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How to calculate your Etsy profit per item

Your Etsy sales total is not your profit, and neither is your deposit. To know whether a product is worth making, you need to take each sale, remove Etsy’s fees and your own costs, and see what is left. Here is a simple method and a worked example using Etsy’s published US rates.

Step 1: Start with what you charged, not what the buyer paid

Use the item price plus the shipping you charged. Leave out sales tax or VAT that Etsy collected from the buyer: it passes through to the tax authority and is not your income. Source: Etsy Help: What are the Fees and Taxes for Selling on Etsy?.

Step 2: Subtract Etsy’s per-sale fees

• Listing fee: $0.20 per listing (and $0.20 for each extra quantity sold in one order).
• Transaction fee: 6.5% of the item price plus shipping and gift wrap.
• Payment processing fee: 3% + $0.25 for US bank accounts, on the order total including sales tax (other countries).
• Offsite Ads fee, only on orders that came from one: 15% or 12% of the order total, capped at $100 (details).

Sources: Etsy Help: What are the Fees and Taxes for Selling on Etsy? and Etsy Help: What are Payment Processing Fees for Selling on Etsy?.

Step 3: Subtract your own costs for that item

Materials, packaging, the postage you actually paid (which may differ from the shipping you charged), and any per-item share of other costs you want to include, such as Etsy Ads spend or equipment. Be consistent about what you include so products compare fairly.

Worked example

A US buyer pays $30.00 for a print plus $6.00 shipping, and Etsy collects $2.40 sales tax.

• You charged: $30.00 + $6.00 = $36.00 (the $2.40 tax is not yours).
• Listing fee: $0.20
• Transaction fee: 6.5% × $36.00 = $2.34
• Processing fee: 3% × $38.40 + $0.25 = $1.40
• Etsy fees total: $3.94 (about 10.9% of $36.00)
• Your costs: materials $8.00, packaging $1.00, postage label $5.50 = $14.50
• Profit: $36.00 − $3.94 − $14.50 = $17.56, a margin of about 48.8%.

If the same order came through an Offsite Ad at 15%, add 15% × $36.00 = $5.40 in fees. Profit drops to $12.16, about 33.8%. (Illustration only, using Etsy’s published US rates.)

Watch the low-priced items

The $0.20 listing fee and the $0.25 processing flat fee are the same on a $5 item as on a $50 item, so cheap items lose a bigger share to fees. Running the numbers per item is often the first time sellers notice a product that barely breaks even.

This is profit before income tax

The figure above is a simple pre-tax profit per sale for pricing decisions. How income tax, self-employment tax or deductions apply to you depends on your situation, so talk to an accountant or tax professional for that part.

Do it for every product at once

Doing this by hand for every order is slow. PayoutPeek reads your Etsy monthly statement CSV in your browser, matches each fee to its order, and once you enter your cost per product it shows profit per product for the month. Try it with the sample statement.

Try the calculator: our free Etsy fee & profit calculator does this worked example for any item, or finds the price for a target margin.

Common questions

How do I calculate profit on an Etsy sale?

Take the item price plus the shipping you charged, leave out sales tax, subtract Etsy’s listing, transaction and processing fees (and any Offsite Ads fee), then subtract your materials, packaging and actual postage.

What percentage does Etsy take from a sale?

For a typical US order without ads, the listing, 6.5% transaction and 3% + $0.25 processing fees usually come to roughly 10% to 13% of the order, more on low-priced items. An Offsite Ads order adds 12% to 15%.

Should sales tax be included in my Etsy revenue?

Where Etsy collects sales tax as the marketplace, it is collected from the buyer and sent to the tax authority, so it is generally left out of what you earned. For your own tax reporting, ask an accountant.

Sources

• Etsy Help: What are Payment Processing Fees for Selling on Etsy?
• Etsy Help: What are the Fees and Taxes for Selling on Etsy?

PayoutPeek is not affiliated with Etsy. This page summarizes Etsy’s published policies for general information; it is not tax, legal or accounting advice. Fees and rules change, so Etsy’s linked pages are the authority. Last checked October 21, 2026.