Etsy Fees UK: Understanding The Fees For UK Sellers [Guide]

If you’re an Etsy seller in the UK and want to better understand its fees, then you’re in the right place.

You won’t just be charged for listing items on Etsy.

Depending on which services you use from the platform, you could be paying numerous fees to run your business. There are ways to manage and reduce them, but you need to know exactly what to expect and how to track them to do this.

And that’s what this blog is all about.

In this Etsy UK fees guide:

Are you ready to take the guesswork out of your Etsy accounting?

Etsy is a great place to sell unique products, and it’s perfect for creative entrepreneurs who aren’t necessarily excited about accounting. Discover the easy way of looking after your Etsy finances so that you can spend more time doing what matters most to you.

Download our free guide

Let’s get into it.

Etsy Fees for UK Sellers: The Basics

Etsy charges various fees for selling on the platform.

These don’t stop at listing fees - you might be charged for the payment methods you choose, for deliveries, advertisements (voluntary and involuntary), and subscription fees if you opt for additional Etsy services.

Etsy charges UK sellers according to its US rates. Each time you’re charged, the US rate is converted at the current conversion rate.

Since your UK fees will vary based on the exchange rate, we’ll stick to the Etsy USD fee rates here that you’ll be subject to.

How to view your Etsy fees

Your payment account is where all your Etsy fees and taxes can be viewed and tracked.

To access your payment account, sign in to your Etsy account and click Shop Manager.

From the Shop Manager, click Finances and then Payment account.

Here, you’ll be able to view your fees and taxes under Recent activities and Fees & Taxes.

Currency conversion for non-US sellers

Sellers that use non-US payment accounts for their sales (i.e. UK-based sellers) are subject to special rules and possibly extra fees.

If your payment account currency is GBP, Etsy automatically converts most fees from USD to GBP at the market rate of the time the fee shows up in your account.

The exclusions to this rule are:

• Transaction fees*
• off-site ads fees*
• Payment processing fees
• Regulatory operating fees*
• Deposit fees

*Exclusion only applies to items listed in the same currency as your payment account.

Etsy suggests listing your items in the same currency as your payment account to avoid incurring foreign exchange charges on your sales. You’ll save Etsy the job of conversion, and save money yourself as a result.

If items are listed in a different currency to your payment account, Etsy Payments users will be charged a 2.5% currency conversion fee on the sale amount when transferring the funds to their account.

This fee can be avoided if you receive payments with standalone Paypal.

The 8 Types of Etsy UK Fees: Pricing & Definitions

Although Etsy describes their fees as “simple and transparent”, you might not have heard of all of them before you start selling.

Etsy fees can be broken down into eight categories, some of which contain several fee types within them.

The eight Etsy fee categories we’ll cover here are:

• Listing fees
• Transaction fees
• Etsy Payments fees
• Postage label fees
• Advertising fees
• Optional subscription fees
• Etsy Pattern fees

As mentioned above, Etsy fees for UK sellers are subject to whatever the current GBP rate is at the time of conversion from USD.

The rates below were correct at the time of publishing.

Listing fees

Listing fee rate: $0.20.

Any time you list or renew an item on Etsy, you’ll be charged a listing fee.

Listings are active for four months, or until they sell. Listing fees are still charged when no sale is made, except in the case of private listings.

Transaction fees

Transaction fee rate: 5%.

Transaction fees are charged based on your listing’s currency and include postage and gift wrapping.

You might also see these fees:

• Delivery transaction fees

These are usually 5% of the postage cost of the item.

• Square manual transaction fees

These apply when you sell items in-person, using Square, that are not synced from your Etsy shop inventory. These fees are $0.20 per listing.

NB: You may also encounter additional Square processing fees that vary by the type of sale.

Payments

According to Etsy, there are four different types of fees related to Etsy Payments.

These are:

• Deposit fees

Some Etsy Payments countries are subject to a minimum deposit amount, which comes with a fee threshold and deposit fee. Since the UK is not on this list, we will not go into these here. However, you can learn more about this on Etsy’s help center page.

• Processing fees

4% + £0.20 (charged in your payment account currency).

Processing fees for Etsy payments are taken from the item’s total sale price, including any sales tax and shipping fees.

They are charged per transaction that uses Etsy Payments, appearing in your payment account in addition to Etsy’s transaction fees.

• Deposit currency conversion

2.5% per conversion, when applicable.

Please see the above section about currency conversion fees for non-US sellers for more information about this fee.

• Regulatory operating fee

0.25% per item (plus postage cost and gift wrap).

As of July 1st, 2021, UK sellers are now charged a regulatory operating fee in addition to current selling costs. The fee was introduced to counter increased business costs in certain countries due to new regulations, such as Digital Services Tax.

Postage label fees

Postage label fee rate: Varies

If desired, you can buy Royal Mail postage labels directly through Etsy.

The benefits of getting postage labels from Etsy include:

• Etsy will automatically fill out all the necessary details such as your buyer’s address.
• You can buy and print the labels right from your computer.
• Etsy offers discounts through certain delivery carriers they have partnerships with.
• You can easily request a refund for unused labels directly through Etsy.
• Buyers are automatically notified when their order is dispatched.

*Postage label fees depend on what you’re shipping, where you’re shipping it, which carrier you select, and other variables.

Advertising fees

There are two types of fees for advertising on Etsy: Etsy ads and off-site ads.

Etsy ads are the advertising you pay for within the Etsy site for internal promotion.

These are charged at a CPC (cost-per-click) rate, and you can set a budget so that you’re only spending a maximum amount on Etsy ads each day. The CPC rate can vary for each listing and for each time the listing is shown.

The fee you’re charged for Etsy ads depends on how many clicks your ads get, and the value of the place where your ad is shown.

Off-site ads are advertising that appears outside of Etsy, in ad space purchased by Etsy on other platforms such as Google, Instagram, and Facebook.

Here are few important things to note about off-site ads:

• You only pay fees when an ad leads to a sale of one of your items.
• If you made less than $10,000 on Etsy in the last year, you’ll be charged a 15% fee on the order total.
• If you made $10,000 or more on Etsy in the last year, you’ll get a discounted fee of 12%.
• Your off-site ad fee per item will never exceed $100.
• Etsy automatically enrolls sellers in the off-site ads program, and you can only opt-out if you made less than $10,000 in the last year on Etsy.
• There is no limit to how many items you can sell and be charged fees for through off-site ads.

Etsy’s team decides which of your listings will be used for off-site ads. Their decisions are based on what performs best on different platforms.

Optional subscription fees

Etsy Plus subscription fee rate: $10 per month.

If you’re looking to jump-start your growth as an Etsy seller, you might consider upgrading to Etsy’s paid subscription service: Etsy Plus.

Etsy Plus offers sellers benefits such as discounted website addresses for your Etsy shop, advanced customization options, and discounts on custom packaging or promotional materials.

There is no subscription fee for creating and using an Etsy Standard account type.

Etsy Pattern fees

Etsy Pattern fee rate: $15.00 per month.

Designing an Etsy Pattern website is free, and you can start a free 30-day trial when you decide to publish it.

Once you do go live with the site, you’ll automatically be charged $15 each month until you opt-out.

You may also be charged a domain registration fee as part of creating your Pattern website, as well as renewal fees and restoration fees if you wish to continue using your domain after one year.

Now that you know all the types of Etsy fees UK sellers might encounter, it’s time to look at how to pay them.

Paying Your Etsy Fees

It’s one thing to know about Etsy fees; it’s paying them that actually keeps your account in good standing.

This section will teach you how to pay them, and what happens when you don’t.

What happens if you don’t pay your fees

Actions taken by sellers to avoid paying fees are what Etsy deems fee avoidance.

Examples of fee avoidance include:

• Encouraging buyers to purchase your item through an external venue.
• Altering an item’s price after the sale is made (to avoid transaction fees).
• Misrepresenting an item’s location.
• Using another user’s account without permission.

If Etsy decides that your actions qualify as fee avoidance, they may close your store and forbid you from making another one.

How to pay your Etsy fees

Any fees owed to Etsy will automatically be deducted from your payment account unless there are insufficient funds in the account.

To pay your outstanding balance manually, you can use a credit card, debit card, or Paypal.

Here are the steps to pay your Etsy UK fees this way:

1. Open your Payment Account from Shop Manager.
2. Go to Amount due and click Pay now.
3. Enter the amount you wish to pay.
4. Choose your payment method.
5. Click Submit Payment.

If you have the Sell on Etsy app, you can also pay your statement through the Finances section.

Manage & Reduce Your Etsy Fees

To manage your Etsy UK fees and find any opportunities to save money, you need to know what fees you paid in the first place.

Etsy settlement statements don’t always break down the granular detail about which fees you paid and how much, so finding out this information requires a bit of manual calculation.

But fees are just one detail you need for managing your store well. Your Etsy deposits are made up of a multitude of other income and expense lines that you need to know to run your business successfully. All of which you’d need to figure out yourself each month.

That’s where A2X for Etsy comes in.

For each Etsy bank deposit, A2X automatically calculates and posts a corresponding journal summary to your accounting software.

All your fees, taxes, shipping costs, costs of goods sold, returns, reimbursements, and other lines are laid out for you.

A2X splits statements that span months and organizes books via the industry-approved accrual method of accounting, so that you can forecast your monthly performance accurately.

Start your free trial of A2X for Etsy today.

Also on the blog

• The Etsy Accounting Hub
• How to Sell on Etsy in 2021
• Etsy Business Plan Template
• Etsy Integration Guide: Simplify Your Business
• Etsy SEO
• Etsy Advertising Guide