You sold something. The buyer paid one amount, Etsy sent you a smaller amount, and the gap feels like a mystery. It is not one fee. It is several small fees, each charged a different way, on a different part of the sale.
This guide names every Etsy fee in 2026, says what each one is charged on, and walks a real $30 sale through every line.
The full fee table
| Fee | How much | Charged on | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listing fee | $0.20 | Each listing, and each extra quantity sold | When you list, again every 4 months, and when a multi-quantity sale sells more |
| Transaction fee | 6.5% | Item price + shipping you charged + gift wrap. Not on sales tax | Every sale |
| Payment processing fee | US: 3% + $0.25. Other countries differ — see the table below in words | The full order total, including sales tax | Every order, once per order |
| Regulatory operating fee | US: 0%. UK: 0.48%. France: 1.14%. Other countries differ | Item price + shipping you charged | Every sale, in the countries that have it |
| Offsite Ads fee | 15% if your shop took under $10,000 in the last 365 days, 12% if you took $10,000 or more. Capped at $100 per order | The order total including shipping | Only when a buyer clicked an ad in the 30 days before buying |
| Currency conversion fee | 2.5% | The money being converted | When your listing currency is different from your payout currency |
| VAT on fees | For example, UK: 20% on the fees themselves | Etsy's transaction, listing, regulatory and ads fees | If you are not VAT-registered in the UK or EU |
| Etsy Ads (the on-site ads) | A daily budget you choose | Your chosen budget | Only if you turn them on. Not a percentage |
Payment processing is not the same everywhere. For example, the UK is 4% + £0.20, the Eurozone is 4% + €0.30, Canada is 3% + C$0.25, and Australia is 3% + A$0.25. The shape is always the same: a percentage plus a small fixed amount, once per order.
Why the fees feel hidden
No single fee is large. The problem is that they stack, and they are charged on different amounts. The transaction fee is charged on price plus shipping. Payment processing is charged on everything, including sales tax. If an Offsite Ad brought the buyer, another fee lands on top. Each fee uses a different starting number, so you cannot just add the percentages in your head.
That is why a friend who says "Etsy takes about 10%" is sometimes right and sometimes wrong. On a cheap item, fixed fees bite harder. On a large item, they spread thinner.
A $30 sale, walked through every line
Say you are in the US. You sell a candle for $30. You charge the buyer $5 for shipping. There is no sales tax on this order.
The buyer paid $35 in total.
- Transaction fee: 6.5% of $35 — that is the $30 item plus the $5 shipping — is $2.28.
- Payment processing: 3% of $35 is $1.05, plus the fixed $0.25, is $1.30.
- Listing fee: $0.20 for this sale.
- Regulatory operating fee: $0 in the US.
Add them up: $2.28 + $1.30 + $0.20 = $3.78. Etsy takes $3.78 of the $35 the buyer paid. You receive $31.22 before your own costs.
Now take out what the candle cost you to make. Say the materials cost $2.50. $31.22 − $2.50 = $28.72. That $28.72 is what you actually kept, before packaging, your time, and any other costs you paid yourself.
Notice what did not happen here. There was no Offsite Ads fee, because this buyer did not come through an ad. There was no currency conversion, because the listing and payout were in the same currency. Change either of those, and the kept amount drops again.
The two traps most makers miss
First, shipping is not free money. If you charge $5 for shipping, Etsy charges its transaction fee and, in many countries, its regulatory fee on that $5 too, and payment processing on the whole order. Charging for shipping adds a little fee on top of the shipping cost itself.
Second, free shipping does not remove the fees. If you fold shipping into the price, the fees are charged on the higher price instead. Either way, the same pot of money is being charged. What matters is the total the buyer pays, not how you label the parts.
How to check your own sale
Pick one recent order. Work the transaction fee on price plus shipping plus any gift wrap. Work payment processing on the full total including tax. Add the 20-cent listing fee, and a regulatory fee if your country has one. Take that total, and your materials cost, away from what the buyer paid. The number left is what you kept.
If that number surprises you, you are not bad at math. The fees are charged in a way that makes the kept number hard to see without writing every line down.
If you want that math done for you before you set a price, the free pricing calculator on mykeptmoney.com lets you enter a price and your costs and see what you would keep on an ordinary sale and on an ad sale.