Etsy Seller Fees: The Ultimate Etsy Fees Guide 2024

Etsy Seller Fees: The Ultimate Etsy Fees Guide 2023

Etsy is a go-to place for those who are interested in buying unique and outstanding hand-made or artisan products. Launched in 2005 in Brooklyn, New York, it’s become one of the top e-commerce companies in the world, a shopping mecca for millions of customers, surpassed only by such giants as Apple, Chewy, and Amazon. According to Statista, the platform generated a marketplace revenue of 1.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2021.

With lots of people flocking to Etsy, the chances to boost your business and attract more customers  than ever to your online shop are really high. Naturally, if you’re selling hand-made, vintage items and craft supplies, setting up an Etsy shop is a must. If you’re new to Etsy and don’t know where to start, you might want to consider our tips on how to create an Etsy shop. When you know what to expect and which pitfalls to avoid, making it to Etsy’s top seller list doesn’t seem far fetched. 

However, you have to take your time navigating through Etsy seller fees as they can seem a bit overwhelming at first. Understanding the structure of Etsy fees is essential because there are some hidden costs involved that may really eat into the profit of your shop if you don’t know the amount of the fee Etsy charges sellers. 

All it takes to get started on Etsy for first-time sellers is $0.20. But there are some other Etsy seller fees you should keep in mind. Let’s break down Etsy fees – find out what fees Etsy charges its sellers  and make sure that you know how much it costs to sell on Etsy in 2023.

Keep an eye on your fees and other expenses at all times with Synder. Find out how Synder can help you organize your finances for optimal results – book office hours and discover more.

Contents:

1. Etsy listing fees

2. Etsy transaction fees

3. Ad fees

4. Etsy Payments fees

5. Shipping label fee

6. Subscription fee

7. In-person selling fee

8. Pattern fee

9. How to pay your Etsy fees

10. Etsy fee avoidance

Etsy Seller Fees

1. Etsy listing fees 

One of the most important mandatory Etsy seller fees, the listing fee is a flat fee of $0.20 which is applied to each item you list on Etsy. Etsy charges the listing fee as soon as you hit the ‘publish’ button on the website, regardless of whether you actually sell this item or not.

Apart from a flat listing fee, there are some other Etsy seller fees that fall into this category that the seller should know about.

Etsy listing fees

Auto-renewal fee

Etsy will automatically renew your listings and charge you another $0.20 if your item hasn’t sold after 4 months. While this feature does save you time, it may come as a surprise to lots of newbies as they often forget about it when they calculate Etsy fees. Unless you want your items to be relisted, opt out of this fee manually. It’s one of the fees Etsy sellers may avoid.

Multi-quantity listing fee

If your customer buys multiple units of the same product from your shop and they don’t come as a single pack, be ready to pay an additional $0.20 per item. That’s on top of the $0.20 listing fee that you’ve already paid when listing the product. Confused? Let’s say you have a loyal customer that just loves your pottery and decides to buy 6 plates in different colors. You’ll be charged an additional $1.20 in Etsy seller fees or as it treats it as 6 different transactions that come from 6 different listings. 

However, you can package multiple items and sell them as a single unit. In this case you’ll have to pay one listing fee for a pack. That is, if you sell 6 plates as a prepackaged unit, Etsy charges $0.20 only once as for Etsy it was just one transaction. 

Calculate Etsy fees in advance and make an informed decision that best fits your business!

Etsy fee for private listing 

Etsy’s functionality allows you to list certain items for sale for a particular buyer to see. For example, if you want to sell a particular set of your pottery to specified loyal customers, be ready to pay the same amount of $0.20 for this listing. That’s a perfect feature if your Etsy shop works with custom orders, but you have to pay extra in Etsy seller fees.

2. Etsy transaction fees

According to the changes made to Etsy seller fees in April 2023, each time you sell something on Etsy, you have to pay a transaction fee of 6.5% of the total sales price. Bear in mind that Etsy transaction fee includes not only the cost of the product, but also the cost of personalization/customization, gift wrapping, and even shipping.

When you receive your Etsy bill, don’t be surprised – the transaction fee appears as two items: fees deducted from the item price and the ones deducted from shipping. Sellers from the USA and Canada should also note that the transaction fee is based on the pre-tax total amount.

NB! Etsy doesn’t charge transaction fees on sales tax to sellers from the US or Canada (on condition that the cost of sales tax isn’t included into the listing price). If you reside outside of the US and Canada, applicable taxes may be included into the transaction fees.

3. Ad fees

While Etsy.com offers multiple options for promotion and advertising the items you sell on your Etsy shop, there are two that new Etsy sellers most certainly should be familiar with: Etsy Ads and Off-site Ads. Etsy seller fees in this case differ.

Etsy ad fees

Etsy Ads fee 

Etsy allows its sellers to promote the items they sell within the website. The cost is determined on a ‘pay per click’ (PPC) basis, which means that you pay whenever someone clicks on your ad, even if it doesn’t result in completing the purchase. The good thing here is that you can determine the budget you’re willing to spend on this type of advertising and Etsy won’t charge you more in Etsy seller fees.

Offsite Ads fee

If you sell on Etsy, you know that they’re using social media platforms to promote the items offsite on behalf of the sellers. All the Etsy sellers are signed up for this type of ad by default, but the fee for such offsite ads varies depending on the volume of sales. If you’re a lower value seller and your sales don’t exceed $10,000 annually, Etsy charges a higher fee of 15%, but you can opt out of this feature altogether. However, if you sell on Etsy in high volumes and your sales exceed the annual threshold of $10,000, Etsy will charge you a lower fee of 12% of the total sales price. As you can see, the offsite ad fee is one of the mandatory Etsy seller fees you can’t avoid.

4. Etsy Payments fees

These Etsy seller fees are charged for using Etsy Payments and depend on a number of conditions: the seller’s country and the currency listed on the Etsy payment account. Let’s have a look at various Etsy fees that it charges for Etsy Payments.

Etsy payments fees

Payment processing fees

If you use Etsy Payments, you also cover the costs of handling credit card or bank transactions, but that comes with an Etsy processing fee. The conditions for eligible countries differ, but in the USA, sellers pay a flat rate of $0.25 and 3% of the final sales price in a payment processing fee for this tool. The final sales price of a product includes tax and shipping.

NB! Don’t confuse Etsy’s transaction fee with payment processing fee – these are two different payments! The transaction fee covers the cost of using the platform, while the payment processing fee is a charge for using Etsy’s payment processor – Etsy Payments.

Regulatory operating fee

Sellers from the UK, France, Italy, Spain, and Turkey have to pay an additional regulatory operating fee on each transaction they complete in their Etsy shop. Etsy charges a fixed percentage of the total sales price of the item including shipping, gift wrapping, and personalization. The amount depends on the additional costs incurred for operating in a particular country but doesn’t exceed 1.1% of a product price.

Currency conversion fee

Currency conversion fee is probably one of the most frequently neglected Etsy seller fees that might seriously eat into the revenue of Etsy’s sellers. If the currency on your listing differs from the one registered on your Etsy payment account, Etsy will charge you  a 2.5% currency conversion fee on the total sales price of the item.

What’s more, all the fixed-cost fees, for example Etsy listing fee, are published in USD. Etsy will automatically convert the fees from USD to the currency listed on your payment account at the market rate once the fee is reflected in the account. When you calculate Etsy fees, keep in mind that the conversion rates may vary. This fee might be avoided if your listing currency and account currency are the same.

5. Shipping label fee

Etsy seller fees vary a lot and the shipping fee is not an exception. Etsy sellers can purchase shipping labels to fulfill their orders, as well as parcel insurance. This feature is available in certain locations and helps to track the delivery of items. There’s one condition though – you must accept either PayPal or Etsy Payments to purchase the shipping labels through Etsy.

Etsy’s shipping label fees depend on the dimensions of the package, its weight and origin, the shipping carrier, and destination – the usual things you take into consideration while ordering shipping. These types of Etsy seller fees and any adjustments to them are deducted from your current balance and can be found in your payment account under ‘shipping label fee’.

6. Subscription fee

To boost your sales, Etsy offers to sellers two types of packages – Etsy Standard and Etsy Plus, and Etsy will charge you for some extra features you choose to use. While Etsy Standard is a default plan and is actually free, Etsy Plus costs $10 a month. Etsy Plus membership gives you access to lots of benefits – discounts on domain customization, packaging and promotional materials, listing and ads credits, restock alert feature, etc. Etsy Plus may be worth the money, for example if your Etsy shop sells unique limited items that aren’t always available and you want to make sure that your customers are informed about the restock. Naturally, this feature has an extra charge in Etsy seller fees.

7. In-person selling fee

If you sell on Etsy and have a physical store, you can use Square to collect payment in person. Thanks to the Etsy-Square collaboration, you can sync your inventory with your Etsy listings and the quantity available will be automatically updated. All you need to do is to use the Square reader to process payments. 

There will be an addition to your Etsy seller fees – you’ll be charged the usual listing fees plus Square’s payment processing fees for the listings that are synced with Square. However, in this case you won’t have to pay the Etsy transaction fee. Beware that Etsy will charge you for the listings that aren’t synced.

8. Pattern fee

One of the many optional Etsy selling fees, pattern fee is charged for the Pattern subscription. Pattern is a special tool that allows you to set up a separate website in addition to your Etsy shop. Acting as an additional channel for your business, the website doesn’t replace your existing Etsy shop but helps you get more exposure and reach a wider audience.

If you choose to test this feature, you start with a free 30-day trial which can later be turned into a subscription. Etsy will charge you $15.00 monthly. Your subscription is automatically renewed each subsequent month, but you can cancel at any time.

How to pay your Etsy fees

When it comes to paying fees on Etsy, the platform will automatically deduct these fees from your payment account. However, it’s important to ensure that you have enough funds to cover the fees owed. Failure to pay your Etsy fees within 15 days upon receiving the statement may result in your account being considered past due, and Etsy may take steps to collect the funds owed. To pay off your balance, you can use various payment methods, including credit card, debit card, or PayPal. US sellers also have the option to enroll in AutoBilling for automatic fee payment. Your monthly statement, which outlines sales and fees activity from the previous month, can be accessed in your payment account at the start of each month. 

Etsy fee avoidance

When a seller takes any step to evade paying a fee, it’s classified as fee avoidance, which is not allowed by Etsy. An example of avoiding Etsy fee is inducing buyers to buy items through a different platform. It is a violation of Etsy rules – any transaction that is initiated on Etsy must be completed on Etsy itself.  Another instance of fee avoidance is modifying the item’s price following a sale to get around Etsy’s transaction fees – the price mentioned in each listing must reflect the actual sale value. The seller is also prohibited to provide incorrect information about the item’s location, or utilize someone else’s account without their consent.

Etsy is a creative online marketplace for artists and artisans worldwide that offers incredible opportunities to level up their business. Selling on Etsy has lots of perks which outweigh the downsides connected with quite a number of Etsy’s fees the seller is charged. They include payment fees, ad fees, listing fees, etc. While Etsy seller fees aren’t low, maintaining an Etsy shop is fairly cheap. Knowing what to expect in terms of fees is crucial for any business, and monitoring the costs should be no less important. But with so many Etsy seller fees involved, it’s easy to get lost in your Etsy accounting.

And here it’s time to resort to external tools for keeping track of your Etsy business that are provided by third parties, one of which is Synder, a top-notch software company which offers cutting-edge solutions for accounting and business management. 

Synder boasts the largest number of features: error-free reconciliation and flawless P&L reporting, instant record of details (including splitting out selling on Etsy fees), immaculate withheld tax management and inventory tracking. And as an Etsy seller, you might be interested in their recent tool – the reporting feature  Business Insights. It’ll elevate your performance to a new level and allow you to make better decisions!  Synder Business Insights analyzes all sales information coming from your Etsy account as well as all other connected platforms ( currently it  features integration with 25 most popular sales platforms and payment gateways) and generates reports about important KPIs. This tool will let you get insights into your gross sales, AOV, purchase frequency, returning customer rate,  top and least performing products, products most purchased together, and other business metrics that will help you make informed decisions about running your e-commerce business. 

Another tool that might be useful for aspiring Etsy shop owners is Synder Sync –  a product that was designed specially for e-commerce businesses, which lets you connect all the channels a business has in use with accounting software. It features seamless data import, multi-currency compatibility, smooth reconciliation with your bank account,  and much more. And all is done automatically in the background while you relax or work on enhancing your business. 

You might ask yourself: How are Synder tools different from the other similar tools on the market?  The answer is simple. At creating its software, Synder is led by the perfect moto: Machine Accuracy, Human Approach. It means that Synder offers leading-edge functionality like Smart Rules which allow customizable categorization of books, the rollback feature which lets you undo any changes you might consider unnecessary,  syncing data from multiple platforms to your books, import of historical data. On the other hand, Synder prides itself on fabulous 24/7 human support, always eager to tackle any  arising issues via email, chat or call. 

Take advantage of Synder’s products, and  you’re sure to save your money and time so that you can spend them to grow your business and ensure the best service! Book office hours to see how Synder can streamline managing your Etsy business. You can also embark on a 15-day free trial.  Work smarter, not harder!

Share your experience

We’d love to hear from Etsy sellers about their experiences with Etsy seller fees. Have you found ways to manage or reduce seller fees effectively? Or do you have questions and challenges related to Etsy fees that you’d like to discuss? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below. Your input can be incredibly helpful for fellow Etsy sellers looking to navigate the fee structure and optimize their selling strategies.

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