An Etsy seller says that the site’s service and ad fees completely wiped out his profit, showing that he made no money from an $11.89 sticker order in a now-viral TikTok.
In the video posted by TikToker Josh (@hexijosh) on Oct. 21, he shows the revenue breakdown from a recent Etsy order, revealing that he made no money due to the service fees, taxes, and a 15% ad fee.
“This account is nothing but an Etsy hate account now, and let me show you why,” Josh says in the clip.
He shows that Etsy charged him a “relisting fee” for both stickers, a 3% “processing fee,” a 6.5% “transaction fee,” and another 6.5% of the total shipping cost.
“I don’t go through Etsy for shipping, but they charge me for listing shipping,” he says.
At the end of the clip, he shows that Etsy charged him a 15% “offsite ad” fee because the customer found his business through an Etsy ad. According to Etsy’s website, some sellers can opt out of offsite ads, however, those who make a certain threshold of money off the site do not have that ability.
“If your Etsy shop has made more than $10,000 USD in the past 365 days, you’ll benefit most from offsite advertising,” the site reads. “You’ll be required to participate for the lifetime of your shop and you’ll get a discounted advertising fee.”
Josh did not disclose whether or not he is required to have offsite ads enabled.
“$11.89 minus all of these fees is $7.56. Do you want to know what my production and shipping costs are? $7.56,” Josh explains in the video. “I made zero profit off of this sale. Etsy, as far as I’m concerned, that’s stolen wages.”
@hexijosh Etsy is truly the WORST #smallbusiness #gayownedbusiness ♬ original sound – Josh the Kraken
The video has reached over 135,000 views as of Tuesday, with commenters blasting the small-business-hosting platform for charging high fees to sellers.
“The offsite ads should BE ILLEGAL they don’t even inform you upfront you have to search through a bunch of BS to find it,” one commenter wrote.
“Etsy needs a class action lawsuit to stop these ridiculous fees,” another suggested.
In a follow-up video, Josh explains that the 15% ad fee applies to any purchase made by the customer who clicked it for “30 days,” even if the products weren’t advertised to them in the original ad.
“You are opted into this offsite ad feature when you start your shop. If someone buys something through one of these ads, you are charged 15%,” Josh explains. “Let’s say they come back a week later and buy another item from my shop. I am still charged 15%”
Several former Etsy sellers commented that the high fees drove them off of the platform entirely.
“Dude me and my husband used to have an etsy account for 3D prints and stuff but Etsy took SO many fees and it just wasn’t worth it anymore,” one user said.
“I just had this happen to me too. lost all my profits from my most recent order. I closed my shop because of it,” another wrote.
“I sell vintage cookbooks on Etsy. I make next to nothing for my items because of Etsy,” a third added.
The Daily Dot reached out to Etsy and Josh via email.
