Etsy fees and profit per sale: a worked calculation

01The formula

Profit = what the customer pays − your supplier cost − Etsy’s fees. The customer pays the price plus the shipping you charge.

02Etsy’s fees

• Listing fee: $0.20 each time a listing is created or renewed. Listings last four months and renew automatically unless you turn that off. For a listing with several items, the renewal is $0.20 per unit sold.
• Transaction fee: 6.5% of the item price plus the shipping and gift wrapping you charge.
• Payment processing fee: depends on the country of your bank account, and applies to the total, including shipping and taxes. The listed examples are 3% + $0.25 in the United States, 4% + £0.20 in the United Kingdom and 4% + €0.30 in France.
• Offsite Ads: if a sale comes from an Etsy ad within 30 days of the click, the fee is 15% of the order, or 12% for shops that sold at least $10,000 in the last 365 days, capped at $100 per order. Shops under $10,000 can opt out.
• Other fees: a one-time setup fee may apply when you open a shop, Etsy Ads are charged within the budget you set, some countries have a regulatory operating fee, and Etsy Plus is an optional $10 a month.

03A worked example

These numbers are an example for a US shop, not real sales. Item price $30.00, shipping charged $4.00, supplier cost $11.50, taxes left out.

• Transaction fee: 6.5% × $34.00 = $2.21
• Payment processing: 3% × $34.00 + $0.25 = $1.27
• Listing fee: $0.20
• Etsy fees in total: $3.68
• Profit: $34.00 − $11.50 − $3.68 = $18.82, about 55% of what the customer paid

If the same sale came from an Etsy Offsite Ad at 15%, add $5.10 of fees: the profit becomes $13.72, about 40%.

04Remember the returns

Refunds, a lost parcel and your own advertising come out of the same profit. A calculation per sale is a start, not the whole picture.

In Sereane

Sereane warns you before you validate an order if the supplier cost is above 60% of the Etsy sale price, and leaves the decision to you. You can set a target profit, as a percentage, an amount, or a multiple of the purchase price. The amount to pay then shows green when the target is met, and orange when it is not, with the highest price that would have met it.