Ecommerce
How to Sell on Etsy, Step by Step: Setup, Listings and First Sales
Fees checked against Etsy's Fees and Payments Policy and Help Center, with a margin example worked out in dollars.
To figure out how to sell on Etsy, you need three things: a shop opened from your Etsy account, a first listing that sells itself and Etsy Payments connected to your bank. No business entity or followers required, and on a $33 order Etsy keeps about 11%.
Here's what most guides skip: the 6.5% transaction fee also applies to the shipping you charge, and a sale that comes through Etsy's Offsite Ads costs you another 15%. We checked every fee against Etsy's official policy and Help Center in October 2026.
Below: shop setup, every fee with a real margin example, Etsy SEO and the tax basics. More online selling guides live in ecommerce.
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What Etsy is and how selling on Etsy works
Etsy is a global marketplace where individuals and small brands sell handmade goods, original designs, vintage items, craft supplies and digital downloads. The buyer pays on Etsy, Etsy deducts its fees and deposits the rest into your bank account.
Selling on Etsy works like this: each product is a listing that lasts four months, buyers find it through Etsy search or Google, and you ship it. What it isn't: your own online store. The rules, the design and the payouts are set by the platform.
What to sell on Etsy (and what Etsy won't allow)
Anything that fits Etsy's Creativity Standards: made by you, designed by you, handpicked by you or supplies that help others create.
| Category | What it covers | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Made by a seller | Physical items made by hand or with your own tools | Ceramic jewelry, candles |
| Designed by a seller | Your designs, produced by a partner or sold as downloads | Printed posters, templates |
| Handpicked by a seller | Vintage (20+ years) and curated items | 1980s denim jacket |
| Sourced by a seller | Craft and party supplies, personalized items | Beads, custom stickers |
Reselling mass-produced goods as your own can get your shop shut down.
Can you sell digital products on Etsy?
Yes, and here is how to sell digital products on Etsy: list them like any item and upload the file as an instant download. Printables, planners and patterns have no unit cost and no shipping, so the fees are the only cost per sale.
Best selling items on Etsy: what sells and what to skip
Etsy's 2025 annual report names six categories behind most of its sales: home and living, jewelry and personal accessories, apparel, craft supplies, paper and party supplies, and toys and games. Together they brought in about $8.9 billion, or 85% of the marketplace's gross sales. Etsy doesn't publish a single best-selling product, so anyone handing you a "number one item" is guessing.
Read that list as a map of buyer intent. People come to Etsy for gifts, decor, weddings, parties and anything personalized. That's where demand lives, and where sellers pile in: at the end of 2025 Etsy counted 5.6 million active sellers for 86.5 million active buyers, about 15 buyers per seller.
Screen any product idea with four questions:
- Does Etsy's search bar autocomplete it? That means real searches.
- Can the price absorb about 11% in fees, plus 15% on Offsite Ads sales?
- Is it light, digital or personalized? Downloads have no unit cost, and personalization lets you charge more than a factory version.
- Could you build ten listings around it? A shop needs variety to keep browsers.
Skip anything buyers can get cheaper on Amazon. Etsy's rules ban reselling factory goods, and if you compete only on price, you lose.
How to start an Etsy shop, step by step
Create an account, pick your country and currency, name your shop, publish a full listing, connect Etsy Payments and open.
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Create your account and click Sell on Etsy
Sign up on etsy.com with your email and go to the Sell on Etsy page to start your shop.
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Pick the United States and US dollars
List in the same currency as your bank account. If they differ, Etsy charges 2.5% to convert every sale.
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Name your shop so it says what you sell
Short, easy to spell and tied to your product. You can change it later, but your first reviews will build around it.
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Publish your first complete listing
Several photos in natural light, the first one showing the whole product alone, a title with your buyer's words, all 13 tags, price, processing time and shipping.
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Set up Etsy Payments and verify your identity
Add your details, the bank account for payouts and a card for fees. If Etsy shows a one-time setup fee, you pay it once; the amount varies by location.
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Open your shop with at least ten listings
A shop with one product looks abandoned. With ten or more, buyers can browse and Etsy has more listings to show.
That's how to open an Etsy shop that looks alive from day one.
Etsy seller fees: how much Etsy takes per sale
In the US, Etsy fees are a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee on the item price plus shipping, and 3% plus $0.25 for payment processing.
| Fee | Amount | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Etsy listing fee | $0.20 every 4 months | Each listing and each extra unit sold |
| Transaction | 6.5% | Item price, shipping and gift wrap |
| Payment processing (US) | 3% + $0.25 | Order total |
| Currency conversion | 2.5% | Only if you list in another currency |
| Offsite Ads | 15%, or 12% once you pass $10,000 a year | Only sales from those ads, capped at $100 per order |
| Shop setup | One-time, varies by location | Shown during setup |
Under $10,000 in sales over 365 days you can opt out of Offsite Ads; above it they're mandatory at 12%. It's all in Etsy's Fees and Payments Policy, last updated October 5, 2026.
How much does Etsy take from a $100 sale?
$9.95 in standard fees: $6.50 transaction, $3.25 processing and $0.20 for the listing. You keep $90.05 before your own costs, or $75.05 if the sale came through Offsite Ads.
Here's a made-up example with made-up costs: Fern & Kiln, ceramic hair clips at $28 plus $5 shipping.
| Item | Regular sale | Offsite Ads sale |
|---|---|---|
| You charge the buyer | $33.00 | $33.00 |
| Etsy fees (6.5%, 3% + $0.25, listing) | −$3.59 | −$3.59 |
| Offsite Ads (15%) | $0 | −$4.95 |
| Materials and packaging | −$7.50 | −$7.50 |
| Shipping label | −$5.00 | −$5.00 |
| You keep | $16.91 | $11.96 |
Run your own numbers with our margin calculator before you set a price.
Etsy SEO: titles, tags and photos that get found
Write titles with the words your buyer types, use all 13 Etsy tags as two- or three-word phrases and fill in every attribute.
Etsy SEO works a lot like Google: the listing that best matches the search wins. Start the title with the product and its key trait ("handmade blue ceramic earrings"), not your collection name. Use tags for synonyms, uses and occasions ("bridesmaid gift", "courthouse wedding"). And your first photo decides the click: clean background, whole product, good light.
Act as an Etsy SEO expert. I sell [describe your product, material, size and who it's for] in the US for $[price]. Write a title under 140 characters that starts with what my buyer would search, 13 tags of two or three words that don't repeat the title, and the first sentence of the description. Also tell me which three Etsy attributes I must fill in.
When views come in but sales don't, SEO is no longer the problem: your conversion rate is, and that comes down to the photo, the price with shipping and the reviews.
Etsy banner size and photo size: the exact dimensions
Etsy asks for listing photos at least 2000 pixels wide and tall, and the first photo must be at least 635 pixels or it shows lower in search. Every number below comes from Etsy's Help Center, which we checked in October 2026.
| Image | Size | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Listing photo | 2000 x 2000 px or larger | First photo: 635 px minimum, landscape or square |
| Big shop banner | 1600 x 400 px | Minimum 1200 x 300 px |
| Mini shop banner | 1600 x 213 px | Minimum 1200 x 160 px |
| Shop logo | 500 x 500 px | Recommended size |
| Profile photo | 400 x 400 px | Recommended size |
| Order receipt banner | 760 x 100 px | Minimum size |
Etsy accepts JPG, PNG, GIF, SVG and HEIC, but not animated GIFs or transparent PNGs, because transparent areas turn black. Keep files under 1 MB so uploads don't stall, and convert them to sRGB so colors don't shift.
Your first photo also sets the shape of the rest, so shoot them all in the same proportions. And one rule matters more every year: for most items, at least one photo must be unedited, the real item against a real background. Digital items and a few other types have their own rules. You can use AI to fix light or swap backgrounds in the other photos, never to hide flaws, and Etsy suggests saying so in the description.
Etsy Ads and Etsy Offsite Ads: when to pay for traffic
Etsy Ads promote your listings inside Etsy with a daily budget you set; Etsy Offsite Ads promote them on Google and social media and charge only when they bring a sale.
Start with zero ad spend until a listing converts on its own, then test Etsy Ads with a small daily budget on your best sellers. Factor Offsite Ads into your prices from day one.
Should you turn off Offsite Ads?
Only if your margin can't absorb 15% on those sales. Below $10,000 a year you can opt out; once you pass that line, they stay on at 12% for good.
Do you need a business license to sell on Etsy?
Etsy doesn't ask for one, but your state, county or city might. Check your local rules before you sell regularly, and track your income from the first sale.
For federal taxes, payment platforms and marketplaces must send a Form 1099-K when your payments exceed $20,000 in more than 200 transactions, according to the IRS page on Form 1099-K, reviewed June 28, 2026. Below that line your income is still taxable, so talk to a tax pro once sales pick up.
When shipping starts eating your evenings, read what is fulfillment and when outsourcing pays off. And if your product sells in a 15-second video, compare with how to sell on TikTok Shop, which charges differently.
Frequently asked questions about selling on Etsy
Can you sell antiques on Etsy?
Yes, as long as the item is at least 20 years old, which is Etsy's line for vintage. Antiques, retro clothing, old books and collectibles all fit. What you can't do is list something as vintage because it looks old: Etsy's Creativity Standards specifically exclude items under 20 years old even if they're designed to appear vintage. Note the approximate age in the listing.
Etsy vs Shopify: which is better?
They solve different problems. Etsy is a marketplace with buyers already searching for handmade, vintage and digital goods: you pay per sale, but the traffic comes built in. Shopify is your own store: you pay a monthly plan and bring every visitor yourself. The smart path is to validate products on Etsy, then open your own store once you have repeat customers.
Can you make $10,000 a month on Etsy?
Some shops do, but it's not typical and nobody can promise it. Run the math first: at an average order of $33 that keeps about $17 after fees, materials and shipping, $10,000 in monthly sales means roughly 300 orders a month. That takes a catalog, repeat buyers and usually ads. Set a first goal you can hit, like covering your materials and time.
Is selling on Etsy worth it?
It is if your price can absorb about 11% in fees on a typical order, plus 15% more on sales that come through Etsy's Offsite Ads. In our $33 example you keep $16.91, or $11.96 on an Offsite Ads sale. It works best for items with healthy margins, light shipping or digital downloads, which have no cost per unit.
What is the downside of selling on Etsy?
You're building on rented land. Etsy sets the fees, the search rules and the policies, and it can change them; the Offsite Ads fee becomes mandatory once you pass $10,000 in sales in a year. Competition is heavy in popular niches, and buyers belong to Etsy, not to you. Use Etsy for reach, but collect your own list of customers where the rules allow.
How do you get sales on Etsy?
List at least ten products, write titles and tags with the words buyers actually type, and make the first photo clean and clear. Share each listing on your own social channels and ask your first customers for a review with a photo. Then check your shop stats: few views is an SEO problem, while views without sales is a conversion problem.
Does Etsy allow dropshipping?
No. Etsy bans dropshipping, with one exception for craft and party supplies, and it bans reselling anything you didn't make or design, apart from vintage over 20 years old, craft and party supplies, and gift baskets you pack yourself. What it does allow is a production partner, such as Printful or Printify, that prints or makes your original design or the buyer's customization, as long as you disclose that partner on the listing. Selling a supplier's catalog product and shipping it straight to the buyer can get your shop suspended. We checked Etsy's Help Center in October 2026.