How Much Does It Cost To Sell On Etsy? (A Transparent Guide)

You might be wondering, How much does Etsy charge to create and sell a product? Like any e-commerce website, Etsy is specific about what fees it charges.

It’s important to understand exactly what you’re being charged for before starting your Etsy shop. I didn’t realize the importance of understanding Etsy’s fees until much later.

I could’ve saved a lot of money and made more of a profit if I had known earlier.

I’ll be sharing with you the types of Etsy fees you need to know and the 3 best money-saving tips you can use for your Etsy shop.

I’m all about saving money and making the most profit out of your Etsy sales!

So keep on reading!

Table of Contents

Types of Etsy Fees You Need To Know

These are the 3 types of fees that you will come across when starting an Etsy shop. I promise it’s not intimidating.

Please keep in mind that some of these fees will vary due to where you are currently located and what kind of product you are selling (digital/physical).

Let’s jump right in!

Listing Fees

Etsy automatically charges a $0.20 listing fee for each product you publish.

You can publish your first 20 listings for free, so there will be no listing fee. However, after your 20th listing, Etsy will start to charge you a listing fee.

(p.s you can use this link to get 40 FREE listings – you’re saving $8.00 which is a lot!)

For example, if you publish 2 new listings, it will be $0.40 for the listing fees.

Do keep in mind that listings expire after 4 months. After they expire, they will be renewed with a charge of $0.20 depending on whether you choose to automatically or manually renew them. I’ll talk more about this later in this guide!

Want to start your own Etsy shop today?

Transaction Fees

Etsy charges a 6.5% transaction fee for every product you sell on its platform. Personally, I think it’s a pretty hefty fee that Etsy charges.

That’s why I think it’s important to sell and price your items well, so that you’re making profit from your products.

For example, if I sold a product for $7.28, the transaction fee would be $7.28 x 0.065 = $0.47.

Let’s move onto the last Etsy seller fee you need to know, which is the processing fee.

Processing Fees

Etsy has its own payment system where sellers can accept various methods of payment (credit card, gift cards, Apple pay, etc) from buyers.

Processing fees for Etsy vary depending on your location. Since I’m currently based in the US, the processing fee would be 3% of the order total plus $0.25.

So let’s go back to my example above for the transaction fee.

For example, if I sold a product for $7.28, the processing fee would be $7.28 x 0.03 = 0.2184 + 0.25 = $0.47.

I hope that makes sense! But that’s essentially how Etsy charges for its fees.

Next, I’ll be talking about seller services (the marketing aspect of Etsy and how much it charges).

How much does it cost to market on Etsy?

Advertising on Etsy is super simple and convenient. But it’s also important to weigh the pros and cons of ads since Etsy does charge for ads.

Are ads worth it?

I’ll share my experience using ads and what has been working for my shop!

Etsy Ads

Etsy ads are promotional ads sponsored by Etsy that will your product listings on its platform. So if someone searches, “wedding invitations” on Etsy, yours may be seen by the person.

Marketing your products on Etsy’s website may increase visits to your shop and sales.

Here’s my honest opinion. I don’t prefer Etsy ads, but that may be because I sell digital products. So my products are already priced lower.

How Etsy ads work is that you can set an ad campaign with a minimum $1 to promote your products. You will only get charged when someone clicks on your ads on Etsy.

The amount you would have to pay depends on how many people click on your ad.

To give you a better idea, here’s a screenshot of how much I was charged for Etsy ads.

You can see how much I was charged for Etsy ads, and it was a good chunk of my profit that I could have saved.

Of course, this will vary for everyone depending on your product, so I can encourage you to really weigh the pros and cons of advertising on Etsy!

Offsite Ads

Etsy actually purchases advertising from participating providers such as Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and more. Here’s the list of participating offsite channels.

If someone searches “cute bunny poster” through Google Images, your product could show up!

If an Etsy buyer clicks on your advertised listing and orders within 30 days of clicking your product, you will be charged a small advertising fee.

3 Best Tips To Decrease Your Etsy Fees

Ready to learn how to decrease your Etsy fees and start making more profits? I really wish I knew these tips before starting my shop so I could save a lot of money. But I’ll be sharing with you 3 of the best tips to decrease your Etsy seller fees!

1. Choose which products to promote with ads

Choose your top-performing products to promote with Etsy ads.

If you don’t necessarily have a top-performing product or your Etsy shop is still on the newer side, I would suggest promoting your entire Etsy shop for a minimum of $1-2 dollars to start off.

Keep in mind that you will get charged for every click (not every purchase) on your product! So that doesn’t necessarily mean that the person visiting your shop will buy your product.

2. Select certain listings to manually renew

This is another money-saving tip that I wish I had known. But I would only use the manually renew option once you’ve begun making sales from your shop.

The reason why is because you need to know which of your Etsy products are selling and which are not selling.

So that means you will only know which ones are low-performing products through time and continuing to create.

For my products, there were a good amount of Etsy products that hadn’t even sold one (haha), but I was getting charged after they would expire.

I think I got charged a total of $15.00 for choosing to automatically renew low-performing products. $15.00! That’s 3 cups of coffee I could have bought, haha.

So look at any products that have been low-performing and choose to manually renew them. If they expire, you won’t get charged the $0.20 renewal fee!

3. Increase your profit margin

This is a pretty obvious one, but you want to increase your profit margin! When you’re starting off, it makes sense to price your items a little lower to stand out from competition.

However, as time goes and you start getting sales, you can slowly increase your profit margin.

You want to keep in mind the time and labor it takes to create a product and shipping costs.

For example, if you price a fitness planner for $1.99, you are only making less than $1.00 (due to Etsy fees). Your product is so much more than $1.00!

Let’s say you decide to price your fitness planner for $5.99 with a 15% discount which is $5.10, if someone bought your product, you would earn a profit at around $4.38 (minus all of Etsy’s fees), which is a lot more!

Don’t sell yourself short 🙂

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it still worth it to sell on Etsy?

Absolutely! Honestly, Etsy has given me a source of income that I never thought was possible. Of course, starting a shop comes with a lot of time and effort, but it is worth it 100%!What if I don’t have money to get started?Does Etsy charge a monthly fee?

The last thing you need to know about Etsy Seller Fees

To recap this guide, Etsy has three different seller fees: listing, transaction, and processing fees.

If you choose to market your product, there are two types of ads: Etsy ads and offsite ads. It is best to experiment and see which ads work best for your shop!

I’ve also shared with you my favorite best tips to save money creating products on Etsy. You want to get the most out of the time and effort you put into creating!

I hope this guide answers any questions or concerns about how much does it cost to sell on Etsy. If you’re on the fence of creating one, I’d say go for it! You never know where your Etsy shop could take you 🙂

If you liked this post, please comment down below which tip you found the most helpful. I’d love to know!

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How Much Does It Cost To Sell On Etsy? (A Transparent Guide)

How Much Does It Cost To Sell On Etsy? (A Transparent Guide)