Etsy vs Payly: Etsy fees compared with your own free store
Etsy is where many makers sell their first piece, and for good reason: it brings buyers to you. It also takes a fee on every listing and every sale, and a bigger one when an Etsy ad leads to the order. Here is what Etsy really costs per sale, how that compares with your own store on Payly, and why many sellers end up using both.
The short answer
- Etsy has no monthly plan, but charges $0.20 per listing, a 6.5% transaction fee and 3% + $0.25 for payment processing on each US order. Offsite Ads can add 12% to 15% of an order.
- Payly is free: no listing fees, no transaction fee and no commission. You pay only PayPal's or Stripe's standard processing fee.
- Etsy's advantage is its shoppers. Payly's advantage is that the store, the customer list and the margin are yours.
What Etsy charges
Etsy's fees for US sellers, as published by Etsy:
| Fee | Amount | When it is charged |
|---|---|---|
| Listing fee | $0.20 | For each listing; a listing lasts 4 months, and renewing it costs another $0.20 |
| Transaction fee | 6.5% | Of the item price plus the shipping and gift wrap you charge |
| Payment processing | 3% + $0.25 | On each order, for US sellers |
| Offsite Ads | 15%, or 12% once your shop has made $10,000 in a year | Only when an Etsy ad on another site leads to the sale; capped at $100 an order |
| Currency conversion | 2.5% | If you list in a currency other than your payout currency |
| Set-up fee | One-time | Required for some new shops |
Shops under $10,000 a year can opt out of Offsite Ads. Once a shop passes $10,000, Offsite Ads are required at 12%. Etsy Plus, an optional subscription, is $10 a month.
One $50 sale, two ways
Here is a $50 item with no shipping charged, sold to a US buyer:
| Etsy | Etsy, with an Offsite Ad | Payly with Stripe | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listing fee | $0.20 | $0.20 | $0 |
| Transaction fee | $3.25 | $3.25 | $0 |
| Payment processing | $1.75 | $1.75 | $1.75 |
| Offsite Ads (15%) | $7.50 | ||
| Total fees | $5.20 (10.4%) | $12.70 (25.4%) | $1.75 (3.5%) |
Payment processing costs about the same either way. The difference is Etsy's own fees: $3.45 on every $50 sale, and $10.95 when an Offsite Ad brings the buyer. Sell 40 of those a month and Etsy's listing and transaction fees come to about $1,650 a year, before any ads.
With PayPal instead of Stripe, the processing fee on the same sale would be $2.24 (3.49% + 49¢).
What you get for Etsy's fees
Etsy's fees pay for something real: millions of buyers searching for handmade, vintage and unique things, and the trust they already have in Etsy's checkout. For a new maker with no audience, that can be worth far more than the fees.
The trade-offs are just as real:
- Your shop sits beside your competitors. A buyer who finds you can be shown a similar item from another seller a moment later.
- The customer relationship is Etsy's. Etsy's rules limit how you can contact buyers, and you cannot take them with you if you leave.
- The rules are Etsy's too. Fees, search ranking and policies can change, and your sales change with them.
- Fees grow with your success. Every percentage point comes out of every sale, so the more you sell, the more you pay.
What you get with your own store on Payly
Payly gives you a complete store of your own, with no fees from Payly at all:
- Your own design, your own address, and your own domain if you want one. Connecting it is free.
- Products with photos, variants such as size and color, stock counts and categories.
- A checkout where customers pay your PayPal or Stripe account directly.
- Your customers, their orders and their email addresses, in your dashboard.
- Discount codes, product reviews, shipping zones and sales tax.
- Digital downloads for patterns, printables and templates, and subscriptions for boxes and memberships.
Your store is hosted in your own free Cloudflare account, which covers about 5,000 visitors a day. If you ever outgrow it, Cloudflare's paid plan is $5 a month, paid to Cloudflare. Payly stays free either way.
What Payly does not do is bring you shoppers. Like any store of your own, you find your customers through social media, search, email and word of mouth.
The best of both: use Etsy and your own store
Many sellers keep their Etsy shop for discovery and point their social media, their email list and their own marketing at their own store, where no listing or transaction fees apply. Over time, more of their sales come through the store they own.
Moving your listings from Etsy
Download your listings file from Etsy's Shop Manager and upload it to Payly. You see every product before it is added, and your photos are copied into your own store. Etsy does not export a separate price for each variation, so you set those after importing. Your Etsy shop is not changed. See Move from Etsy for each step.
Questions
Does Payly bring traffic like Etsy?
No. Payly is your own store, not a marketplace. You can list it in Payly's public store directory, but most of your visitors will come from your own marketing.
Are there listing fees on Payly?
No. Add as many products as you like. Payly charges no listing fee, no transaction fee and no commission.
Can I sell digital products?
Yes. Upload a file to a product, and customers get a download link after they pay.
Etsy fees as published in Etsy's Fees and Payments Policy and on Etsy's Payments page for US sellers, checked October 2026. Worked examples are our own arithmetic. Fees can change; check Etsy's own pages.
