What you need before you start
- An Etsy account and an email address you check.
- A bank account in your country, where Etsy pays you. Your country has to be one where Etsy Payments works; Etsy keeps the official list of eligible countries.
- A credit or debit card for billing. Etsy takes its fees from your sales and uses the card when your balance does not cover them.
- An ID document. Etsy can ask you to verify your identity before it pays you.
- Something to sell, or a print on demand supplier that makes it for you.
Opening your shop, step by step
- Create your account and choose "Sell on Etsy".
- Set your shop preferences: language, country and currency. Choose the currency you will be paid in: listing in a different one adds a 2.5% currency conversion fee to every sale.
- Name your shop. Between 4 and 20 characters, no spaces or special characters. You can change it later, but your buyers and your links will have learned the first one.
- Create your first listing: photos, title, description, price, quantity, shipping profile and the 13 tags. Etsy asks for at least one before the shop opens.
- Tell Etsy how you will get paid: bank details and the tax information your country requires.
- Set up billing with your card. This is also where Etsy charges the one-time setup fee for new shops.
- Secure your account with two-factor authentication, and open the shop.
What it costs
These are the fees on Etsy's official schedule for 2026. The full arithmetic, with a worked example, is in Etsy fees in 2026.
| Fee | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Shop setup | One-time, non-refundable; Etsy shows the amount for your country before you pay | When the shop opens |
| Listing | $0.20 | Each listing, again on renewal and per extra unit sold |
| Transaction | 6.5% | On item price plus shipping and gift wrap |
| Payment processing | 3% + $0.25 in the US | On the order total; varies by country |
| Offsite Ads | 15%, or 12% above $10,000 a year; capped at $100 per order | Only on orders that came through Etsy's ads |
| Regulatory operating fee | 0.05% to 1.97% | Only in nine countries, such as the UK and Spain |
On a normal $25 US sale that adds up to roughly 10 to 11% before your product cost. The free fee calculator does it for your own numbers.
Selling from outside the US
You can sell on Etsy from any country where Etsy Payments is available, and what changes is mostly the payment processing fee. These are the rates on Etsy's 2026 schedule for some of the most common countries:
| Country | Payment processing | Regulatory fee |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 3% + $0.25 | — |
| United Kingdom | 4% + £0.20 | 0.48% |
| Spain | 4% + €0.30 | 0.88% |
| Mexico | 4.5% + MX$8 | — |
| Argentina, Chile, Peru | 6.5% + $0.30 | — |
Source: Etsy's payment processing and regulatory fee schedules, as recorded by ZEUS on 5 October 2026. In Argentina and Chile, Etsy pays sellers through a Payoneer account.
If your country is not on the list, check Etsy's help center before you invest time: how you get paid depends on it. Colombia and Venezuela, for example, were not on Etsy's payment processing schedule when we checked. And because Etsy's largest market is the United States, sellers outside it usually list in English and think about US shipping times from day one.
Your first listing
Title. A clear phrase that a buyer would type, with the product named once and its key traits. Etsy's own guidance asks for clear titles, not long ones; we measured what actually moves ranking in how Etsy search works.
The 13 tags. Use all thirteen, up to 20 characters each, as multi-word phrases rather than single words. The tags guide explains how to fill them in layers, and the SEO analyzer checks them for free.
Photos. The first photo decides the click. Show the product in use, at its real size. For print on demand, mockups are fine as long as they are honest about colour and fit.
Attributes. Fill in every attribute that applies: colour, material, occasion, recipient. Buyers filter by them.
Price and shipping. Start from your cost plus every fee, not from a guess. In the US, Etsy favours shops that offer free shipping on orders of $35 or more, so decide deliberately whether shipping goes into the price.
No inventory? Use print on demand
Most new shops today do not stock anything. A print on demand supplier prints and ships each order after the buyer pays, so you only design and list. It changes the maths and comes with two rules from Etsy, which we explain in print on demand on Etsy with Printify. If you do not know what to make yet, start with what to sell on Etsy.
The mistakes that cost new shops the most
- Pricing off the product cost. A $11 blank does not make $22 a 50% margin. After fees it is closer to 30%.
- Opening with one listing. Ten listings give buyers and Etsy search ten chances; one gives one.
- Copying a bestseller. Designs have to be yours. Copies get taken down, and they compete on price against the original.
- Publishing seasonal products late. Christmas listings should be live by mid-October; see the full timeline.
- Not declaring a production partner. If someone else makes your product, Etsy requires you to say so on every listing.