New Etsy sellers often price an item at "cost plus a bit" and then wonder where the profit went. The answer is usually fees. They are small individually, but there are several of them and some apply to shipping too. Here's how to calculate what Etsy actually takes per sale, using Etsy's own published standard fees for US sellers.
Etsy's standard fees (US seller)
According to Etsy's Fee Basics and payment processing fees help pages (checked October 2026):
- Listing fee: $0.20 per listing. A listing lasts four months or until it sells.
- Transaction fee: 6.5% of the total order amount, including the shipping and gift wrap you charge.
- Payment processing fee (Etsy Payments, US bank account): 3% + $0.25 per order, calculated on the total sale price including shipping and any applicable sales tax.
Processing fees vary by the country of your bank account, and there are optional or situational fees too (Offsite Ads, currency conversion, regulatory fees in some countries, subscriptions). Always check Etsy's current fee pages for your country before setting prices. Fees change over time.
Worked example 1: a $30 item with $5 shipping
You sell a print for $30 and charge $5 shipping. The materials cost you $8 and actual postage costs $5. (For simplicity, assume no sales tax on this order.)
| Fee | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Listing | flat | $0.20 |
| Transaction | 6.5% × $35 | $2.28 |
| Payment processing | 3% × $35 + $0.25 | $1.30 |
| Total Etsy fees | ≈ $3.78 |
Fees are about 10.8% of the $35 the buyer paid.
Profit = $35 − $3.78 fees − $8 materials − $5 postage ≈ $18.22, a 52% profit margin on the order.
Worked example 2: a $10 item, no shipping charge
Digital downloads and small items get hit harder by the flat parts of the fees:
| Fee | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Listing | flat | $0.20 |
| Transaction | 6.5% × $10 | $0.65 |
| Payment processing | 3% × $10 + $0.25 | $0.55 |
| Total | $1.40 |
That's 14% of the sale. The $0.20 and $0.25 flat amounts are a bigger share of a small order, which is why bundles and higher-priced listings tend to be more fee-efficient.
Run any price through the free Etsy, Shopify & Amazon fee calculator. It includes an Etsy preset, and you can edit every percentage.
Shipping is not fee-free
Because the transaction and processing fees apply to the shipping you charge, "free shipping" with a higher item price and "cheap item + shipping" cost roughly the same in fees. What matters is the total order amount. Price shipping so it actually covers postage and the fee on top of it.
Renewals add listing fees
Each time a listing renews, whether automatically after a sale (for multi-quantity listings) or at the end of its four months, another $0.20 listing fee applies. For a slow-selling item, several renewals can add up before it sells, so factor them into the cost of low-volume products.
How to price with fees included
To hit a target profit margin after fees, include fees in your variable cost. A simple approach for a US seller with no shipping charge:
Price ≈ (Cost + $0.45 + Target profit) ÷ (1 − 0.095)
The 0.095 is 6.5% + 3%, and $0.45 is the $0.20 listing plus the $0.25 processing flat fee. Example: materials $8, target profit $10 → Price ≈ ($8 + $0.45 + $10) ÷ 0.905 ≈ $20.39. Check: fees on $20.39 are 0.20 + 1.33 + 0.86 ≈ $2.39, and $20.39 − $2.39 − $8 = $10.00. ✔
If you charge shipping, apply the same idea to the total order amount.
Don't forget the costs Etsy doesn't charge
Fees are only part of the picture. Each sale may also carry packaging, labels, your time, ads you choose to run and returns. Put all of those into a per-unit cost, then use break-even analysis to see how many sales a month cover your fixed costs.
Margin, not markup
When you set prices, think in profit margin after fees, not markup on materials. A 100% markup on $8 materials ($16 price) sounds healthy, but after about $1.97 in fees and $1.50 of packaging, the margin is much thinner than "100%" suggests. See margin vs markup for the conversion.
Frequently asked questions
Do Etsy fees apply to sales tax? The 6.5% transaction fee is on the order total including shipping and gift wrap. Etsy's payment processing fee is calculated on the total sale price including shipping and any applicable sales tax, per Etsy's help pages.
Are digital downloads charged the same fees? Yes, the standard listing, transaction and payment processing fees apply to digital items too. Because there's no shipping to absorb fees, the flat fees weigh more on cheap downloads.
Is it cheaper to sell on my own site? You avoid marketplace commissions, but you pay for hosting, payment processing and, above all, your own traffic. Compare total cost per sale, not just the fee percentage, using the marketplace fee calculator.
Track it for every product
Fees, material costs and shipping change, and doing this math for every listing by hand is tedious. The Etsy / Shopify / Amazon Seller Profit Tracker for Excel and Google Sheets applies your fee rules per channel, attaches COGS per SKU and shows true net profit per order, SKU and month. To set prices by target margin across a catalog, the Product Cost & Break-even Calculator does that part.
Fee figures are from Etsy's public help pages as checked in October 2026 and apply to US-based bank accounts. Verify current fees for your country on Etsy.