Guide · By DQ · October 12, 2026
You add a $5 gift-wrap option so buyers can send something ready to give. Or you charge $8 for engraving a name on a necklace. Then the order clears and the fee lines look bigger than the item price alone would suggest. That is not a glitch: several Etsy sale-based fees include gift wrapping, and a paid personalization fee is treated as part of the listing display price.
Worked US examples below use the 6.5% transaction fee and 3% + $0.25 processing. Facts are from Etsy's Help Center and Fees & Payments Policy (checked October 12, 2026). Confirm current wording in your Shop Manager.
| Add-on | How Etsy treats it for fees | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Gift wrapping (you charge for it) | Included in the transaction fee base with item price and shipping; gift-wrap transaction fees are itemized separately on the Payment account | 6.5% applies to the wrap amount. Processing and Offsite Ads also use an order total that includes wrap |
| Optional personalization for an extra fee | That fee is added to the listing display price; the total display price takes the same transaction fees | Engraving, custom text, and similar paid options are not a separate "fee-free" bucket—they raise the price Etsy fees on |
| Listing fee | Still $0.20 to create or renew a listing | Brief cost of being live; not recalculated when a buyer chooses wrap or personalization |
For US sellers, the transaction fee does not apply to sales tax. Non-US shops: transaction applies to listing price (including taxes the seller is responsible for), shipping, and gift wrap. Sale-based fees sit in Pending with the sale; listing/renewal fees debit Current in real time.
You turn gift wrap on in Shop Manager → Options → Offer gift wrapping. The price is per order, not per item. You cannot set the wrap price to $0.
When a buyer pays for wrap:
Gift wrap does not replace postage. It is an optional paid service on top of the order.
Optional personalization for an additional fee is added to the listing display price. The buyer sees a higher item total; Etsy applies the same transaction fees to that total (plus shipping and gift wrap if charged).
A $40 necklace with an $8 name engraving is not "$40 for fees and $8 fee-free." For transaction purposes it is a $48 display price, then shipping and any gift wrap on top. That raises transaction, processing, and any attributed Offsite fee on the larger order total—and it is why add-on prices need to be grossed up for materials and labor.
Assumptions: US shop, USD; transaction 6.5% on display + shipping + gift wrap; processing 3% + $0.25 on total sale price including shipping (no sales tax in the tables); listing fee $0.20 noted once and ignored in the fee totals; Offsite row uses 15% (never hit $10,000 in any consecutive 365-day period)—use 12% the same way if mandatory. Cap $100/order; 30-day attribution.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Item display price | $40.00 |
| Shipping charged | $6.00 |
| Gift wrap charged | $5.00 |
| Order total (fee base for transaction / Offsite) | $51.00 |
| Fee | Math | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction (6.5% of $51) | 0.065 × 51 | $3.32 |
| …of which on gift wrap alone (itemized) | 0.065 × 5 | $0.33 |
| Processing (3% + $0.25) | 0.03 × 51 + 0.25 | $1.78 |
| Sale-based fees without Offsite | $5.10 | |
| Offsite Ads at 15% (if attributed) | 0.15 × 51 | $7.65 |
| With Offsite 15% | 5.10 + 7.65 | $12.75 |
About $0.33 of the $5 wrap is the wrap's share of the transaction fee. Processing and Offsite grow with the larger order total even when they are not split into a wrap-only line.
Personalization $8 joins the display price → $48.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Item + personalization (display) | $48.00 |
| Shipping | $6.00 |
| Gift wrap | $5.00 |
| Order total | $59.00 |
| Fee | Math | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction (6.5% of $59) | 0.065 × 59 | $3.84 |
| Processing (3% + $0.25) | 0.03 × 59 + 0.25 | $2.02 |
| Without Offsite | $5.86 | |
| Offsite 15% | 0.15 × 59 | $8.85 |
| With Offsite 15% | 5.86 + 8.85 | $14.71 |
Versus Example A, the $8 personalization adds about $0.76 in sale-based fees without Offsite, or about $1.96 with Offsite at 15%—before engraving materials and labor.
Same $51 order as Example A:
| Scenario | Sale-based fees |
|---|---|
| No Offsite attribution | $5.10 |
| Offsite 15% attributed | $12.75 |
| Offsite 12% attributed (mandatory shop) | $5.10 + $6.12 = $11.22 |
Add-ons do not create Offsite attribution. They only raise the fee when the order already sits in the 30-day window.
If wrap materials and labor cost you $4 and you charge $4, fees eat into that $4. A simple US rule of thumb for the percentage fees that scale with the add-on (transaction 6.5% + processing 3% ≈ 9.5%) is:
Charge ≈ net needed ÷ (1 − 0.065 − 0.03) = net ÷ 0.905
| Net you need after 6.5% + 3% | Rough add-on price to charge |
|---|---|
| $3.00 | ≈ $3.31 |
| $4.00 | ≈ $4.42 |
| $5.00 | ≈ $5.52 |
| $8.00 (personalization labor) | ≈ $8.84 |
If Offsite at 15% often hits this SKU, use net ÷ 0.755 instead (e.g. $4 net → about $5.30). Keep the flat $0.25 processing fee in the main item/shipping math; gross up add-ons for the percentage stack. Wrap is per order—do not price it as if you collect it once per item in a multi-item cart.
Canopio's free calculator models the 6.5% transaction fee on item plus shipping (and you can fold wrap and personalization into the amounts you enter), US processing, and Offsite Ads at 15% or 12%. It runs in the browser with no sign-up. Free listing scores are available on the site, with optional paid rewrite packs ($2.99 for 10 or $9.99 for 40). For a one-time pass over a whole shop's live listings against your costs, there is a $9.90 Shop Audit (no subscription). Canopio is independent and not affiliated with Etsy; confirm current rules on Etsy's own pages.
Yes. The 6.5% transaction fee applies to gift wrapping if you charge for it. Gift-wrap transaction fees are itemized separately on your Payment account. US processing and Offsite Ads (when attributed) also use an order total that includes wrap.
Per order. You set one gift-wrapping price in Shop Manager → Options → Offer gift wrapping. You cannot set that price to $0.
Yes. Optional personalization for an additional fee is added to the listing display price, and that total display price takes the same transaction fees. Shipping and gift wrap still stack on top.
Yes, when an order is attributed. Offsite is 15% (opt-out allowed) if the shop never made $10,000 in any consecutive 365-day period, or 12% and mandatory for life once it has, with a $100 cap per order and 30-day attribution. The fee is on the order total, so add-ons inflate it.
Sale-based fees tied to the order—including transaction fees on gift wrap, processing, Offsite, and ROF where applicable—sit in Pending with the sale. Listing and renewal fees come from Current in real time.
For US sellers, the transaction fee does not apply to sales tax. Processing still uses the total sale price including shipping and sales tax if charged. Non-US rules differ; check the Fees & Payments Policy for your location.
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.