Guide · By DQ · October 5, 2026
Etsy has two advertising programs with confusingly similar names. Etsy Ads are the ads you switch on and budget yourself, and they appear on Etsy. Offsite Ads are ads Etsy runs for you on Google, social media and other sites, and you pay a share of the sale when one works. They're billed in completely different ways.
This guide compares the two side by side, explains what happens when both are involved, and shows simple break-even math for each. Every rule below comes from Etsy's Help Center (linked at the end). Etsy updates these programs from time to time, so check Shop Manager for current details.
| Etsy Ads | Offsite Ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Where ads appear | On Etsy: search, category pages, Market pages, web and app | Off Etsy: Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Bing, Etsy Publishing Partner sites, Google Display Network |
| How you pay | Per click (cost-per-click auction) | Per sale: 15% or 12% of the attributed order total |
| Budget | You set a daily budget (minimum $1) and never spend more than it | No budget setting |
| Cap | Your daily budget | $100 per order |
| Choose listings? | Yes. Turn ads on or off per listing | No. Etsy picks based on what performs on each channel |
| Can you turn it off? | Yes, any time | Only if your shop has never made $10,000 in any consecutive 365-day period |
| When you're charged | Clicks are totalled daily and usually added to your Payment account the next day | Only when an ad click leads to a purchase within 30 days |
Etsy Ads are an auction for ad spots on Etsy. Your listings compete on two things: how likely shoppers are to click (Etsy calls this listing quality) and the bid, the most you'd pay for one click. Etsy sets bids automatically based on likelihood of sale and relevance to the shopper's search. You don't type in a bid per keyword.
Key rules from Etsy:
With Offsite Ads, Etsy shares your listing data with ad platforms and promotes listings at its discretion. You pay nothing up front and nothing for clicks. You pay only when a buyer clicks an ad and buys from your shop within 30 days:
To opt out (if eligible): Shop Manager → Settings → Offsite Ads → Opt out of Offsite Ads. To see attributed orders and fees: Shop Manager → Marketing → Offsite Ads.
Etsy's rule: if a buyer clicked an Offsite Ad but their final click before purchasing was an Etsy Ad, only the Etsy Ads cost applies. There's no Offsite Ads fee on that order. The two programs don't stack on the same sale.
Use one example order: $25 item + $5 shipping = $30, with $13.00 of product, postage and packaging (US rates).
Etsy's standard fees: 6.5% × $30 = $1.95, processing 3% × $30 + $0.25 = $1.15, listing $0.20, which makes $3.30. Profit before any advertising: $13.70 (45.7%).
The cost is known in advance. The question is whether those sales are extra sales you wouldn't otherwise have made, and whether your cheapest listings can absorb 12–15% at all. A $3 sticker with $1.60 of costs makes about $0.67 organically and about $0.22 after a 15% Offsite Ads fee.
With Etsy Ads, the cost per order is total ad spend ÷ orders from ads, and it isn't fixed. Two hypothetical cases:
| Ad spend | Orders from ads | Ad cost per order | Profit per order |
|---|---|---|---|
| $10 | 4 | $2.50 | $11.20 |
| $20 | 2 | $10.00 | $3.70 |
For this listing, the break-even ad cost per order is $13.70. Spend more than that to win a sale and you lose money on it. An easier rule of thumb: Etsy Ads are "cheaper than Offsite Ads" for this listing when ad cost per order is below $4.50 (the 15% fee). In return-on-ad-spend terms, break-even is $30 ÷ $13.70 ≈ 2.2× revenue per $1 of ad spend.
Etsy recommends running a listing strategy for at least 30 days before judging it, so look at a full month of spend and orders, not one good or bad day.
If you want to see these numbers for a real order, Canopio has a free calculator with Organic, Etsy Ads (enter your ad spend) and Offsite Ads (12% or 15%, with the $100 cap) modes, and it runs in your browser. The optional $9.90 one-time Shop Audit (no subscription) applies the same math to every live listing. Canopio is independent and not affiliated with Etsy.
No. Etsy Ads appear on Etsy and are paid per click from a daily budget you set. Offsite Ads appear on other sites and cost 15% or 12% of an attributed sale, capped at $100.
Only if your shop has never made $10,000 USD or more in any consecutive 365-day period. Once it has, participation is required for the lifetime of the shop.
$1 per day. New shops have to wait 15 days after opening before starting a campaign.
No. If the buyer's last click before purchasing was an Etsy Ad, only the Etsy Ads cost applies, not the Offsite Ads fee.
Canopio is independent and not affiliated with Etsy, Inc. Examples are hypothetical and use US rates unless noted. Confirm current fees in your Shop Manager.