The first time most sellers notice Offsite Ads is when a sale comes in and the fees look far too high. You check the order and there it is: a line for an Offsite Ads fee that took a big bite out of what you expected to earn.
It feels like a surprise charge, but it follows a clear set of rules. Once you know them, you can work out in a few minutes whether Offsite Ads help your shop or quietly eat your profit.
The short version
- Etsy pays to show your listings on Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and other sites.
- You only pay when someone clicks one of those ads and then buys from your shop within 30 days.
- The fee is 15% of the order if your shop made under $10,000 in the last 12 months, or 12% if you made more.
- No single order is ever charged more than $100 for Offsite Ads.
- Shops under $10,000 can opt out. Shops over $10,000 can't.
How Offsite Ads actually work
Etsy runs ads for millions of listings on other websites and pays for those ads itself. You don't set a budget and you don't pay anything up front. The cost only shows up when an ad leads to a sale.
Here's the part that catches people out. The buyer doesn't have to buy the exact item they clicked on. If someone clicks an ad for your blue mug, browses your shop, and buys a pair of earrings instead, that order still counts. And they have 30 days to do it. So a shopper who saw your ad three weeks ago and came back on their own can still trigger the fee.
The fee is worked out on the order total, which means the item price plus the shipping you charge. It is added on top of the normal Etsy fees, not instead of them.
What it costs on a real order
Let's use a simple example. You sell a handmade candle for $35 and charge $5 for shipping. Materials cost you $9 and the shipping label costs $4.50. You're in the US and you don't use Etsy Ads.
| Normal sale | Offsite Ads sale (15%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Order total | $40.00 | $40.00 |
| Listing fee | $0.20 | $0.20 |
| Transaction fee (6.5%) | $2.60 | $2.60 |
| Payment processing (3% + $0.25) | $1.45 | $1.45 |
| Offsite Ads fee | $0.00 | $6.00 |
| Materials and shipping label | $13.50 | $13.50 |
| You keep | $22.25 | $16.25 |
That's a drop of $6 on one sale, from a 55.6% margin down to 40.6%. Still a decent sale. But now picture a product where you only make $5 on a normal order. A 15% fee on a $40 order would wipe that out and put you $1 in the red.
You can try your own numbers in the Etsy fee calculator. Switch the Offsite Ads option between None, 15% and 12% and watch what happens to your profit.
The $100 cap, and why it matters for big orders
For cheap items the cap never comes into play. For expensive pieces it makes a real difference. Say you sell a dining table for $800 including shipping. Fifteen percent of that would be $120, but Etsy stops at $100. The bigger the order, the smaller the fee is as a share of the sale.
If you sell furniture, large art or high-end jewelry, Offsite Ads can be quite good value. If you sell lots of low-cost items, the full percentage applies to every sale.
A quick test: should you stay in or opt out?
Here's a simple way to think about it. Take one of your best-selling items and work out your profit on a normal sale, after Etsy fees, materials, packaging and shipping. Then divide that profit by the order total.
- If your margin is well above 15%, an Offsite Ads sale still makes you money. The question then becomes whether those are sales you'd have got anyway.
- If your margin is close to 15%, Offsite Ads sales are close to break-even. You're doing the work for almost nothing.
- If your margin is below 15%, every Offsite Ads sale loses you money. Either raise your prices or opt out, if you're allowed to.
Remember that the fee is on the whole order. If shipping is a big part of what the buyer pays, the fee bites harder than it seems at first.
The case for staying in
It's easy to see Offsite Ads only as a cost, but they do bring in buyers who would never have found you on Etsy. Someone scrolling Pinterest or searching on Google sees your product, clicks, and buys. Some of those people come back later, follow your shop or leave reviews, and that helps your normal Etsy ranking too.
Unlike most advertising, you never pay for clicks that don't turn into sales. If your margins are healthy, that's a pretty low-risk way to get extra orders.
The case for opting out
The biggest problem is the 30-day window. Some shoppers might have found you anyway: a repeat customer, someone who saw your shop on Instagram, or a buyer who searched Etsy directly. If any of them clicked an ad along the way, you still pay the fee. You can't tell from the outside how many of your Offsite Ads sales were truly new.
Opting out also makes sense if your prices are tight and you can't raise them, or if you sell lots of cheap items where the fixed fees already take a big share.
How to look at your own numbers
Before you decide, check how Offsite Ads have done for you so far. In your Shop Manager you can see which orders came from Offsite Ads and how much you paid in fees. A few things to look at:
- How many orders came from Offsite Ads in the last three months, compared with your total orders.
- The total fees you paid for those orders.
- Which items sold through Offsite Ads. If they're mostly your higher-priced items with good margins, that's a good sign.
- Whether those buyers came back. Repeat buyers make the first fee easier to accept.
If Offsite Ads are bringing in a meaningful share of orders on items with good margins, staying in is usually the right call. If they mostly hit low-margin items, or the fees add up to more than you're comfortable with, opt out and see whether your total sales actually drop.
Price for Offsite Ads from the start
If your shop has passed $10,000 in sales, you don't get a choice, so the best move is to build the fee into your prices. Look at the worst case: what does a sale look like if it comes through Offsite Ads at 12%? If it still makes enough money, you're fine. If not, raise the price a little or look for savings on materials and packaging.
Even if you're under $10,000 and staying in, it's worth checking your prices this way. One busy month can push you over the threshold and you'll be locked in.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting the fee applies to shipping. A $15 item with $8 shipping pays the fee on $23, not $15.
- Running heavy sales or coupons while in Offsite Ads. A 25% discount plus a 15% Offsite Ads fee can leave almost nothing.
- Judging by one month. Offsite Ads results jump around. Look at at least two or three months before deciding.
- Thinking opting out stops Etsy Ads. Etsy Ads (the ones in Etsy search) are a separate thing with their own budget.
Bottom line
Offsite Ads are not good or bad on their own. They're a commission on sales that come from outside Etsy. If your margins can comfortably handle 12% to 15%, they're a fairly safe way to reach new buyers. If your margins are thin, they can turn good sales into losses.
Run your best-sellers through the Etsy fee calculator with Offsite Ads switched on. If the profit still looks good, stay in. If it doesn't, fix your prices first, and opt out if you can't.
Frequently asked questions
Can I turn off Etsy Offsite Ads?
Yes, if your shop has made less than $10,000 in sales over the last 12 months. You can opt out in your Offsite Ads settings in Shop Manager. Once your shop passes $10,000 in a 12-month period, Offsite Ads become mandatory and the fee drops to 12%.
Is the Etsy Offsite Ads fee charged on shipping?
Yes. The fee is a percentage of the order total, which includes the item price and the shipping you charge the buyer. It is capped at $100 for any single order.