Etsy Fees Explained: How Much Do You Actually Keep From Each Sale?

The Hidden Cost of Selling on Etsy

A customer pays $35 for your handmade candle. How much do you actually keep? Most sellers guess wrong — often by $4-6 per sale. At volume, that's the difference between a profitable shop and one that's quietly losing money.

Here's every Etsy fee broken down with real numbers.

The 5 Etsy Fees You Need to Know

1. Listing Fee — $0.20 per listing

Every time you list a product, Etsy charges $0.20. The listing is active for 4 months. When a listing sells, it automatically renews for another $0.20.

If your product sells 50 times in a month, that's $10 in listing fees for that one product — often ignored in profit calculations.

2. Transaction Fee — 6.5% of sale price + shipping

This is Etsy's biggest cut. They take 6.5% of whatever the buyer paid — including the shipping cost you charged them. If you charge $5 shipping on a $30 item, Etsy takes 6.5% of $35 = $2.28.

Many sellers forget that shipping is included. If you offer free shipping, you absorb both the actual shipping cost AND Etsy's 6.5% on it.

3. Payment Processing Fee — 3% + $0.25 per transaction

If you use Etsy Payments (required in most countries), Etsy takes 3% + $0.25 per transaction. This is similar to Stripe or PayPal rates.

4. Offsite Ads Fee — 12-15% (if applicable)

If Etsy advertises your listing off-platform (Google, Facebook, etc.) and you make a sale, they take 12-15% of that sale. Shops making under $10k/year can opt out. Above $10k, it's mandatory.

This fee only applies when Etsy's ad directly led to the sale.

5. Etsy Ads (optional) — your budget

If you run Etsy Ads, you set a daily budget. This is separate from the offsite ads fee above.

Real Example: A $35 Candle Sale

Let's say you sell a $35 candle with $5 shipping (total $40 charged to buyer):

• Listing fee: $0.20
• Transaction fee (6.5% of $40): $2.60
• Payment processing (3% + $0.25 of $40): $1.45
• Total Etsy fees: $4.25
• Actual shipping cost: $5.00 (you pay this)
• Materials: $6.00 (your candle cost)
• You keep: $35 - $4.25 - $5.00 - $6.00 = $19.75

You collected $40. Your actual profit: $19.75. That's a 56% margin — not bad, but far less than $35 suggests.

The Pricing Formula Most Sellers Should Use

To price for a target margin, work backwards:

1. Calculate your material + labor cost per unit
2. Add ~11% buffer for Etsy fees (transaction + processing)
3. Add $0.20 for the listing fee
4. Add your target profit margin on top

Most sellers undercharge by 15-20% because they don't run these numbers before listing.

Track This Automatically

BeeSerp's Profit Dashboard calculates all of this for every listing in your shop automatically — so you can see which products are genuinely profitable and which are quietly eating your margin.