🇺🇸 Updated 2026-07-27 · 5 min read · every figure sourced & dated (dataset 2026.10)
If you list the same $30 product on Amazon and Etsy, you will not keep the same amount of money. The two platforms charge in completely different ways, and the “cheaper” one flips depending on what you sell and what it costs. Here’s the 2026 picture, from the same sourced dataset that powers our Amazon US and Etsy US calculators.
Amazon takes a single referral fee on the total sale (item price plus the shipping you collect): 15% in most categories and 8% for electronics, with a $0.30 minimum. Clothing is not one rate any more. Since January 2026 it is price-tiered: 5% at $15 or less, 10% from $15 to $20, and 17% above $20, so a cheap t-shirt and a $40 jacket are charged completely differently. That is it for the sale itself, but selling seriously means the $39.99/month Professional plan, and if you use FBA, fulfilment fees on top.
Etsy looks far cheaper at first: a 6.5% transaction fee. The catch is the pile of smaller charges around it — a $0.20 listing fee per item (renewed every four years or per sale), and Etsy Payments at 3% + $0.25 per order. On a $30 sale that stacks up to roughly $3.30 all-in — about 11%.
Take a $30 apparel item costing $8, with $5 shipping:
So on apparel above $20, Etsy wins on fees, and it keeps winning as the price rises: at $120 the same item nets about $95.15 on Etsy against $86.60 on Amazon, because 9.5% all-in beats 17% at every price. Amazon turns the tables where its own rate is lower. In electronics its 8% band nets about $14.60 on the $30 item against Etsy’s $13.70, and clothing at $15 or less pays just 5%. Category and price decide it, which is exactly why a single “who is cheaper” answer is misleading. Fees are also only half the question: Amazon’s traffic usually converts volume that Etsy cannot match.
Every figure above is hand-written into this post rather than read from the Farolane dataset, because the post is Markdown prose. They were checked against the dataset and the shared calculation engine on 16 October 2026, and the nets quoted are what the calculators return for the same inputs. The country landing posts (US, UK, EU, India) read their rates from the dataset directly, so those cannot drift.
Etsy is cheaper on fees for most apparel and general goods at any price, and its fixed fees only bite on very low-priced items. Amazon wins where its own category rate is lower, in electronics and sub-$15 clothing, and on reach, at the cost of a monthly fee and ad spend. Don’t take a rule of thumb — put your real price, cost and category into the Amazon and Etsy calculators, or compare every US marketplace at once on the United States hub.
On fees, usually yes. Etsy's 6.5% transaction fee plus 3% + $0.25 payment processing lands around 9.5% to 11% all-in, below Amazon's 15% in most categories. The exceptions matter though: Amazon charges 8% on electronics and only 5% on clothing at $15 or less, where it is the cheaper option. Amazon also adds the $39.99/month Professional plan and, if used, FBA, while Etsy brings much less traffic per listing. Run your own price and category through the calculators.
Amazon charges a referral fee on the full sale (item + shipping): 15% in most categories and 8% for electronics, with a $0.30 minimum. Clothing is price-tiered since the January 2026 cuts: 5% at $15 or less, 10% from $15 to $20, and 17% above $20. US referral fees are frozen through 2026. A Professional seller account is $39.99/month, and FBA fulfilment is extra.
Both do. Amazon and Etsy are marketplace facilitators, so they collect and remit US state sales tax at checkout — it never touches your margin. You only handle sales tax yourself on an own-store platform like Shopify where you have nexus.