A Guide to Etsy Fees and Pricing Structure in 2023

One of the trickiest parts of starting and running a store on an e-commerce marketplace like Etsy is understanding Etsy fees and pricing structure. With all the different fees and payment models, it can be confusing to know what costs you can expect to incur when selling on the platform.

The good news is that Etsy makes it fairly easy to understand how their fees and payment processes work so you can plan your budget and pricing accordingly. Let’s take a look at Etsy’s fees and prices to help you navigate the platform and make sure you get the best bang for your buck with every transaction you make!

Etsy Listing Fees

While creating an account and starting your own store on Etsy is 100% free, you’ll have to pay for every product listing you make. The listing fee is basically a fee to “rent” space on their marketplace.

How Etsy’s Listing Fees Work

The listing fee for every item costs $0.20. You pay this fee upfront when you are creating the listing and is good for four months or until the item sells, whichever comes first. If your item, for example, has multiple variations like sizes and colors, you’ll only be charged once for the listing and all of the variations are included in that single fee.

After paying the $0.20, Etsy doesn’t charge you for editing your listing, adding additional photos or videos, or revising your product description.

How to Renew or Delete a Listing on Etsy

Now, let’s say you have a product that has been sitting in your store for four months and hasn’t sold. You can decide to either renew the listing or delete it from your store. The latter won’t cost you anything and you’ll still be able to re-list the item later if you like.

In case you want to renew the listing for another four months, you just simply go to your Shop Manager, tap Listings, and click on the Renew button once you’ve located the item you’d like to renew. If you still have an inventory of the product and you want to keep the listing on your store for as long as possible, you can also set your listing’s renewal option to “Automatic”. This would automatically charge your payment account $0.20 for the said product listing every four months.

Some Tips for Maximizing Your Etsy Listings’ Visibility

Of course, you’d want to make the most out of every cent you spend on Etsy’s listing fees. To ensure you get the most out of your listings, here are some tips to stand out and maximize their visibility:

Optimize Your Listings’ Titles, Tags, and Product Descriptions

SEO will always be your best friend when it comes to making sure your product listings appear first on shoppers’ search results. To make the most out of your listing fees, be sure to use the most relevant keywords possible when titling your products, adding tags, and writing product descriptions. This doesn’t mean, however, that you should sacrifice creativity for optimization. Find a balance between the two when writing titles and descriptions that appeal to customers while also helping your product pages rank higher in search results.

Use Eye-Catching Visuals

Given that you’re selling online, your customers only get to see and feel the product through photos. This is why visuals should always be a priority when selling on Etsy. If you can, invest in a good camera or hire a professional photographer to capture your products in their best light. Make sure that you also use lifestyle photos and if possible, create short videos too.

You can also purchase mockups on Etsy, or use platforms like Placeit. Read about our Top 6 Mockup Generators to find other websites where you can create mockups.

Establish Your Brand’s Presence and Personality

Before you even list your very first product on Etsy, make sure that you clearly define your brand’s identity on all of your product pages. You showcase your brand’s presence and personality in your color palettes, the way you take photos, write product descriptions, respond to customers, and interact with your followers on social media. Doing these things can help potential customers remember your brand and recognize it quickly when they see it in search results.

Maximize Etsy Ads

Etsy offers offsite and onsite ads to its sellers (we’ll discuss these in greater detail later). This is another great way to put your products in front of shoppers looking for items that are just like yours. While these ads also come with a fee, it’s still worth considering because of the potential sales you can generate from them.

For a more detailed guide on how you can stand out on Etsy, check out this blog.

Etsy Transaction Fees

If your listing fee is somehow the cost of entry for your products on Etsy, transaction fees are the cost of actually doing business. Etsy charges this fee every time you make a successful sale. Etsy calculates it through a combination of the platform’s fixed flat rate fee plus additional costs such as gift wrapping and currency conversion.

How Etsy Calculates Transaction Fees

Etsy charges 6.5% for every successful transaction, plus the cost of shipping and gift wrapping fees if applicable. This percentage is then multiplied by the total cost of the order and then added to your payment account’s balance, which you can check out in your Payment Account Settings.

In addition to these fees, currency conversion fees may also apply if you receive payments in a different currency other than your own. In this case, you’d have to pay an additional 2.5% in foreign exchange fees.

Ultimately, you should keep these transaction fees in mind when setting the prices for your products. That way, you can make sure that you’re still able to make a decent profit despite these costs.

How to Offer Discounts and Coupons on Etsy

There are two types of discounts and coupons on Etsy: those offered by the platform itself, and those offered by sellers.

Etsy offers different kinds of discounts that you can find on their website, like percentage-off discounts, free shipping discounts, and so on. These discounts are mostly seasonal offers that have specific rules, like minimum purchase requirements and limits. When a shopper uses such coupons, Etsy will cover the cost of the discount and you’ll be charged the same transaction fee as an ordinary sale.

On the other hand, sellers can also offer their own discounts through coupon codes. This way, you’ll have more control over the terms of your offers, like the minimum purchase required, the duration of the offer, and even if both domestic and international buyers can use it. However, you’ll have to cover the cost of the discount yourself and Etsy will still charge the transaction fee. Some of the promos you can create are the following:

• Free Standard Shipping
• Percentage Off of Your Purchase
• Fixed Amount Off of the Product’s Price
• Sale (whether on multiple or a single item)

While these promotions would surely entice shoppers, you should still make sure that they’re profitable for your business. Otherwise, you may end up with less profit or even no sales at all. Thus, be sure to calculate how much you’ll actually be making after the discounts.

How to Handle Returns and Exchanges on Etsy

The great thing about Etsy is that buyers are free to create their own returns and exchange policies, whether for a single item or for all products. This allows sellers to set their own rules for these matters, depending on the nature of the business and its products.

To set your own return and exchange policy, just go to your Shop Manager > Settings > Policy Settings > Returns and Exchanges > Create Policy. You’ll be asked to provide the details of your policy such as fees, the number of days for eligible returns and exchanges, and so on. Once you’re done, just hit “Save and Apply” then “Publish”, and the policy will be applied to all of your listings.

However, if you don’t really have specific rules that you wish to apply, you can also just select Etsy’s default policy. This simple return policy entails the following:

• The buy must return the item within 30 days of delivery.
• The buyer is responsible for return shipping costs.
• If the item is not returned in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for any loss in value.
• All items are subject to the said return and exchange policy.

To set this policy, just go to your listing editor and click “Apply Simple Policy”, then publish the listing.

If you sell on Etsy using print-on-demand, be sure to check out your print provider’s Return Policy to guide your shop’s policies. You can find Awkward Styles’ return policy here.

Etsy Payment Processing Fees

Apart from the transaction and listing fees, Etsy also charges payment processing fees. This fee covers the cost of processing payments from buyers and transferring them to your bank account. Payment processing fees apply to all transactions where you use Etsy Payments and may vary depending on your location.

What is Etsy Payments?

Etsy Payments is the platform’s main payment processor, allowing buyers to use major credit cards and other payment methods such as Apple Pay and PayPal. The payment processing fees vary depending on the location of the seller, but in general, it’s 2-3% of the total cost plus $0.25 for each transaction. With Etsy Payments, the seller won’t have to create multiple accounts to be able to cater to different payment methods as it covers almost all of them.

How Etsy Calculates Payment Processing Fees

As mentioned, the payment processing fee is charged every time a shopper purchases an item and makes use of Etsy Payments. The fee is calculated based on the total sale cost and will vary depending on the buyer’s location. In the US, the standard payment processing fee is 3% plus $0.25 for every transaction.

If you’re selling from a different country or region, you may check out the table on this page to be aware of the applicable payment processing fees.

How to Offer Multiple Payment Options

With Etsy Payments, you don’t have to worry about creating an account for different payment processors as it accepts almost all types of major credit cards and online payment methods. As such, you can just concentrate on offering multiple payment options to shoppers.

To do this, simply enroll your account in Etsy Payments by clicking this link (while logged in) or by going to Shop Manager > Finances > Payment Settings, and filling out the necessary information. After that, make sure to activate or confirm all payment methods that you wish to offer.

How to Handle Refunds and Chargebacks

If you and your buyer have agreed on a refund, then you should be able to do so directly from your Shop Manager dashboard. Just go to Orders & Shipping > Issue a Refund, then fill out and submit the refund form. The amount to be refunded will be automatically charged to your payment account.

Now, let’s say a buyer wants to dispute a charge or file for a chargeback. This means that the buyer believes that he or she has been charged for something wrongfully and would like to dispute the amount deducted from their account. In the event of a chargeback, the customer’s bank or chosen third-party payment processor will review the dispute and contact the platform. Etsy will then notify you of the chargeback and may ask you to provide additional information to support your case. Once a decision is made, the amount disputed will either be refunded or charged back to you.

Shipping Fees

Luckily, Etsy makes it convenient for sellers to set their shipping fees with Calculated Shipping. With this feature, sellers don’t have to manually compute the cost of shipping and can easily set their fees based on their chosen shipping carrier’s rates.

How Etsy Calculates Shipping Fees

To use Etsy’s Calculated Shipping, you just need to set up your shipping profiles and indicate your preferred carriers. When buyers check out, they will be able to see the applicable shipping fees based on their location and chosen carrier. The cost, of course, would depend on different factors such as the dimensions and weight of the item, shipping distance, and whether or not you’re offering express delivery.

If you use a print-on-demand provider, we provide the shipping profiles. Awkward Styles provides a dropdown menu when you upload a product from your dashboard.

How to Offer Free Shipping on Etsy

Etsy offers three different strategies for shops that would like to offer free shipping. The first is by simply pricing the shipping cost into the item’s price. The second is by using the free shipping guarantee option which automatically applies the free shipping discount to orders or single-item purchases amounting to $35 and up. Lastly, you may also use Etsy’s Smart Pricing tool. This would allow you to tailor your prices with the help of Etsy’s pricing guide, allowing you to factor in shipping costs and other expenses that affect the total cost of an item.

If you do not wish to offer the automatic free shipping discount on purchases amounting to $35+, make sure to check your store settings and turn it off before you make any sales.

How to Handle International Shipping as an Etsy seller

Now, this is the tricky part. International shipping comes with a whole slew of considerations from customs regulations to taxes and duties imposed by the recipient’s country. Before you can even start international shipping, you need to be familiar with the different regulations and restrictions imposed by both your country of origin and the recipient’s country. The costs would also differ based on the item’s weight and size, shipping distance, and carrier.

As of now, Etsy supports three international shipping methods: USPS Priority Mail Express International, USPS Priority Mail International, and USPS First Class International Package Service. You may check out USPS’s website to get more information about the costs and certain restrictions or limitations set by each method in the country you’re shipping to.

Shipping Fees on Etsy for Print on Demand

If you’re working with a print on demand partner like Awkward Styles, the shipping fees for every order should be automatically calculated once you integrate your POD shop with your Etsy account. However, you can also manually set up your shipping fees if you plan on offering additional services or discounts your POD platform doesn’t offer.

Etsy Advertising Fees

As mentioned earlier, one of the ways to increase visibility on Etsy is by running ads. Ad campaigns give you the chance to target potential buyers based on their interests and shopping behavior. However, there are fees associated with running ads on Etsy, depending on the budget you set and which type of ad you choose.

How Etsy Calculates Advertising Fees

There are two types of ads you can run on Etsy: the onsite promoted listing and the offsite paid ad. For the onsite ads, you are free to set your daily budget and you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. The cost per click will depend on different factors such as the competition of the keyword you used, the quality of your ad, and the relevance of your listing. You can start running an ad campaign for as low as $1 up to $25 daily. Etsy recalculates your daily ad budget every week to help you decide and adjust accordingly.

As for the offsite ads, you only pay when you make a sale. Etsy requires stores that made beyond $10,000 in the past year to join the offsite ads program. Meanwhile, joining the offsite ads campaign is optional for those that made less than the said amount in the past year. Etsy will be the one choosing the listings and platforms to advertise on and will charge you a 12% to 15% fee of the total order amount for every successful conversion.

How to Use Promoted Listings and/or Etsy Ads

For the offsite ads campaign, you don’t have to do anything as Etsy handles the whole advertising process for you. On the other hand, if you want to use promoted listings or onsite Etsy ads, all you have to do is go to your Shop Manager > Marketing > Etsy Ads, set your daily budget, and click “Start Advertising”.

Wrapping Up

And that’s a wrap! You should now have a better understanding of how to set up your pricing, shipping fees, and other related costs on Etsy. By being aware of all the costs associated with selling on Etsy, you can ensure that your business remains profitable and sustainable. With proper budgeting and a reliable print on demand partner like Awkward Styles, you’ll definitely reach your #moneygoals in no time!

Sign up for your free account and choose from over 150 customizable print-on-demand products.

*Etsy is a trademark of Etsy, Inc. This content is not created or endorsed by Etsy, Inc.

FAQs About Etsy Fees and Pricing Structure

How Do Etsy’s Listing Fees Work?

The listing fee for every item costs $0.20. You pay this fee upfront when you are creating the listing and is good for four months or until the item sells, whichever comes first. If your item, for example, has multiple variations like sizes and colors, you’ll only be charged once for the listing and all of the variations are included in that single fee.

How to Renew or Delete a Listing on Etsy?

You can renew or delete an Etsy listing by clicking “Renew” or “Delete” on the listing under your Shop Manager.