Last verified: October 29, 2026
Etsy charges 15% on any order that comes from one of its Offsite Ads, or 12% for shops that have reached $10,000 in sales within any 365 days, capped at $100 per order. Shops under that threshold can opt out. Above it, participation is required for the lifetime of the shop.
If your shop has never reached $10,000 in sales within any consecutive 365 days, you can opt out in Shop Manager under Settings > Offsite Ads. Once your shop reaches that level, Etsy requires participation for the lifetime of the shop, and the fee drops to 12%.
The fee is a percentage of the sale, not of your profit, so it hurts thin margins the most. Three example products, each sold through an ad at 15%:
| Product | Sale price | Profit before the ad | Offsite Ads fee (15%) | Profit after the ad |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30.00 | $14.90 | $4.50 | $10.40 | |
| Mug | $20.00 | $6.00 | $3.00 | $3.00 |
| Keychain | $12.00 | $2.50 | $1.80 | $0.70 |
The rule that falls out of this: an ad order is only worth having if your profit before the ad is higher than the fee. At 15% that means more than 15% of the sale price. At 12% it is 12%. If a product earns less than that, every ad-driven sale loses money.
Because the fee applies only to ad-driven orders, the effect on your whole shop depends on how many there are. The formula:
average ad cost per order = share of orders from ads × fee rate × average order value
If 10% of your orders come from ads, the rate is 15% and your average order is $30, that is 0.10 × 0.15 × $30 = $0.45 per order, or 1.5% of revenue. If 40% come from ads, it is $1.80 per order, or 6% of revenue. Check your Etsy statement to see the real share.
Only on large orders. At 15%, the cap is reached at a sale of about $667. At 12% it takes about $833. For most handmade and digital products the cap never applies.
There is no universal answer. The ads can bring buyers you would not have reached, and you pay only when a sale follows. But if your margins are thin, a sale through an ad can cost more than it earns. A practical way to decide:
Etsy describes the fee as a percentage of the amount you made from the sale before the advertising fee was applied, and its help page does not spell out whether shipping and taxes are included. Check a real order in your payment account to see what Etsy charged.
Etsy's help page says that once a shop reaches the threshold, participation is required for the lifetime of the shop, and it does not describe exceptions.
Only if the purchase happens within 30 days of the click.
Put your own price and costs into the free Etsy fee and profit calculator to see your profit before any ad fee, then subtract the Offsite Ads percentage. For profit per order from your real Etsy statement, CraftKept does the same math for every order. Start my $1 trial
Try the free calculator →This is an estimate, not tax advice, and Etsy can change its rates.