Shopify vs Etsy fees
The only comparison here where the answer depends on how much you sell rather than what you sell it for. Shopify charges a fixed monthly fee and a low per-sale rate; Etsy charges nothing monthly and roughly three times the rate. Where they cross is a question about volume.
On a $50.00 sale, Shopify leaves you $3.45 more — 6.9% of what the buyer paid. Over 100 sales like this one that is $345.00.
| Buyer pays | item + shipping | $50.00 |
Online card rate | 2.9% of $50.00 | −$1.45 |
Per-transaction fee | $0.30 flat | −$0.30 |
| Total fees | −$1.75 | |
| Reaches your account | $48.25 | |
Plus $29.00 per month, billed yearly, which is not a per-sale cost and is left out of the figures above.
| Buyer pays | item + shipping | $50.00 |
Listing fee Charged when you list, and again every four months on renewal. | $0.20 per listing | −$0.20 |
Transaction fee Charged on the order total, shipping included. | 6.5% of $50.00 | −$3.25 |
Payment processing | 3% of $50.00 + $0.25 | −$1.75 |
| Total fees | −$5.20 | |
| Reaches your account | $44.80 | |
Which is actually cheaper?
At default settings, there is no crossover price. Shopify keeps you more at every price from $1 to $20,000, so unlike most comparisons this one is not a question of order size. Articles that answer it with a single worked example happen to be right here — but only for the setup they assumed, which is the part they do not say.
Nothing in the schedules reverses it
Every option either platform publishes was tried against a $50.00 sale, one at a time. None of them put Etsy ahead. That is a stronger statement than a worked example, and it is the reason to trust this one.
- Shopify: GrowShopify+$3.55
- Shopify: AdvancedShopify+$3.65
- Shopify: Billed monthlyShopify+$3.45
- Shopify: Third-party providerShopify+$4.20
- Etsy: Offsite Ads sale — under $10k/yrShopify+$10.95
- Etsy: Offsite Ads sale — $10k+/yrShopify+$9.45
The monthly fee, honestly
Shopify costs $29.00 a month whether you sell nothing or everything, so the per-sale comparison above is only half the picture. On a $50.00 sale it saves $3.45 against Etsy — which means the plan pays for itself at 9 orders a month, and costs you money below that.
That is the number the usual advice approximates when it says “switch above $3,000 a month”. It depends on your order value, not your revenue: at a lower price per sale the saving per order shrinks and the break-even count rises. Change the price above and the whole comparison moves with it.
Cheaper is not the same as better
This page prices a transaction. It cannot price the thing that usually matters more: a marketplace brings you a buyer who was never going to find your own site, and that traffic is worth a percentage that no fee table can put a number on. A platform that takes more and sells more of your stock is the better platform, and no arithmetic here can tell you whether that is the case for you.
So treat the figures as one input. Saufee states what each one charges; where to sell is your call.
What this calculator does not cover
- The plan fee is not a per-sale cost and is shown separately. Spread it across your real monthly order count to get a true blended rate.
- Rates shown are for online card payments. In-person and manually keyed rates differ.
- Starter, Plus and Enterprise plans are priced separately and are not modelled here.
What this calculator does not cover
- Payment processing rates are set per country. The 3% + $0.25 used here is the United States rate.
- Shops that pass $10,000 in a 365-day window are enrolled in Offsite Ads permanently and cannot opt out.
- Etsy Plus, Pattern and in-person Square sales carry separate charges not modelled here.
Other comparisons
These calculators are free, and they stay free
There is no account, no email wall and nothing for sale here, which is deliberate — it is what lets the site publish what platforms actually charge and link to where each rate came from. Re-reading ten fee schedules every week is the unglamorous part, and it is what keeps the numbers worth trusting. If that saved you a bad listing decision, you are welcome to put a little toward the domain and the hosting. If it did not, please do not.
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