Offsite Ads is not a 15% mill on every Etsy sale. Etsy bills it when a click from Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Bing, or a partner network is attributed to a purchase inside 30 days — not for impressions, and not on organic or on-site orders. The rate is 15% under the $10k / 365-day threshold or 12% once you have crossed it, and the fee never exceeds $100 USD on one order. Transaction 6.5% and US processing 3% + $0.25 still come out either way. Full stack: Etsy seller fees explained.
Default matches the explained-page sketch: $32 item + $6 shipping = $38, US bank, listing already paid, no gift wrap. Offsite rate defaults to 15% (shop always under $10,000 USD in any consecutive 365-day period). Flip to 12% if that shop has already crossed $10k. Organic keep on the same checkout is the control — Offsite is $0 on that run.
Order base = item + shipping/gift wrap (the 6.5% transaction base from Fee Basics). Offsite fee = min(rate × that base, $100). US processing is 3% of that base + $0.25. Keep = base − 6.5% − processing − Offsite − optional listing. Planning only.
A “Etsy takes 15% Offsite Ads” headline is the wrong unit. The published help page bills Offsite Ads on attributed orders, inside a 30-day window, after a click on an offsite placement. Organic sales, on-site browsing, and a last click that was an on-site Etsy Ad do not take that 12% or 15%. Putting 15% on every order in the calculator is a stress test, not your shop average.
Source: How Etsy’s Offsite Ads Work (last checked 27 Aug 2026, same fetch as Etsy fees explained):
The explained page already worked $32 item + $6 shipping = $38, no gift wrap, US bank, listing already paid. Reuse that sketch. Do not invent a different processing pair.
The Offsite line is the whole delta vs organic: $5.70 at 15%, $4.56 at 12%. Transaction and processing did not change. A 15% mill that forgets the $3.86 already gone is how blogs overstate “Etsy took half.” $9.56 of $38 is ~25.2% platform+Offsite on this attributed US run — still before COGS, still not a 15% shop tax.
You do not pick 12% because you feel established. Help’s split is a shop-history test: always under $10,000 USD in any consecutive 365-day period → 15% and you may opt out. Hit $10,000 USD or more in any consecutive 365-day period → 12% and enrollment is required for the lifetime of the shop. This card will not invent a third band or a “first year free” Offsite rate.
On the $38 attributed order, crossing $10k saves $1.14 of Offsite ($5.70 → $4.56). That is real money and it is small next to COGS. The lifetime-required part is the trap: opt-out exists only on the under-$10k side. Confirm the toggle in Shop Manager → Settings → Offsite Ads before you model 0% as if you had opted out of a required 12% shop.
Help: the Offsite Ads fee never exceeds $100 USD on one order, regardless of order size. That is a published cap, not a typical-order guess.
| Order base | 15% raw / billed | 12% raw / billed |
|---|---|---|
| $38 (explained sketch) | $5.70 / $5.70 | $4.56 / $4.56 |
| $666.67 | $100.00 / $100.00 (cap starts) | $80.00 / $80.00 |
| $700 (card preset) | $105.00 / $100.00 | $84.00 / $84.00 |
| $833.33 | $125.00 / $100.00 | $100.00 / $100.00 (cap starts) |
$700 at 15% is the card’s cap preset: raw 15% would be $105; billed Offsite is $100. 12% of $700 is $84 — still under the cap. The 15% shop hits the ceiling first. Below $666.67 the 15% shop pays the percent. This page will not invent $666.66 as an official Etsy SKU; it is 100 ÷ 0.15, shown so the cap is a number instead of a slogan.
Offsite Ads is Etsy paying to show listings off-site. You are billed when a click is attributed to a purchase within 30 days. A view with no attributed purchase is not an Offsite line on this card. If the buyer’s last click was an on-site Etsy Ad, only the Etsy Ads fee applies — Help’s words, not a blog mix. Etsy Ads CPC is unpublished here; do not invent one and stack it on 15%.
Practical keep mistake: averaging Offsite 15% across a month of mostly organic orders. The attributed order pays 15% (or 12%) on that checkout. The organic ones pay 0% Offsite and still pay 6.5% + processing. Duplicate the scenario in the profit calculator at 0% and at 12% or 15% instead of blending them into a fake shop-wide 15%.
$32 + $6 = $38, US bank, listing already paid, Offsite 15% hits
Same $38, shop already at/over $10k, Offsite 12%
$700 order, 15% shop, listing already paid (US stack)
Thin-margin SKUs are where 12–15% on top of ~10% platform flips a sale negative. That sentence already lives on the explained page. This card is the attributed-order keep, not a new percent.
Handmade vs Amazon referral is a different stack: Etsy vs Amazon seller fees. Line-by-line Etsy: Etsy seller fees explained.
No. Only on orders attributed to an Offsite Ad click (30-day window). Organic and on-site stay at 0% Offsite. Last-click on-site Etsy Ad is the Etsy Ads product, not this 12%/15%. Last checked 27 Aug 2026.
15% if the shop has always made under $10,000 USD in any consecutive 365-day period (auto-enrolled; you can opt out). 12% and required for life once the shop has made $10,000 USD or more in any consecutive 365-day period. Cap $100 USD per order.
Listing already paid: organic keep $34.14 after $2.47 + $1.39. 15% Offsite keep $28.44 ($5.70 extra). 12% Offsite keep $29.58 ($4.56 extra). Same numbers as Etsy fees explained.
15% of the order reaches $100 at $666.67. 12% reaches $100 at $833.33. The $700 preset bills $100 at 15% (raw $105) and $84 at 12%.
How Etsy’s Offsite Ads Work, Etsy Fee Basics, payment processing. Then match a settled order in Shop Manager. Last checked 27 Aug 2026.
Open the profit calculator Etsy fees explained Etsy vs Amazon eBay Promoted Listings (not this)