Etsy is a marketplace, and a busy one. That is what you pay for: buyers who would never find a small maker on their own find you there. The fees are how Etsy charges for it, and there are more of them than most sellers add up. Here is every fee a UK seller pays in 2026, from Etsy's own fee policy (last updated 5 October 2026) and its help pages, read on 15 October 2026.
Some fees are in US dollars and some in pounds, because that is how Etsy states them.
The fees on every sale
Listing fee: 0.20 USD per item. You pay it when you list, whether or not the item sells. A listing lasts four months and renews automatically at 0.20 USD unless you turn renewal off, and a listing with more than one in stock is charged again after each sale.
Transaction fee: 6.5%. Taken from the price shown on the listing plus whatever you charge for delivery and gift wrapping. Postage is not exempt.
Payment processing: 4% + £0.20 per order, for a seller whose bank account is in the UK. It is worked out on the total the buyer pays, postage included.
Regulatory operating fee: 0.48% of the item price plus postage and gift wrap, for UK shops.
Offsite Ads
Etsy advertises listings on other sites, Google and social media among them, and when a sale comes through one of those ads it charges an Offsite Ads fee: 15% of the order, capped at 100 USD per order.
You can opt out, but only while your shop is small. Once a shop has made 10,000 USD in sales in the previous 365 days, the fee drops to 12% and taking part becomes compulsory, for the life of the shop. A shop that grows past the line cannot step back out of it.
The smaller ones
- Currency conversion: 2.5% of the sale if you list in a currency other than the one you are paid out in.
- A set-up fee for new shops. Etsy's policy says there is one and shows the amount at sign-up, but doesn't state it, so we won't guess.
- Etsy Plus: 10 USD a month, optional.
- Pattern: 15 USD a month after a 30-day free trial, optional. This is Etsy's own website add-on.
All of Etsy's fees are stated before VAT, and Etsy says UK sellers may be charged VAT on them.
What a sale actually costs
Take a £40 item with £4 postage, sold to a buyer in the UK. The order is £44.
| Fee | Worked out | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction fee | 6.5% of £44 | £2.86 |
| Payment processing | 4% of £44, plus £0.20 | £1.96 |
| Regulatory operating fee | 0.48% of £44 | £0.21 |
| Total | about £5.03 |
That is 11.4% of the order, before the 0.20 USD listing fee, and before any Offsite Ads fee. If the buyer came through an Etsy ad, add 15% of £44, which is another £6.60, and the fees on that one order come to about £11.63.
Every sale pays the first three. The ads line depends on how the buyer arrived, which you don't choose.
What the fees buy, and what they don't
The fees buy reach. Etsy's search puts a small shop in front of people looking for exactly that kind of thing, and that is worth paying for: it is why most sellers who grumble about the fees stay.
What the fees don't buy is a place of your own. Your shop sits in Etsy's marketplace beside everyone else's, your reviews and sales history belong to that shop, and a buyer who loved what you made searches Etsy for it next time, where your competitors are a scroll away.
A shop of your own, beside Etsy
The answer most sellers reach is not to leave, it's to add. Keep Etsy for being found, and give the people who come back, and the people who search for you by name, somewhere of your own to buy.
A website with a shop costs a flat price instead of a fee per sale. Bernard's is £400 a year for the site and the shop together, and takes 0% of your sales: buyers pay through your own Stripe account at Stripe's own card rate, and the people who buy are on your own contact list. We bring your listings across for you, and your Etsy shop carries on untouched.
To be fair about the numbers: if you sell only a little, Etsy's fees add up to less than £400 a year, and Etsy is the cheaper place to sell. A shop of your own pays off as more of your buyers come back to you directly. If you'd like a person to look at your shop and tell you honestly what a site beside it would look like, tell us your Etsy shop.
Questions people ask
- How much are Etsy fees for UK sellers?
- From Etsy's own fee policy, read on 15 October 2026: 0.20 USD to list each item, a 6.5% transaction fee on the item price plus delivery and gift wrap, payment processing of 4% + £0.20 per order for a UK bank account, and a regulatory operating fee of 0.48% of the item price plus postage. Offsite Ads add 15% to any order they bring in. All of these are charged before VAT.
- How much does Etsy take from a £40 sale?
- On a £40 item with £4 postage, the transaction fee is £2.86, payment processing £1.96 and the regulatory operating fee about £0.21, so about £5.03 in all, or 11.4% of the £44 order. That is before the 0.20 USD listing fee and before any Offsite Ads fee, which would add a further 15%, £6.60, if the order came through an Etsy ad.
- What is the Etsy listing fee?
- 0.20 USD for each item you list, charged whether or not it sells. A listing lasts four months and renews automatically unless you turn that off, at 0.20 USD each time, and a listing with more than one in stock is charged again after each sale.
- Can I opt out of Etsy Offsite Ads?
- Only while your shop is under 10,000 USD in sales over the previous 365 days. Below that, the fee is 15% of an attributed order and you can opt out. Once you pass it, the fee drops to 12% but taking part becomes compulsory for the life of the shop. Either way the fee is capped at 100 USD per order.
- Do UK sellers pay VAT on Etsy fees?
- Etsy's fees are stated before VAT, and Etsy says UK sellers may be charged VAT on them. Whether you can reclaim it depends on your own VAT position.
- Is it cheaper to sell from my own website?
- It depends how much you sell, and it is not either-or. Etsy brings buyers who would never find a small shop on their own, so most sellers keep their Etsy shop. A website of your own costs a flat price instead of a fee on each sale: Bernard's is £400 a year for the site and the shop together, and takes 0% of your sales. If you sell only a little, Etsy's fees add up to less than that. A shop of your own pays off as more of your buyers come back to you directly.