Which Platform Has the Lowest Selling Fees? (2025 Comparison)

Q: How do Etsy's offsite ad fees work?

When a buyer clicks one of Etsy's external ads and purchases within 30 days, Etsy charges you 15% of that sale (or 12% if you've made over $10,000 in the past 12 months). Sellers below $10,000 can opt out.

Quick comparison table

Here's the headline comparison. We'll go deeper on each platform below.

Platform	Monthly Fee	Per-Sale Fee	Payment Processing	Total Effective Rate*
WooCommerce	~$10-20 (hosting)	0%	2.9% + $0.30 (Stripe)	~3-5%
Shopify	$39+	0% (Shopify Payments)	2.9% + $0.30	~4-6%
Etsy	None	6.5% + $0.20/listing	3% + $0.25	~9-12%
eBay	None (or $4.95+)	13.25% (most categories)	Included in final value fee	~13-15%
Amazon	$39.99	8-20% (varies by category)	Included in referral fee	~15-22%

*Total effective rate estimate at low-to-mid volume. Actual rates vary by category, volume, payment method, and plan. Does not include FBA or advertising costs.

On pure fee comparison, WooCommerce and Shopify are the cheapest. But that comparison is incomplete without understanding what you get from each platform in return for its fees.

Etsy fees breakdown

Etsy has no monthly subscription, but its per-sale fees are higher than Shopify. Here's exactly what Etsy takes from each sale:

Listing fee: $0.20 per listing (charged when you list, renewed after a sale or after 4 months)
Transaction fee: 6.5% of the total sale price (including shipping charged to buyer)
Payment processing fee: 3% + $0.25 per transaction (Etsy Payments, varies slightly by country)
Offsite Ads fee: 15% on sales from Etsy's external advertising (12% once you hit $10,000/year in sales). This only applies to sales that come through Etsy's ads, not all sales.
Regulatory operating fee: A small percentage added in some regions to cover regulatory compliance.

A typical Etsy sale of $50 breaks down roughly as:

Transaction fee: $3.25
Payment processing: $1.75
Listing renewal: $0.20 (amortized)
Total taken by Etsy: ~$5.20 (~10.4%)

What you get for these fees: access to over 90 million active buyers who are specifically looking for handmade, vintage, and unique items. For most handmade sellers, this is a very good deal at the start of their business.

Shopify fees breakdown

Shopify's cost structure is subscription-based rather than commission-based. You pay a monthly fee and then a small payment processing cut per sale.

Basic plan: $39/month (or $29/month billed annually)
Payment processing (Shopify Payments): 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
Transaction fee (third-party processors): 0.5-2% additional on top of processing
Listing fees: None
Sales fees: None beyond payment processing

A $50 sale on Shopify with Shopify Payments costs:

Payment processing: $1.75 (2.9% + $0.30)
Monthly subscription amortized per sale: depends on volume
Total at 100 orders/month: ~$1.75 per sale + $0.39 subscription share = ~$2.14 (~4.3%)

Shopify's fees are genuinely low -- the catch is that Shopify brings no built-in traffic. You pay less per sale but you're responsible for every customer who finds your store.

Amazon fees breakdown

Amazon charges some of the highest fees in e-commerce, justified by its enormous built-in audience and (for FBA sellers) its world-class fulfillment network.

Professional plan: $39.99/month
Referral fee: 8-20% depending on category (15% for most)
FBA fulfillment fee: $3.22-$7.17+ per unit shipped (standard size)
FBA storage fee: $0.87-$2.40 per cubic foot per month
Advertising: Budget-based, but realistically 5-15% of revenue for most competitive categories

For a self-fulfilled (FBM) sale of $50 in a 15% category:

Referral fee: $7.50
Monthly plan amortized at 100 orders: $0.40
Total: ~$7.90 (~15.8%)

Add FBA fulfillment fees and you're looking at 20-25% of revenue going to Amazon. For a platform-only fee comparison, Amazon is the most expensive. But Amazon Prime buyers convert at very high rates, and the traffic volume can make up for it at scale.

eBay fees breakdown

eBay sits between Etsy and Amazon in terms of fees. It's a marketplace with built-in traffic but lower fees than Amazon.

Insertion fees: 250 free listings per month; $0.35 per listing after that
Final value fee: 13.25% for most categories (capped at $750 per order)
Payment processing: Included in the final value fee (eBay Payments handles this)
Store subscription: Optional. Starter: $4.95/mo, Basic: $21.95/mo, Premium: $59.95/mo. Reduces final value fees if you have high volume.

A $50 sale on eBay (no store subscription, standard seller):

Final value fee: $6.63 (13.25%)
Total: ~$6.63 (~13.25%)

eBay's audience tends to skew toward price-sensitive buyers and used goods. It's excellent for certain categories (collectibles, electronics, auto parts) and less competitive for others.

WooCommerce fees breakdown

WooCommerce is a free plugin for WordPress. It has the lowest fees of any platform on this list, but it requires the most technical setup and self-management.

WooCommerce plugin: Free
WordPress hosting: $10-30/month (varies by host)
Domain: ~$15/year
Payment processing: 2.9% + $0.30 (via Stripe, PayPal, etc.)
Per-sale commission: None beyond payment processing
SSL certificate: Usually included with hosting, or free via Let's Encrypt

WooCommerce is genuinely inexpensive to run. The costs come in time (setup, maintenance, updates, security) and the fact that you're completely responsible for your own traffic. There's no built-in audience at all. For sellers who already have traffic or a strong SEO/content strategy, WooCommerce's cost advantage is real and significant.

The real cost question: fees vs. traffic

Looking at fees in isolation misses the point. A platform's fee is partly a payment for traffic.

Etsy charges 10% of your revenue, but it brings you buyers who are actively looking for handmade goods. If you couldn't otherwise reach those buyers, the 10% is a reasonable marketing cost.

Shopify charges ~3% but brings zero traffic. If you spend $200/month on Facebook ads to drive $2,000 in revenue, your effective cost is 10% -- the same as Etsy, but with the added complexity of running ads.

The honest answer to "which platform has the lowest fees" is Shopify or WooCommerce -- but only if you can drive your own traffic. If you rely on marketplace discovery, Etsy and Amazon's higher fees are the cost of access to buyers you wouldn't have otherwise.

This is why many successful sellers use both: a marketplace (Etsy or Amazon) for discovery and traffic, and Shopify or WooCommerce for direct sales with lower fees and full customer ownership. See our guide on whether multi-platform selling is worth it for a full breakdown.

Frequently asked questions

Which platform is actually cheapest for handmade sellers?

For sellers starting out who need traffic: Etsy. The 9-12% effective fee is offset by access to 90 million active buyers who specifically look for handmade items. For established sellers with an existing audience: Shopify or WooCommerce. Once you have buyers coming directly to you, the lower-fee platforms make more financial sense.

Are there any platforms with truly zero fees?

No platform with meaningful built-in traffic is truly free. WooCommerce and a self-hosted store come closest to zero platform fees -- you just pay hosting and payment processing. But you're also building your own audience from scratch, which has its own significant cost in time and marketing spend.

How do Etsy's offsite ad fees work?

Etsy runs ads on Google, Facebook, and other platforms to drive traffic to listings. When a buyer clicks one of these ads and purchases within 30 days, Etsy charges you 15% of that sale (or 12% if you've made over $10,000 in the past 12 months). Sellers who have made over $10,000 in a year cannot opt out of Offsite Ads. Below that threshold, you can opt out in your shop settings.

Does Shopify charge a fee on every sale?

Not a sales commission, but payment processing fees apply to every transaction. With Shopify Payments, that's 2.9% + $0.30 per online order (lower rates on higher plans). Shopify doesn't take a cut of your revenue beyond payment processing if you use Shopify Payments. If you use a third-party processor, Shopify adds a 0.5-2% transaction fee on top of whatever the processor charges.

Which Platform Hasthe Lowest Selling Fees?