Etsy quotes its fees one at a time, in different places. Put together, they apply to every single sale, not just some of them.
A digital download sold on Etsy carries a 6.5% transaction fee on the sale price, plus payment processing of 3% and $0.25 for US sellers. Both apply to the same sale, on top of whatever the $0.20 listing fee has already cost over the listing’s life.
Each of the three is calculated separately and none of them is waived because another one already applied — the transaction fee is not reduced because processing also applies to the same sale, and the listing fee is not refunded or discounted because the item then sold. Adding them up individually, on the actual sale price, is the only way to know what a given sale really nets.
Sell a $7 printable and the 6.5% transaction fee is $0.46. Processing adds 3% of $7 ($0.21) plus the flat $0.25, for $0.46 more. Total fees on the sale itself: $0.92, leaving $6.08 — before counting any share of the $0.20 listing fee that has already been paid, or will be paid again at the four-month renewal.
That $0.92 is roughly 13% of the $7 price, and it is worth keeping that percentage in mind rather than just the dollar figure — it is the number that stays comparable across prices, even though the dollar amount it represents changes with every different item sold.
Keep that percentage in mind when comparing a cheap item to an expensive one in the same shop - the fee share is not the same just because the fee formula is.
The $0.25 and $0.40 flat components of these fee formulas do not shrink with the price, which is why a $3 sale loses a larger share than a $7 one: 6.5% of $3 is $0.195, plus 3% and $0.25 ($0.34), for $0.535 total — nearly 18% of the sale, against roughly 13% on the $7 item. Pricing low to compete on sticker price can quietly cost more as a percentage than pricing a little higher would. Run your own price through the exact formula at /tools/fees rather than estimating from a rounded example.
On a $15 printable, the 6.5% transaction fee is $0.975 and processing is 3% ($0.45) plus $0.25, for $0.70 — a combined $1.675, or about 11% of the sale. That is a smaller share than the $7 item’s roughly 13% and much smaller than the $3 item’s nearly 18%, the same flat-fee effect running the other direction: the $0.25 component matters less and less as the price climbs.
None of this changes how the fee is calculated, only what share of a given sale it ends up being. A seller comparing two prices for the same file is really comparing two different percentages lost to the same formula, and the formula itself — 6.5% plus 3% plus $0.25, every time — is the only thing that stays constant. Put your own price into /tools/fees rather than interpolating between the examples here.
On top. Both the 6.5% transaction fee and the 3% plus $0.25 processing fee apply to the same sale.
Not directly - the $0.20 listing fee is charged on a four-month clock regardless of sales, while the transaction and processing fees are charged only when something actually sells.
This page states the US payment processing figure (3% plus $0.25) as given; processing rates for other countries are not covered here.
Part of our guide to Selling digital downloads.