The short answer
On a US candle sale, Etsy charges a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee and payment processing of 3% plus $0.25, with the percentages applied to shipping too. On a $28 candle with $6 shipping, that is $3.68, about 11% of the order. If the sale came through an Offsite Ad, add 12–15% more.
\text{Etsy fees} = \$0.45 + 9.5\% \times (\text{item price} + \text{shipping charged})That formula covers the three mandatory fees for US sellers. The rest of this guide shows what they cost on real candle orders, when Offsite Ads kick in, the 4% rebate most candle sellers never claim, and how to set a price that absorbs all of it.
The payout that didn’t match the sales
Her best December on Etsy looked like $6,000 in candle sales. The deposits added up to noticeably less, and the difference wasn’t a mistake. It was a stack of small fees, each reasonable on its own, charged on every order, on every shipping charge, and on a handful of orders she didn’t know had come from an ad.
Etsy fees rarely feel large in the moment, because each one is a few cents or a few percent. They add up because candle sellers ship heavy glass, sell many lower-priced items and often run on thin margins. A fee rate that barely registers on a $200 order takes a real bite out of a $12 tin.
The good news is that Etsy’s fees are predictable. Once you know exactly what they are and where they apply, you can price for them, lower some of them, and stop being surprised by your payout. That starts with seeing every fee in one place.
Every Etsy fee a candle seller pays
Three fees apply to every Etsy sale; the rest depend on how the buyer found you and where they live. Rates below are for US sellers.
| Fee | Rate | Charged on | Applies to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listing fee | $0.20 | Each listing, and each extra unit sold from a multi-quantity listing | Every seller |
| Transaction fee | 6.5% | Item price plus shipping and gift wrap | Every sale |
| Payment processing | 3% + $0.25 | Order total | Every sale via Etsy Payments |
| Offsite Ads | 15% or 12%, capped at $100 per order | Order total | Sales attributed to an Etsy ad on another site |
| Currency conversion | 2.5% | Order total | Listings priced in a currency other than your payment account’s |
| Etsy Ads | Your daily budget, per click | Clicks inside Etsy | Only if you turn them on |
| Etsy Plus | $10 a month | Subscription | Optional |
Sources: Craftybase for the three core fees; Etsy Help for Offsite Ads; SellerToolsHQ for listing renewals and currency conversion; Voolist for Etsy Plus. Some countries also carry a regulatory operating fee, and non-US processing rates differ, so check your own Shop Manager.
The one rebate on the list is Share & Save, which returns 4% of eligible orders. It gets its own section below, because on sales you drive yourself it more than covers the percentage part of the processing fee.
What Etsy takes on real candle orders
On standard orders, Etsy’s mandatory fees run about 10–12% of what the buyer pays, and the smaller the order, the higher the share. The $0.45 in flat fees is why a $12 tin loses a bigger slice than a $75 bundle.
