Etsy fee calculator
Etsy has the lowest headline rate of the five and is not the cheapest, because the headline rate is three fees short of the answer. The 6.5% transaction fee is charged on the item price plus the shipping you collect. Under it sits 3% plus $0.25 payment processing, and under that a $0.20 listing fee charged when you list and again every four months whether the item sells or not. Then there is Offsite Ads, which is 15%, becomes 12% and mandatory once your shop passes $10,000 in a rolling year, and cannot be switched off after that for the life of the shop.
Rates read from Etsy's own fee page on 2026-08-18. Etsy publishes no effective date, so that is the day this was checked rather than the day the rates began. US sellers only.
Your sale
Remitted by the marketplace, never paid to you. It still counts toward the fee on some platforms.
Etsy keeps $5.01
12.5% of the item price
| Selling fee6.5% of the item price plus shipping | $3.12 |
|---|---|
| Payment processing3.0% of the item price plus shipping plus $0.25 | $1.69 |
| Listing feeCharged when you list, and again every four months whether it sells or not | $0.20 |
- Paid out to you
- $42.99
- Profit after your costs
- $24.49
The same sale on all five platforms
Your numbers, run through every fee schedule. eBay is modelled as apparel with no Store and good standing; its full model has more levers than that.
| Platform | Fees | Payout | Profit | Charged on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Depop | $2.13 | $45.87 | $27.37 | the item price only |
| Mercari | $4.80 | $43.20 | $24.70 | the item price plus shipping |
| Etsy | $5.01 | $42.99 | $24.49 | the item price plus shipping |
| eBay | $7.34 | $40.66 | $22.16 | the item price plus shipping plus sales tax |
| Poshmark | $8.00 | $40.00 | $21.50 | the item price only |
On these numbers Depop pays the most, $45.87, and Poshmark pays the least, $40.00. That spread is $5.87 on one item. Where an item sells fastest still matters more than where it nets a dollar more.
What each platform actually charges on
Headline rates are not comparable, because the five platforms charge them on five different bases. This is the part that decides who is really cheapest.
- eBay, 13.6% on the item price plus shipping plus sales tax
- The fee is charged on sales tax as well as shipping, so eBay takes a cut of money you never touch.
- Poshmark, 20% on the item price only
- 20% is the highest headline rate of the five, but it is charged on the item price alone and there is no processing fee under it. Below $15 the flat $2.95 is worse than 20% would have been: on a $10 sale it is 29.5%.
- Mercari, 10% on the item price plus shipping
- Mercari ran a zero-seller-fee experiment and ended it on 2025-01-06. The 10% now applies to buyer-paid shipping too, and the old 2.9% + $0.50 processing fee is gone rather than hidden.
- Depop, no selling fee for US sellers
- There is no selling fee for US sellers, which makes Depop look free and it nearly is. The cost moved to the buyer: up to 5% plus up to $1 at checkout. Boosting a listing costs 12%, which is more than most platforms charge to sell at all.
- Etsy, 6.5% on the item price plus shipping
- The 6.5% is the smallest headline rate here and it is not the whole cost: add 3% + $0.25 processing and $0.20 a listing, charged again every four months whether it sells or not. Pass $10,000 in a rolling year and Offsite Ads become mandatory at 12%, with no opt-out for the life of the shop.
The fee no schedule prints is the item that comes back
A return on used clothing costs you both shipping legs, the refund and the sale, which is larger than the gap between any two platforms on this page. Most of those returns are condition disputes: the buyer expected one thing and opened another. A standardized grade sets that expectation before they buy, and documents what you described if they argue after.
You compared five platforms. You can list on all of them
The spread between the best and worst platform on one item is real money, and the answer changes item by item. FlipDesk builds the listing once and publishes it to eBay and Shopify by API, and to Poshmark, Mercari and Grailed through the browser extension.
Common questions
- How much does Etsy take from a sale?
- For a US seller: 6.5% of the item price plus shipping, plus 3% and $0.25 for payment processing, plus $0.20 for the listing. On a $40 item with $8 shipping that is $5.01 in total, or 12.5% of the item price. The 6.5% on its own would have been $3.12.
- What are Etsy Offsite Ads and can I turn them off?
- Etsy advertises your listings on Google, social platforms and partner sites, and charges you when a buyer clicks one and buys within 30 days. The fee is 15% if your shop has always made under $10,000 in a rolling 365-day period, and you can opt out. Once the shop passes $10,000 the rate drops to 12% and participation becomes mandatory for the lifetime of the shop, even if sales fall back below the threshold.
- Does Etsy charge a fee on shipping?
- Yes. The 6.5% transaction fee applies to the total order, which includes any shipping and gift wrap you charge the buyer. Offering free shipping does not avoid it, because the cost is inside the item price instead, and Etsy charges on that too.
- Is Etsy worth it for reselling used clothing?
- Etsy's rules require handmade, vintage over 20 years old, or craft supplies, so ordinary used clothing does not belong there at all. Genuine vintage does, and it is one of the better places for it. If your inventory is mostly recent secondhand, the fee comparison is beside the point: check the category rules first.
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