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    May 28, 2026
    Are Etsy Fees Killing Your Profit?

    If you’re selling digital downloads on Etsy, you might think you can almost give them away for free, since you have no material costs.

    However, there are flat fees that Etsy charges that can seriously eat into your profits if you are pricing too low.

    Let me demonstrate this with the table and chart below.

    For example, if you sell your product for $1, you will actually pay more in fees to Etsy than you will make in profit!


    Etsy fees table for products from $1 to $7

    Etsy fees and your profit and profit margin at various price points. I’ve also included break-even ROAS (return on ad spend) as a handy reference when running Etsy ads.


    Although I do recommend pricing on the low-mid side while establishing your shop, it makes a lot of financial sense to raise your prices (and value) over time, to benefit from larger profit margins.

    The extra breathing room you have with larger profit margins means you can afford Etsy ads, and for most successful shops I do recommend this. They have helped my shop scale to 30k+ sales in 3 years.

    Profit margins for most of my digital products are around 80%. I also spend about 20% on Etsy ads, which leaves me with a comfortable 60% profit overall.

    I get these numbers from ProfitTree*. It has a dashboard that allows you to track your profits daily, instead of waiting for Etsy’s summary at the end of the month. I keep an eye on this and, if I need to, I make adjustments to my ads to keep the spend below my 20% target.


    Donut chart of revenue split into segments for fees, ads and profitBreakdown of my revenue. Approximately 60% profit, 20% fees, 20% ads. Chart from ProfitTree*.


    This was just a quick look at Etsy fees and for simplicity I’ve only included fees for US sellers here.

    If you are selling from a different country you can download my free Etsy Fee Calculator spreadsheet. It takes into account fees like VAT and regulatory operating fees, and includes international currency conversion.

    Break even ROAS?

    More of an advanced topic, but if you’re running Etsy ads you need to know your break-even ROAS (return on ad spend).

    To make life easier for you, I’ve included it in the table above. Again, this is only for US digital product sellers. Physical product sellers have other costs that affect the break-even ROAS, and international sellers may have additional fees.

    To learn more about running Etsy ads, I have another post you might like to read: Are Etsy Ads Worth It for New Shops?



    * This post contains affiliate links. If you choose to sign up through my link I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

    I only have affiliate links for tools I have personally used and found helpful.

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