A good profit margin for Etsy sellers: what sources say, and yours
By Felix S. Pavel · Published · Figures checked · 4 min read
Key takeaways
- No reliable public benchmark exists for Etsy shops' margins; the 10% to 50% ranges on seller blogs don't say where they come from.
- Large US retailers' net margins were about 5% in January 2026, but they pay staff and rent, so a solo shop's figure isn't comparable.
- Your margin is what an order keeps after every cost, divided by the order total: the example candle shop keeps 34%.
- A margin before paying yourself is only half the answer: check what it works out to per hour of your time.
There is no reliable public benchmark for a good profit margin on Etsy. Etsy doesn't publish one, and the ranges on seller blogs, often 10% to 50%, don't say where they come from. The closest measured figures are for large US retailers, whose net margins were about 5% in January 2026. A more useful number is your own: what each order keeps after every cost, divided by the order total.
What the sources say
| Source | What it says | What it rests on |
|---|---|---|
| Link My Books, September 25, 2024 | 10% is average, 20% good, 30% or more excellent; top sellers aim for 20% to 50% | Called a rule of thumb; no source given. The publisher sells bookkeeping software. |
| Marmalead, April 18, 2022 | A 34% margin is reasonable for handmade goods | No data given |
| Starting an Etsy Business For Dummies, updated April 26, 2023 | Wholesale price is materials, labor and overhead times 2; retail is wholesale times 2, plus shipping | A pricing rule, not a measured margin |
| Margins by sector, NYU Stern, January 2026 | Net margin 5.61% for general retail, 5.19% for specialty retail, 9.74% across 5,994 US companies | Company financial data, grouped by industry |
The blog ranges are reasonable starting points, but none of them is a measurement of Etsy shops. We looked and found no published survey of Etsy sellers' margins as of October 14, 2026. If one appears, we'll add it here.
The NYU Stern figures are real data, but from companies that pay staff, rent and managers out of their sales before the net margin is counted. A one-person shop's margin usually comes before paying the owner anything. The two numbers measure different things, so a 5% retailer and a 30% maker can't be ranked against each other.
How a margin is worked out
Margin is profit as a share of the price. Etsy's Seller Handbook describes it as the sale price minus what goes into making the product, divided by the sale price. For a shop, the useful version is per order: what one order keeps after Etsy's fees, ads, materials, packaging and the label, divided by the order total the buyer pays.
Margin is not markup. Markup is what you add on top of your costs, so a 50% markup does not give a 50% margin. The For Dummies rule above, cost times 4, is a markup.
- Item price + shipping the buyer pays
- $35.00
- Etsy fees (listing, transaction, processing)
- −$3.78
- Offsite Ads (average)
- −$0.42
- Etsy Ads
- −$3.00
- Materials
- −$8.00
- Packaging
- −$1.00
- Shipping label
- −$7.00
- Kept
- $11.80
$11.80 ÷ $35.00 is a 34% margin, about $1,180 a month at 100 orders. Made-up numbers; worked out by the site's engine with Etsy's Fees & Payments Policy as checked on October 13, 2026.
Two choices change the answer, so say which you mean. Dividing by the order total, shipping included, gives a lower share than dividing by the item price alone. And leaving out ads or packaging makes a margin look better than the money that reaches you.
Margin before and after your time
The $11.80 above is kept before the owner is paid. Say each candle takes 30 minutes to make and pack, and the owner wants $20 an hour. At these numbers, the shop's margin works out to about $23.60 an hour, which covers the $20 chosen. The same 34% on an item that takes two hours would tell a very different story.
How price moves your margin
Each extra dollar the buyer pays keeps about 89 cents after Etsy's percentage fees and the average Offsite Ads fee, so a price rise lifts the margin faster than it lifts the order. For the candle, with its ads spread over orders:
| Margin | Item price | Order with shipping | Kept per order |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0% (break-even) | $16.78 | $21.78 | $0.00 |
| 34% (today) | $30.00 | $35.00 | $11.80 |
| 40% | $34.45 | $39.45 | $15.79 |
| 60% | $61.38 | $66.38 | $39.83 |
These assume orders hold at the higher price, which they may not. A higher price can lose orders, so a margin target is a question to test, not a number to hit.
How to see yours
- Take a typical order: item price plus the shipping the buyer pays.
- Subtract Etsy's fees for it. The fee calculator gives each line.
- Subtract materials, packaging, the label, and your ad spend divided by your orders.
- Divide what is left by the order total. That is your margin before paying yourself.
To find the price for a margin you want, the pricing calculator works it out after Etsy's fees. If you'd like your own numbers for the whole shop, the check-up shows what each order keeps and where the rest goes, from seven answers.
Sources
- What Should my Profit Margin be on Etsy? A Definitive Guide · Link My Books · September 25, 2024
- Understanding Your Profit Margin on Etsy · Marmalead · April 18, 2022
- Pricing Your Goods for Your Etsy Business (Starting an Etsy Business For Dummies, 3rd edition) · Dummies (Wiley) · April 26, 2023
- Margins by Sector (US) · Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern · January 2026
- Pricing Basics: How to Price for Profit, Conversion, and Growth (search extract; the page blocks direct reading) · Etsy · Read October 14, 2026
- Fees & Payments Policy (Wayback capture October 10, 2026) · Etsy · October 5, 2026
Money figures are worked out by the same engine as our calculators, at the fees checked on October 14, 2026. Platforms change their fees; every rule we use, with its source and date, is on the fee rates page.