In the early stages of any new venture, keeping finances as low as possible is always a big priority. One of the things I love about Etsy is that the monetary commitment to getting started is relatively low. It’s technically free to have an Etsy shop!
There are no overall start up costs to setting up on the site itself. You’ll pay a small fee to list each item and will pay the processing charges once it sells. With Etsy, you’re not paying any monthly reoccurring fees to keep your shop running which is really great crucial when you’re just beginning.
With a stand-alone website, you have to buy a domain, hosting, template or theme, and often some type plugin or ecommerce subscription in order to list and sell products. In most cases, you’ll be charged every year for your domain and hosting as they are annual fees which can be a few hundred dollars.
Etsy Fees
On Etsy, this is all built in and there are no monthly or annual fees to pay. You will be charged $0.20 upfront to list an item. This keeps the item displayed for four months and if it doesn’t sell it that time period it will expire. If you choose to renew it, you will pay the $0.20 fee again.
New sellers can click here to get 40 free listings!
When you sell an item, you’ll pay a processing fee to Etsy of 3.5% of the total, minus shipping and tax. The fee for payment processing varies by country, but in the US it’s 3% plus $0.25. You can see the payment processing fees for other countries here. Etsy is great for getting started because you’re really only paying when you make a sale, other than the small listing fee.
Additional Costs
Besides the actual fees related directly to the Etsy platform, you will likely want to invest in branding, materials, supplies, and packaging for you new shop.
Branding might include a logo, logo variations, shop cover photo, and mood board with a color story. Costs for working one-on-one with a designer for custom branding can range greatly. People just getting started in the industry might design a logo for under $100, while skilled professionals can charge in the thousands.
A great option for someone just getting started on Etsy is to purchase a pre-made branding package. You can find templates or semi-custom branding kits on Etsy or Creative Market. Note that many of the pre-made branding kits aren’t one of a kind, meaning someone else might have your same logo.
Creating a brand is really important for establishing a look, feel, and story for your shop, but in the beginning it can be easiest to get started with something simple. With this being said, I do recommend investing in branding within your first year as it really is the visual story behind your whole business and levels up your professionalism.
New Etsy shops need business cards, thank you notes, stickers, and any other type of materials used for promotion and packaging. If working directly with a brand designer, these things might be included with your package or available a la carte for purchase. Your cost on these can be as little or as much as you prefer!
Of course, the supplies needed to produce your materials are part of the cost of opening an Etsy shop. In the beginning, start small. Your shop needs 10-20 items to really get going, but don’t be afraid to wait on purchasing additional materials until the cash starts rolling in!
Packaging, including boxes, mailers, tissue paper, and bubble wrap, should be included in your start up costs. Buying in bulk can give you a better cost per item, but when starting out it might be easiest to just pick up a few variations until you learn how to streamline your shipping. You can read my tips for shipping on Etsy here including my favorite boxes and shipping tool I can’t live without!
Overall, starting your Etsy shop is very low cost. It’s such a great platform to begin your adventure of selling online! Spend the time setting things up and you’ll begin making those dollar bills in no time. Cha-ching!
Hello! Do I need my own website to better work with Etsy? Thank you!
Hi Sora!
Not at all. You can absolutely get started using Etsy without having your own website, one of my favorite things about the platform 🙂
Steph
OK this is my 2nd time signing up with it see the 1st one time iconic I didn’t understand what they were talking about this 2nd time I still don’t quite understand and I can never get ahold of anybody
Hi Cindy! When you say signing up, do you mean for Etsy? Let me know what you’re confused on and how I can help!
I have 4 listings on my Etsy shop and will add more later. I have three online shops for fashion and home products with only custom made items. Etsy is a way to promote them for free. Hopefully will get sales.
Hi Antonia! Amazing that you have three shops – keep up the great work : )
If you want to sell a variety of things do you need separate shops or can you have a bunch of different offer? I want to know the best way to reach people.
Hi Lindsey! I think it depends – is your “ideal client” the same for both products? Are the products related at all? If you answer yes to both, I say one shop is fine. If you say no to both, I say do separate shops. Opening up two shops can be more complicated as you’re getting started, so maybe start with one and if you see the products not growing together open another. Hope this helps!
Hi i am looking to sell some products on Etsy and needed to know that once my product is sold does Etsy get a percentage of the profit?
Hi Shelley! Etsy takes a listing fee (20 cents and a transaction fee (5%). If you use Etsy payments (as opposed to Paypal), there’s a payment processing fee. It’s different in each country, currently in the US it’s 3% plus 25 cents. You can see the current info for each country here: https://www.etsy.com/legal/etsy-payments#processing-fees
You say there’s a transaction fee of 5%, and a payment processing fee of 3%. Are you saying that there is a total of 8% fees collected on each transaction, besides the 20 cents and the 25 cents mentioned?
Also, can you tell us what the payment processing fee is for PayPal? And who pays it, the buyer, the seller, or both?
Thanks for all the helpful information!
Hi Grainne!
The payment processing fee was 3.5% + $0.25 if through Etsy. This has changed at least once since I originally wrote the post and is based on your location. I recommend checking out the full explanation: https://www.etsy.com/legal/etsy-payments
The Paypal fee is removed from the income, so the buyer is technically paying it. I’m not currently using Paypal, but would refer to their website for their current fees.
Hope this helps! Best, Steph
ok so i still don’t understand what the total cost is to start. i would like an answer thanks!!
Hi there! The post above details the costs to getting started – there is no fee to actually open an Etsy shop, other than the 0.20 listing charge per item : ) Any other costs will be incurred by your specific product materials and fees when you sell an order. Hope this helps!
Hi there !
In your opinion , what’s the estimated cost including shipping materials , labels , business cards and such one would need to get off The ground successfully On Etsy ?
Hi Raymond! The blog post above goes into great detail about this : )
I see many NOT home-crafted items for sale on Etsy. Is there a policy concerning this?
Hi Diane! Along with handmade items, Etsy also allows craft supplies and vintage items. You can view their full policy here: https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024112614-What-Can-I-Sell-on-Etsy-?segment=selling