Random Shipping Transaction fee

[YarnandLaser]

I use a shipping service to ship all my items.  Twice now I have been charged a transaction fee for shipping on two of the same items.  However, I am not using Etsy to ship and thus no shipping fee appears.   I have sold and shipped nearly 100 of this item, so it seems odd that two random times I am being charged 27 cents.   Has anyone else had this issue?  I have not gotten a resolution from support.

[bradgoodell]

This isn't new, or random.  Etsy has been charging a shipping transaction fee for years now.  It has nothing to do with where you buy your shipping labels, you are charged the same fee regardless.  Etsy charges 6.5% on the entire amount the buyer paid for item and shipping.  So the fee will be the same total amount if you do $30 with free shipping, $25 with $5 shipping, or $5 with $25 shipping.  Etsy breaks it down in 2 fees in your shop payment account, but it is the same overall fee.  

[WitticismsRus]

@YarnandLaser 

It's all the same fee as @bradgoodell  explained above.

I'll just add that if you have the free shipping guarantee turned on in your shop (it appears you do) and folks usually purchase more than $35 in your shop then that would explain why you may not see the shipping transaction fee much in your shop payment account. You would only see that fee when the buyer was charged shipping. If they got free shipping then that fee wouldn't show in the line by line accounting for that order. 

[bradgoodell]

Good point @WitticismsRus .  I didn't look at their shop, but if they are getting most sales with free shipping, that would make sense.

[AnniebelloPaper]

Etsy could totally fix this confusion by just showing the transaction fee for the whole order amount instead of splitting it up into item and shipping.

[BootifulLabels]

I can see the forum threads now.  "Why are Etsy hiding fees?" It wouldn't matter how they laid it all out, there would still be people who think Etsy is overcharging.   Fees have been shown this way for years, changing it now would simply cause more confusion. 

[AAANativeArts]

@GanglandLegendsShop

It doesn't matter whether you pay for your shipping through Etsy or anywhere else.

If you charge your customer for shipping, Etsy is going to take 6.5% in the US, (it may be different in some other countries), from whatever you charged your customer.

They didn't used to do this years ago, but too many people were trying to avoid fees by including some of the item cost in shipping, so then they started charging for all of it.

The same thing happened on eBay.

It is your responsibility to make sure you add up all your fees and then set your prices high enough to make a decent profit after fees.

It's Etsy's site, so they get to make the rules.

[GanglandLegendsShop]

There shouldn't be a fee for shipping, period. Sell something for 36 bucks and once all the separate fees are sucked out, there's not enough for a payout minimum, especially with the percent taken for what? Shipping fee? WTF even is that. Now, I'll never purchase a shipping label through Etsy, never again. And, they should do the minimum payout based on gross sale, not the amount left over. 

[ExtremeCreation]

You can thank some previous sellers who tried and some that are still thinking they are scheming Etsy of getting charged a lower transaction fee by listing items for sale at a every low price and charged crazy shipping fees to "make up" for the low price of the item. Etsy eventually caught on to this "fee avoidance" scheme and ended up changing how that charged their fees. 

It was not always like this. Etsy used to NOT charge a shipping fee. There are YouTube videos about this very same thing.

Its really silly that some think that people will not get what they are doing. For example, who would really think something that we know is worth more than a few bucks and the shipping cost is really only a few bucks but the seller charges $30+ for shipping is not questionable...

If any thing Etsy should have just penalized the sellers that were doing this and not penalize all...at least that is my thought.  

[BootifulLabels]

I'll never purchase a shipping label through Etsy, never again. 

The shipping fee has nothing to do with purchasing Etsy labels, they are not available in all countries anyway.  It applies to the amount the seller charges the buyer for shipping, regardless of where they actually purchase that shipping.  It is standard practice across Marketplace Sites and is aimed at eliminating fee avoidance.  Too many sellers would list a $50 item for $5 with a $45 shipping fee, so that they only paid the fees on the $5.  Years ago, many sites, starting with eBay and followed closely by Etsy and others, started charging the transaction fee on the full amount of the sale, including shipping.  That way there is no longer an advantage in lowering the price and padding the shipping for the difference.  

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@GanglandLegendsShop 

Because so many sellers, on platforms (not just etsy, but ebay, amazon etc) were gaming the system by hiking the shipping and reducing the item cost, to escape fees, all platforms changed quite a while ago.

Fees are charged on the total of the sale.

Ebay and Amazon just show it as 1 total amount

etsy breaks it down, so you see which bit goes where,

but they all charge on the total amount of the sale, it is nothing to do where you buy your shipping labels from.

buy labels from wherever you get the best deal.

....

minimum payouts are for when you set to daily deposits, and are restricted by law, to the actual amount of the payout,
you can change to weekly deposits, then "request it now" as they are not restricted by law.

however, if you can't cope with the cashflow of waiting for weekly deposits because you have the small amount that is under the daily threshold being held, then maybe selling online isn't for you

[mommawhazelsquilts]

@GanglandLegendsShop  It doesn't make any difference where you purchase your labels.  You will not pay the 6.5 percentage on your free shipping items, but if, and when, you sell the smaller and less expensive item, you will pay the %age on the shipping charge that the customer will pay.  Etsy will process that payment and you will be charged - going elsewhere to print the label will not make that charge go away.

In other words, where you print your label doesn't mean anything.  If you charge  shipping to the customer Etsy will rightfully charge the 6.5%.

[GanglandLegendsShop]

Yes, I finally dug deep to find out exactly what this 'fee' is all about. I previously thought it was a fee basically for the convenience of using Etsy's shipping label service. Then, out of spite, I sold an item and bought the shipping label elsewhere - ONLY TO DISCOVER - etsy STILL charged me an outrageous 6.5% !! So, then I angrily googled 'WTF is up with Etsy charging another fee for shipping' and a brief youtube video explained they charge EVERY SALE a 6.5% fee, regardless if you print label through them or an outside source. The video explains this as Etsy's way of preventing over-inflated shipping charges (i.e. sellers trying to cover the already inflated fees on Etsy).  In my world, this is simply called a 'racket' and a 'scam' and if anything should absolutely be eliminated - the 6.5% fee for shipping is it!

[BootifulLabels]

Etsy doesn't charge "another fee" on the shipping.  They charge 6.5% commision on the total amount the buyer pays.  They just show the charge separately for item price and shipping in the interests of transparency.  They have done this for years, as have other sites.  It has become industry standard in the last decade.  It was introduced to put an end to the practice of selling items for 99c and padding the shipping to avoid fees.  Not only were venues being ripped off for fees, but buyers who had issues with an item and needed to return it found they only got the 99c back and were rightly disappointed.  

As far as the tax man is concerned, every penny you receive from the buyer is revenue from the sale, so it is appropriate for venues to charge their fees on all of it.  In the event of a refund,  you claim those back as an expense just like materials and admin costs.

BTW, if you "angrily Google" ANY topic, especially with WTF in the search string, you will likely ONLY get rants from individuals who have been caught out on the same thing because they didn't do their homework before jumping in.  Misery loves company.

[bradgoodell]

Don't know why you needed to Google anything.  The fee was already explained earlier in this thread and disclosed in the fee schedule in the Etsy Seller Handbook.  

Your shop was opened in 2022. The fee was already in effect when you joined Etsy, so it really shouldn't come as a surprise, especially since you've been selling here for almost 2 years.  

Sorry you feel scammed, but this one is on you.

[BagmakerSupply]

@GanglandLegendsShop: As @BootifulLabels explained, we are paying the price because of unscrupulous sellers. We have been doing eCommerce long enough to remember when almost no platform charged their transaction fee on shipping, but then of course some sellers had to abuse that by selling an item that should be $20.00 with $5.00 shipping for 99¢ with $24.00 shipping.

[AAANativeArts]

@GanglandLegendsShop You have been selling on Etsy for 18 months. It has been that way since you first started. In fact, it has been in effect since 2018. Why are you suddenly surprised?

[CraftyCornishMaids]

@GanglandLegendsShop 

Fees are charged on the total of the sale.

Ebay and Amazon just show it as 1 total amount

etsy breaks it down, so you see which bit goes where,

but they all charge on the total amount of the sale, it is nothing to do where you buy your shipping labels from.

buy labels from wherever you get the best deal.

there are only 4 countries that can even use etsy labels, however, everyone s charged

....

If they didn't charge it on the full amount, they would have to increase the fees on the item - etsy is going to get the same amount of fees from us either way.

[GrandmaLaurieThings]

At least Etsy doesn't charge a fee on taxes.  eBay does.  That is one I truly don't understand.  eBay charges fee on sales tax that I don't collect, don't have any control over, and never see because they do all of it.  But I pay a fee on it anyway.  Maybe they consider it payment for them being the middleman for it.  Weird.