Amazon vs Etsy Fees — Which Is Cheaper for Sellers?

Choosing between Amazon and Etsy is one of the first decisions every online seller faces, and fees are usually the deciding factor. Both marketplaces charge sellers a combination of fixed and percentage-based fees, but the structures are fundamentally different. Amazon favors a subscription-plus-referral model built for volume, while Etsy uses a listing-plus-transaction approach designed for smaller, independent shops. Understanding exactly how each platform takes its cut is the only way to know which one leaves more money in your pocket. This guide breaks down the fee structures of both platforms, compares them at real price points, and helps you decide where your products will be most profitable.

Etsy Fee Structure Overview

Etsy charges sellers a small flat listing fee every time you publish or renew a product listing. Listings stay active for four months, and the fee is charged again each renewal or each time a quantity sells and the listing is automatically relisted. On top of that, Etsy takes a transaction fee calculated as a percentage of the total order amount, including both the item price and any shipping you charge the buyer. This transaction fee applies to every sale without exception.

Payment processing is handled through Etsy Payments, which charges its own percentage plus a small fixed amount per transaction. The exact rates depend on your bank account country. Sellers in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union each have slightly different processing rates. Finally, Etsy runs an offsite advertising program that charges a fee on sales attributed to ads placed on search engines and social media. Shops below a certain annual revenue threshold can opt out, but larger shops are enrolled automatically at a lower rate. When you stack all of these together, total Etsy fees on a typical sale usually fall in the range of 12 to 15 percent of the sale price, sometimes more if offsite ads are involved.

Amazon Fee Structure Overview

Amazon offers two selling plans. The Individual plan charges a per-item fee on every unit sold and is designed for sellers moving fewer than 40 items per month. The Professional plan replaces that per-item fee with a flat monthly subscription, which makes it far more economical once you are selling at any reasonable volume. Regardless of which plan you choose, Amazon charges a referral fee on every sale. This is a percentage of the total sale price, and the rate varies by product category, typically ranging from 8 to 15 percent for most categories.

If you use Fulfillment by Amazon, you pay additional FBA fees that cover picking, packing, shipping, and customer service. FBA fees depend on the size and weight of your product and can add several dollars per unit. There are also storage fees for inventory held in Amazon warehouses, which increase during the fourth-quarter holiday season. Some categories, such as media products, also carry a variable closing fee per item. For sellers who handle their own shipping, the referral fee and per-item or subscription fee are the primary costs, but you then absorb shipping and handling expenses yourself.

Side-by-Side Fee Comparison

The best way to understand the real difference is to compare what each platform takes at specific price points. The table below estimates total seller fees for a standard item with no shipping charges, assuming a US-based seller, Etsy Payments processing, no offsite ad attribution, and Amazon's Individual plan with a typical 15 percent referral fee category. For Amazon Professional plan sellers, subtract the per-item fee and factor in the monthly subscription spread across your total units sold.

At every price point, Etsy tends to be less expensive in raw fee terms for Individual Amazon sellers. However, Professional plan Amazon sellers who move 40 or more units per month eliminate the per-item fee entirely, which significantly narrows the gap. At high volumes, the monthly subscription cost spread across hundreds of units adds very little per sale, making Amazon's effective fee rate much closer to Etsy's. The right answer depends entirely on your volume and product price.

Which Platform Is Better for Handmade Products?

Etsy was built for handmade, vintage, and craft supplies, and its buyer base reflects that origin. Shoppers come to Etsy specifically looking for unique, artisan-made goods that they cannot find in mainstream retail. The platform's search algorithm, category structure, and marketing all emphasize the handmade and creative angle. For sellers of jewelry, pottery, custom artwork, knitted goods, candles, and similar products, Etsy provides a ready-made audience that already values craftsmanship and is willing to pay a premium for it.

Amazon does have a Handmade category, but it is a small niche within an enormous general marketplace. The vast majority of Amazon shoppers are searching for mass-produced products at competitive prices, and handmade listings can struggle for visibility against factory-made alternatives. If your brand story and the uniqueness of your product are central to your selling proposition, Etsy's environment is a much better fit. The lower fee structure on Etsy is a bonus on top of that audience advantage.

Which Platform Is Better for Volume Sellers?

Amazon dominates when it comes to sheer reach. With hundreds of millions of active customer accounts and a logistics network that enables next-day delivery in many regions, Amazon gives volume sellers access to a scale that Etsy simply cannot match. The Professional selling plan is designed for businesses that ship dozens or hundreds of units per day, and Fulfillment by Amazon removes the burden of warehousing, packing, and shipping entirely. For sellers of standardized products in popular categories, Amazon's infrastructure translates directly into higher sales velocity.

The tradeoff is cost complexity. FBA fees, storage fees, long-term storage surcharges, and category-specific referral rates all add layers to your cost calculation. A product that is profitable when you ship it yourself might break even or lose money through FBA if it is oversized or slow-moving. Volume sellers need to model their costs carefully, but for those who do, Amazon's scale often more than compensates for the higher fee burden.

Can You Sell on Both?

Absolutely, and many successful sellers do exactly that. There is no exclusivity requirement on either platform, so you are free to list the same products on both Etsy and Amazon simultaneously. A multi-channel approach lets you capture different customer segments: Etsy buyers who value handmade authenticity and Amazon buyers who prioritize convenience and fast shipping. The key is to manage your inventory carefully so you do not oversell, and to adjust pricing on each platform to account for the different fee structures.

Some sellers use Etsy as their primary shop for custom and handmade items while listing their best-selling standardized products on Amazon for volume. Others start on Etsy to validate a product concept with lower upfront costs and then expand to Amazon once they have proven demand. There is no single right strategy, but the flexibility of selling on both platforms simultaneously means you do not have to choose one at the expense of the other.

How to Calculate Your Exact Profit

Estimating fees in your head or on the back of a napkin almost always leads to surprises. Each platform has enough fee types and variables that the only reliable approach is to run the actual numbers with a calculator built for the purpose. Enter your item price, shipping cost, product category, and country, and let the tool compute every fee layer so you see your true net profit per sale. Running these calculations before you list, rather than after your first month of sales, is the difference between pricing with confidence and discovering your margins are thinner than you assumed.

If you sell on multiple platforms, comparing the fee totals side by side is even more valuable. You may find that a product is meaningfully more profitable on one marketplace than the other, which can inform where you focus your marketing, inventory allocation, and advertising budget.