Choosing a channel
What Etsy actually takes from a jewelry sale
Updated September 2026
Etsy takes about 9.5% of a typical jewelry sale once every fee lands, and about 16% when an Offsite Ad touches it. Here is each fee from Etsy’s own policy pages and the math on a $1,500 piece.
The fees, one by one
- Listing: $0.20 per item, renewing every four months whether it sells or not.
- Transaction: 6.5% of the price, including what you charge for shipping and gift wrap.
- Payment processing (US): 3% plus $0.25, charged on the full total including sales tax.
- Offsite Ads: 15% of any sale an ad touched, dropping to 12% once your shop passes $10,000 in a trailing year. Passing that line also makes participation permanent: below it you can opt out, above it you never can again. The fee caps at $100 per order.
- Set-up: a one-time shop set-up fee, amount varying by region.
On a $1,500 piece
| Fee | Organic sale | Offsite Ad sale |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction, 6.5% | $97.50 | $97.50 |
| Processing, 3% + $0.25 | $45.25 | $45.25 |
| Listing | $0.20 | $0.20 |
| Offsite Ad, 12% capped at $100 | — | $100.00 |
| Total | $142.95 · 9.5% | $242.95 · 16.2% |
Sales tax nudges the processing line a little higher, since Etsy processes the gross. Charge for shipping and the 6.5% applies to that too.
What the money buys
The largest handmade-buyer audience anywhere, a checkout buyers trust, case handling when something goes wrong, and US sales tax collected and remitted for you. That bundle is genuinely hard to replace under $500, where most of Etsy’s jewelry market lives.
What it does not buy is the buyer. Etsy passes you what you need to ship the order and keeps the relationship, so a collector who loves your work returns through Etsy’s search, not your inbox. If that trade has stopped working for you, the field is mapped in Etsy alternatives for jewelers and the direct comparison in 1000 Jewellers vs Etsy.
We run 1000 Jewellers, a $49-a-month listing that takes nothing from the sale, so we have a stake here. The numbers above come from Etsy’s policies all the same; check them below.