Idea Lab StudioFees for Etsy sellers in the United Kingdom (2026)
If your Etsy payment account pays out to a bank in the United Kingdom, these are the fees on every sale, worked out for your own prices below.
- a $0.20 listing fee per item (about £0.15), charged again when an item sells and auto-renews;
- a 6.5% transaction fee on the item price, postage and gift wrap;
- a payment processing fee of 4% + £0.20 on the order total, including postage and any tax;
- a 0.48% regulatory operating fee on the item price, postage and gift wrap (Etsy charges this in only a few countries, the United Kingdom among them);
- VAT on fees: If you haven't given Etsy a VAT ID, Etsy adds VAT at 20% (the United Kingdom's standard rate) to all of its fees. Once you're VAT-registered and add your VAT ID, it stops charging VAT on fees and you account for it yourself.
- optional costs: Offsite Ads (15% or 12% of an attributed order, max $100) and a 2.5% currency conversion fee if you list in a different currency from your bank account.
Your Etsy fees on this order
Fees in your payment-account currency. The $0.20 listing fee and $100 Offsite Ads cap are converted at 26 Oct 2026 rates; Etsy uses its own daily rate. How the calculator works.
Worked example
A £20.00 item with £4.00 postage, no VAT ID, no Offsite Ads, £8.00 materials and £4.00 actual postage:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Buyer pays you | £24.00 |
| Listing fee ($0.20 ≈ £0.15) | −£0.15 |
| Transaction fee 6.5% | −£1.56 |
| Processing 4% + £0.20 | −£1.16 |
| Regulatory operating fee 0.48% | −£0.12 |
| VAT on fees 20% | −£0.60 |
| Total Etsy fees (14.9%) | −£3.58 |
| Your costs | −£12.00 |
| Profit | £8.42 (35.1%) |
Same costs: break-even at an item price of £10.31, and £17.86 for a 30% margin.
What's different for UK sellers
Your fees are in pounds, but two of them start in dollars. The $0.20 listing fee and the $100 Offsite Ads cap are set in US dollars and converted, so they move slightly with the exchange rate. Everything else (6.5% transaction, 4% + £0.20 processing, 0.48% regulatory fee) is a straight percentage of the order. On the £24.00 example below, the regulatory fee is only £0.12, but the 20% VAT on all fees adds £0.60, which is the bigger number for most small shops.
The £1,000 trading allowance. HMRC lets individuals earn up to £1,000 a year in gross trading income (sales, not profit) without declaring it. Above that, you register for Self Assessment and either claim your actual costs, including every Etsy fee and the VAT on those fees, or take the £1,000 allowance instead. You can't do both, which is why it pays to know your real fee total.
Platform reporting. Since 2024, Etsy sends HMRC your sales figures once you reach 30 sales or about £1,700 in a calendar year. Being reported is not a tax by itself. VAT registration only becomes compulsory above £90,000 of taxable turnover, so most UK Etsy shops pay VAT on fees and can't reclaim it. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax starts with sole traders whose income is over £50,000 (April 2026), then over £30,000 (April 2027). Check GOV.UK or an accountant for your own position.
Want this for every order, not just one?
The Profit & VAT Tracker for Etsy sellers reads Etsy's monthly statement CSV (paste it in) and sorts every row into sales, refunds, each fee type, VAT on fees, Etsy Ads, Offsite Ads and postage labels, then shows profit per month and for the tax year. For EU and UK shops, VAT-registered or not. Excel, and built for Google Sheets. If it doesn't read your statement, you get a fix or a refund.
See the tracker ($12.99)Free price calculator spreadsheet (email download)Sold through Payhip by Idea Lab Studio, our own shop, so we earn money if you buy the tracker. The spreadsheet calculator is free (Payhip asks for your email). An organising tool, not tax advice.
Questions
How much does Etsy take from a sale in the United Kingdom?
On a £20.00 item with £4.00 postage, a United Kingdom-based shop without a VAT ID pays about £3.58 in Etsy fees including VAT on fees, which is 14.9% of what the buyer paid (no Offsite Ads).
What is Etsy's processing fee in the United Kingdom?
4% of the order total (including postage and tax) plus £0.20 per order, based on where your bank account is.
Does Etsy charge VAT on fees in the United Kingdom?
If you haven't given Etsy a VAT ID, Etsy adds VAT at 20% (the United Kingdom's standard rate) to all of its fees. Once you're VAT-registered and add your VAT ID, it stops charging VAT on fees and you account for it yourself.
What is the Offsite Ads fee?
If a buyer clicks an Etsy ad on another site and buys within 30 days, Etsy charges 15% of the order (12% once your shop has made $10,000 in a 365-day period), never more than $100 per order. Shops under $10,000 can opt out.
How do I work out the price I need?
Enter your costs and a target margin. The calculator searches for the lowest item price where your profit after every Etsy fee (and VAT on fees) reaches that margin, and also shows your break-even price.