
Restock request alerts for sold-out items

Credits do not roll over. They reset each month.

Is it worth it? The 15 listing credits are worth $3 and the ad credit is worth $5. That is $8 of the $10, so it mostly pays off if you also use the customization and restock features. You can cancel anytime.

8. Pattern Website: $15 per Month (Optional)

Pattern is Etsy’s tool for building your own website that syncs with your Etsy shop. Etsy’s Help Center lists it at $15 per month after a 30-day free trial. There are no extra listing fees for items on your Pattern site, but payment processing fees still apply.

9. Shipping Label Costs

If you sell physical items, you can buy shipping labels on Etsy. The cost depends on the carrier, service, weight, and destination you choose. Labels bought on Etsy are deducted from your Payment account and add tracking to the order automatically.

Digital products have no shipping cost at all.

10. Currency Conversion Fee: 2.5%

If you list your items in one currency but your bank account uses another, Etsy converts the money and charges 2.5%.

Quick tip: US sellers can avoid this completely. Price your listings in US dollars when your bank account is in US dollars.

Fees US Sellers Do Not Pay

A few fees you may see in other guides do not apply to sellers in the United States:

Regulatory operating fee. Etsy’s Help Center lists this for sellers in the UK, France, Italy, India, Spain, Türkiye, Vietnam, and Canada.
VAT on seller fees. This applies in countries with VAT, not to US sellers.
Monthly fee. The Standard Etsy plan has no monthly fee.

How Much Does Etsy Take From a Sale? 4 Real Examples

These examples assume a US seller, a US bank account, listings priced in US dollars, and no sales tax on the order. Real totals can be a few cents different because processing fees include any sales tax.

Example 1: $10 digital download

Listing fee: $0.20
Transaction fee: 6.5% of $10 = $0.65
Processing fee: 3% of $10 + $0.25 = $0.55
Total fees: $1.40 (14%)
You keep: $8.60

Example 2: $25 printable bundle

Listing fee: $0.20
Transaction fee: 6.5% of $25 = about $1.63
Processing fee: 3% of $25 + $0.25 = $1.00
Total fees: about $2.83 (11.3%)
You keep: about $22.17

Example 3: $30 candle + $5 shipping

Listing fee: $0.20
Transaction fee: 6.5% of $35 = about $2.28
Processing fee: 3% of $35 + $0.25 = $1.30
Total fees: about $3.78
You receive: about $31.22, before your shipping label and materials

Example 4: How much does Etsy take from a $100 sale?

Listing fee: $0.20
Transaction fee: 6.5% of $100 = $6.50
Processing fee: 3% of $100 + $0.25 = $3.25
Total fees: $9.95 (about 10%)
You keep: $90.05

If that same $100 sale came from an Offsite Ad at 15%, add $15.00. Total fees become $24.95, and you keep $75.05.

The pattern is clear: the fixed $0.20 listing fee and $0.25 processing fee hurt cheap items most. On a $10 sale you pay about 14%. On a $100 sale you pay about 10%.

Etsy Fees for Digital Products

Digital products pay the same fees as physical ones, with two differences:

No shipping. You never pay for labels or packaging, and there is no shipping amount for the transaction fee to apply to.
A $0.20 renewal on every sale. Digital listings usually have unlimited quantity, so each sale renews the listing.

That makes digital products very cheap to run, but low prices are risky. Compare a $3 printable with a $12 bundle:

Item price	Etsy fees	Fees as % of price	You keep
$3 printable	$0.20 + $0.20 + $0.34 = about $0.74	about 25%	about $2.26
$12 bundle	$0.20 + $0.78 + $0.61 = about $1.59	about 13%	about $10.41

Bundling several files into one higher-priced listing is one of the easiest ways to cut your fee percentage. Learn more in our lesson on how to sell digital products on Etsy.

How to Lower Your Etsy Fees

1. Use Share and Save. Etsy’s Help Center says that when a buyer orders within 30 days of clicking your shared shop link, you get 4% of the order total back. On a $25 order, that is $1.00. From October 20 to January 4, Etsy’s holiday promotion raises the refund to 6.5%, which is $1.63 on a $25 order. Join it in Shop Manager under Marketing.

2. Price in your bank’s currency. This avoids the 2.5% conversion fee.

3. Bundle low-priced items. Fewer, larger orders mean fewer fixed $0.20 and $0.25 charges.

4. Decide on Offsite Ads carefully. If you are under $10,000 in yearly sales, you can opt out. Stay in only if your margins can handle 15% on some sales.

5. Turn off auto-renew on slow listings. If a listing has not sold in months, review it before paying $0.20 again.

6. Build fees into your price. A simple rule many sellers use is to add about 10% to 15% for Etsy fees on top of your costs and profit.

Is Etsy Expensive Compared to Other Platforms?

It depends on where your buyers come from. Etsy charges more per sale than some platforms, but it brings shoppers to you. Etsy’s second quarter 2026 shareholder letter reported about 87 million active buyers on the Etsy marketplace.

If you already have your own audience, a platform like Gumroad may fit some products. Gumroad charges 10% + $0.50 per direct sale plus card processing, and gives far less built-in traffic. See our lesson on what is Gumroad for a full comparison.

Try it yourself: plug your own prices into our free Etsy fee calculator to see your real profit on any sale.

Key Takeaways

Opening a shop costs a one-time setup fee that varies by location.
Every listing costs $0.20 and renews every four months or after each sale.
Each sale costs 6.5% in transaction fees plus 3% + $0.25 in processing for US sellers.
Standard fees total about 10% to 14% on items priced $10 to $100, and more on cheaper items.
Offsite Ads add 15% or 12% only on ad-driven sales and never more than $100 per order.
Share and Save gives back 4% of eligible orders from your own links, and 6.5% during the current holiday promotion.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does Etsy take from a $100 sale?

For a US seller with no ads involved, Etsy takes about $9.95 from a $100 sale. That is the $0.20 listing fee, a $6.50 transaction fee, and a $3.25 processing fee. If the sale came from an Offsite Ad at 15%, Etsy takes another $15.00.

Does Etsy charge a monthly fee?

No. The Standard Etsy plan has no monthly fee. You only pay a one-time setup fee, listing fees, and fees on each sale. Etsy Plus at $10 per month and Pattern at $15 per month are optional subscriptions.

Is it free to list on Etsy?

No. Each listing costs $0.20, and it renews for another $0.20 every four months or after each sale. Etsy Plus subscribers get 15 free listing credits per month.

Does Etsy take 30% of sales?

No. Standard fees for US sellers usually come to about 10% to 14% of a sale. You only get close to 30% on a very cheap item that also sells through a 15% Offsite Ad.

Are Etsy fees for digital products different?

The fee rates are the same. Digital products have no shipping costs, but each sale renews the listing for $0.20. Because of the fixed fees, very low-priced digital items lose a bigger share of their price than bundles do.

Final Thoughts

So, how much does it cost to sell on Etsy? Plan on a one-time setup fee, $0.20 per listing, and about 10% to 14% of each sale in transaction and processing fees. Everything else is optional or only happens in certain cases.

Once you know the numbers, you can price with confidence instead of guessing. Use the examples above as your calculator, bundle low-priced items, and share your own links to earn money back with Share and Save.

New to the course? Start with how to sell on Etsy, then explore the free Etsy course module by module.

How Much Does It Cost to Sell on Etsy? Etsy Fees Explained (2026)