Etsy Profit Calculator: How to Work Out Fees and Profit per Sale
Work out what you really keep from an Etsy sale: every fee a US seller pays, the formulas to calculate them, a worked example and a spreadsheet setup you can reuse for every listing.
Short answer: your profit on an Etsy sale is what the buyer pays for the item, shipping and gift wrap, minus Etsy’s fees, minus what the item cost you to make, pack and post. For a seller in the United States using Etsy Payments, the fees on a typical order are a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee on the item price plus shipping and gift wrap, and a payment processing fee of 3% of the order total plus $0.25. If the sale came through Offsite Ads, add 15% (or 12%) of the order total, capped at $100.
This guide lists each fee with the rule behind it, works through a full example and shows how to set up the same calculation in a spreadsheet so you can check any price before you list it. Fees below are the ones Etsy publishes for US sellers, checked on 4 November 2026 against Etsy’s Fees & Payments Policy and Etsy Payments Policy. Etsy changes fees from time to time, so confirm the current rates before relying on them.
The fees a US seller pays on a sale
| Fee | Rate | Charged on |
|---|---|---|
| Listing fee | $0.20 | Each listing when it is published or renewed. A listing lasts four months; a multi-quantity listing renews (and is charged again) each time one unit sells. |
| Transaction fee | 6.5% | The price you display plus the shipping and gift wrap you charge. For US sellers it does not apply to sales tax. |
| Payment processing fee (Etsy Payments, US bank account) | 3% + $0.25 per order | The gross order amount, including shipping and sales tax. |
| Offsite Ads fee | 15%, or 12% once the shop has had $10,000 in sales over the previous 365 days | Only on orders attributed to an Offsite Ad: item price plus shipping and gift wrap (not sales tax for US sellers). Capped at $100 per order. |
| Currency conversion fee | 2.5% | Only if you list in a currency different from your payment account currency. |
Shops below the $10,000 threshold can opt out of Offsite Ads; once a shop reaches it, Etsy states the 12% rate applies for the life of the shop. Sellers in some countries also pay a regulatory operating fee, and other optional costs — Etsy Ads, shipping labels bought through Etsy, subscriptions — come on top. If you buy postage through Etsy, use the label cost as your postage cost.
The profit formula
Write the order down in three parts: what the buyer pays you, what Etsy keeps and what the product costs you.
- Order revenue = item price + shipping charged + gift wrap charged
- Etsy fees = $0.20 + 6.5% × order revenue + (3% × (order revenue + sales tax) + $0.25) + Offsite Ads fee if it applies
- Your costs = materials + packaging + actual postage + any other cost per item
- Profit = order revenue − Etsy fees − your costs
Sales tax is not your money. In the United States, Etsy collects and remits sales tax on orders where marketplace rules require it. It still matters for the calculation, though, because the payment processing fee is charged on the total including tax.
A worked example
A seller in the United States sells a handmade item listed at $30.00 and charges $5.00 for shipping. The buyer’s sales tax on the order is $2.40. Materials cost $6.00, packaging $1.00 and postage $4.50. These figures are an illustrative example.
| Line | Calculation | Amount ($) |
|---|---|---|
| Order revenue | 30.00 + 5.00 | 35.00 |
| Listing fee | flat | −0.20 |
| Transaction fee | 6.5% × 35.00 | −2.28 |
| Payment processing fee | 3% × 37.40 + 0.25 | −1.37 |
| Total Etsy fees | −3.85 | |
| Materials, packaging, postage | 6.00 + 1.00 + 4.50 | −11.50 |
| Profit | 19.65 | |
| Profit margin | 19.65 ÷ 35.00 | 56% |
If the same order came through an Offsite Ad at 15%, Etsy also charges 15% × $35.00 = $5.25. Profit falls to about $14.40 and the margin to about 41%. That difference is why it pays to check your prices with ads included before you decide whether to stay in Offsite Ads.
Notice what the example leaves out: your time. If the item takes 30 minutes to make and you value that time at $20 an hour, $10 of the $19.65 is really your wage. Our guide on how to price handmade products shows how to build labor into the price.
Set it up as a spreadsheet calculator
A small spreadsheet turns the formula into a calculator you can reuse for every listing. Put the labels in column A and the values in column B:
| Cell | Label | Value or formula |
|---|---|---|
| B2 | Item price | 30 |
| B3 | Shipping charged | 5 |
| B4 | Gift wrap charged | 0 |
| B5 | Sales tax on the order | 2.40 |
| B6 | Offsite Ads rate (0, 12% or 15%) | 0 |
| B7 | Materials | 6 |
| B8 | Packaging | 1 |
| B9 | Postage | 4.50 |
| B10 | Your labor (optional) | 0 |
| B12 | Listing fee | =0.2 |
| B13 | Transaction fee | =6.5%*(B2+B3+B4) |
| B14 | Payment processing fee | =3%*(B2+B3+B4+B5)+0.25 |
| B15 | Offsite Ads fee | =MIN(B6*(B2+B3+B4),100) |
| B16 | Total Etsy fees | =SUM(B12:B15) |
| B18 | Profit | =(B2+B3+B4)-B16-SUM(B7:B10) |
| B19 | Profit margin | =IF(B2+B3+B4=0,"",B18/(B2+B3+B4)) |
The formulas work in Excel and Google Sheets. Copy the block to a second column to compare two prices side by side, or set B6 to 15% to see the worst case with Offsite Ads. If you sell from outside the US, replace the payment processing rate with the one Etsy lists for your country.
Work backwards from the profit you want
Without Offsite Ads, Etsy’s percentage fees add up to 9.5% of the order revenue (6.5% transaction + 3% processing), plus $0.45 in fixed fees ($0.20 listing + $0.25 processing). Ignoring the small processing fee on sales tax, the item price you need for a target profit is approximately:
Item price ≈ (target profit + your costs + 0.45) ÷ (1 − fee rate) − shipping charged
In the example, to make $20.00 on each sale with $11.50 of costs and $5.00 shipping charged: (20 + 11.50 + 0.45) ÷ 0.905 − 5 ≈ $30.30. If you want the same profit on sales that come through Offsite Ads at 15%, the fee rate becomes 24.5%: (20 + 11.50 + 0.45) ÷ 0.755 − 5 ≈ $37.32.
Mistakes that shrink Etsy profit
- Charging less for shipping than the postage costs. The difference comes out of your profit, and the transaction fee is charged on shipping too.
- Forgetting the listing fee on multi-quantity listings. Each unit sold renews the listing for another $0.20.
- Ignoring Offsite Ads. A sale you did not pay to advertise can still carry a 12–15% fee if it is attributed to an ad.
- Leaving out packaging and small materials. Tape, tissue, labels and thank-you cards add up across hundreds of orders.
- Not paying yourself. A product that only breaks even once your time is counted is a hobby, not a business.
- Using old fee rates. Check Etsy’s fee pages when you set or review prices.
Track profit across all your sales
Per-sale math helps you set prices; your books tell you whether the shop as a whole makes money. Etsy deducts fees from your payment account, so record sales and fees separately rather than only the deposits that reach your bank — our Etsy bookkeeping guide shows how, with a worked month. Our small business bookkeeping guide explains a simple weekly routine, and how to read a profit and loss statement shows how to spot falling margins month by month.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Etsy take from a sale?
For a US seller without Offsite Ads, the $0.20 listing fee, 6.5% transaction fee and 3% + $0.25 processing fee together came to $3.85 on the $35 order in the example, about 11% of the order. The exact share depends on the price, shipping and tax of each order.
Does Etsy charge fees on shipping?
Yes. The transaction fee applies to the shipping you charge, and the payment processing fee applies to the whole order including shipping and tax.
Do I pay the transaction fee on sales tax?
Not as a US seller: Etsy states the transaction fee does not apply to sales tax for sellers in the United States. The payment processing fee does include tax.
Can I avoid the Offsite Ads fee?
Shops with less than $10,000 in sales over the previous 365 days can opt out. Above that threshold, participation is required and the rate is 12%.
Is profit the same as the money Etsy deposits?
No. Deposits are sales minus Etsy’s fees; profit also subtracts your materials, packaging, postage and other costs.