How to Calculate Etsy Profit (Step by Step, With a Worked Example)

Updated October 14, 2026

"How much did I actually make?" sounds like it should be easy to answer. On Etsy it isn't, because the money moves through several places: the order, your payment account, your monthly statement, and whatever you spent on supplies. This guide gives you one formula you can use per order and per month, then walks through a full example.

The formula

Profit = What the buyer paid you − Etsy fees − Cost of goods − Shipping costs − Ads − Refunds

Each part is easy on its own. The work is in making sure nothing is left out.

Step 1: Start with what the buyer paid you

Use the item price plus the shipping you charged, minus any discount or coupon you gave. Leave out sales tax: in the US, Etsy collects and sends it on in most states, so it was never your money.

Example: a $25 item with $5 shipping and no coupon gives $30 of revenue.

Step 2: Subtract Etsy's fees

For a US shop, a standard order carries three fees (full details in Etsy Fees 2026 Explained):

• Listing fee: $0.20 per listing, renewed each time a multi-quantity listing sells (Etsy Fees & Payments Policy).
• Transaction fee: 6.5% of item price plus shipping and gift wrap (same policy).
• Payment processing: 3% + $0.25 per order on the total, including shipping and sales tax (Etsy Help).

On our $30 order, that's $0.20 + $1.95 + $1.15 = $3.30.

If the order was attributed to an Offsite Ad, add 15% (or 12% for shops that have passed $10,000 in a 365-day period), capped at $100 per order (Etsy Help). On $30 that's another $4.50.

Step 3: Subtract cost of goods

Cost of goods is everything that physically went into the item:

• Materials (blank mugs, paper, ink, yarn, beads, and so on)
• Packaging (mailers, tissue, stickers, thank-you cards, tape)
• Any per-item production cost, like a print-on-demand base price

For handmade items, work out a per-unit figure. If a $60 roll of paper makes 40 prints, that's $1.50 per print. You don't have to be precise to the cent. A good estimate you actually use beats a perfect number you never work out.

For our example: $6 materials and $1 packaging.

Step 4: Subtract your real shipping cost

This is the postage you paid, not what the buyer paid for shipping (which you already counted as revenue in Step 1). If you buy labels through Etsy, they appear in your payment account. If you buy elsewhere, use your receipts.

Example: a $4.50 label. You charged $5, so shipping made you $0.50 here. Many sellers find the reverse: they undercharge for shipping and quietly lose money on every order.

Step 5: Subtract ads and refunds

• Etsy Ads (onsite): add up the month's spend from your statement and spread it across that month's orders, or just subtract it at the monthly level.
• Refunds: a refunded order is revenue you don't keep, and on a full refund Etsy's policy describes how much of the fees it credits back. Use the actual refund lines from your payment account rather than guessing.

The worked example, end to end

Same item, same price, and the profit drops by about 30% depending on how the buyer arrived. That's why looking only at revenue, or even at "revenue minus fees", can mislead you.

Scaling it up: monthly profit

Per-order math is great for pricing. To know how your shop is doing, run it monthly:

1. Download your Etsy CSVs. In Shop Manager, go to Settings, then Options, then Download Data. The Orders and Sold Order Items files give you revenue, and your monthly statement or payment account CSV gives you fees, ads and refunds.
2. Total revenue for the month: item sales plus shipping charged, minus discounts.
3. Total Etsy fees and ads from the statement: listing, transaction, processing, Offsite Ads, Etsy Ads, labels.
4. Cost of goods: units sold × per-unit cost for each product.
5. Refunds from the payment account.
6. Other monthly costs: tools and subscriptions, a share of equipment, and so on.

Profit = 2 − 3 − 4 − 5 − 6. Divide by revenue for your margin.

Common mistakes

• Counting shipping charged as profit. It's revenue, but most of it goes straight out as postage.
• Forgetting fees are charged on shipping too. The 6.5% and the 3% both apply to shipping.
• Ignoring the $0.25 per order. It's small, but on low-priced items it's a real share of the order.
• Treating Offsite Ads as rare. Check what share of your orders is actually attributed. For some shops it's significant.
• Not valuing your own time. Profit is what the shop earns. Whether it pays you fairly for your hours is a separate, worthwhile question.
• Only checking the shop total. One listing with a thin margin can hide behind a few good ones. Look per listing.

Do it in seconds instead of a spreadsheet

For a single item, the free Etsy fee calculator does Steps 1 and 2 instantly, with and without Offsite Ads, so you can price with confidence.

For your whole shop, ShopTrueProfit Pro takes the CSVs you download from Etsy, adds your costs per product, and shows real profit by order, listing and month, including which listings are worth your time. Your files are processed in your browser and never uploaded.

Sources: Etsy Fees & Payments Policy, Etsy Help: Payment Processing Fees, Etsy Help: How Etsy's Offsite Ads Work. ShopTrueProfit is not affiliated with Etsy, Inc. This is not tax or financial advice.