If you sell on Etsy, you've probably had this moment: an item sells for $20, the buyer pays, and your deposit is… noticeably less than you expected. Etsy's fee stack isn't complicated, but it's easy to miscalculate because several fees are conditional.
I built a small, fully transparent calculator (CraftFee) so sellers can see the exact breakdown instead of guessing. Here's what building it taught me about where the money actually goes — and the three fees sellers most often forget.
The Etsy fee stack (2026)
- Listing fee: $0.20 per item listed.
- Transaction fee: 6.5% of the item price (plus shipping if you charge for it).
- Payment processing fee: 3% + $0.25 (US rate; varies by country).
- Offsite Ads: 12% — but only if your shop is under $10k in trailing-12-month sales and Etsy brought the buyer through its own Google/Facebook ads. Over $10k it's 15% and mandatory.
- Regulatory operating fee: a small percentage Etsy adds in certain regions (e.g. some US states, the UK), shown separately at checkout.
The three fees sellers forget
- Offsite Ads. Many sellers only realize they were charged 12% when the deposit arrives. It's easy to miss because it's triggered by where the buyer came from, not by anything you clicked.
- Regulatory operating fees. These are tiny per order but add up, and they're the easiest line item to overlook in a screenshot.
- The payment fee on shipping. The 3% + $0.25 applies to the shipping you charge too, not just the item.
What I learned building it
The hardest part wasn't the math — it was being honest about the edge cases. A calculator that hides Offsite Ads or assumes a single country's payment rate quietly lies to the seller. So the tool shows every line, lets you toggle Offsite Ads on/off, and uses the rates Etsy actually publishes.
If you want to check your own numbers, the calculator is free and needs no signup: https://craftfee.com
I'm curious how other builders handle conditional fees like this — did you hardcode regional rates, or fetch them? Happy to compare notes in the comments.
Top comments (1)
“Sold for $20” and “received $20” are very different things 😅 Showing every fee separately is a great idea. Much better to see the full picture before setting a price than get a surprise after the sale!