"What is the point listing and selling on Esty with the fees they charge."
The fees are disclosed before selling so that you can price your items accordingly.
Ignore the tax. That is a wash. That was not part of your listing price and should not be considered when looking at the fee breakdown. Unless that is part of the Canada GST/HST. I don't know anything about it (besides that it exists and have seen Canadians post about it), but as a Canadian, if this is something that comes out of your amount, then that's part of the research you need to do so you're aware of what to expect and can plan your pricing accordingly.
If the item had free shipping but you didn't factor that cost into your price, then that's a mistake you made. If you charged for shipping but didn't realize that Etsy was going to take 10% of the entire sale and that ate away at what you expected to receive towards shipping, then that's a mistake you made. I made mistakes in the beginning and lost money when I either underestimated what the fees or actual shipping costs would be. The difference is that I never blamed Etsy for my lack of knowledge.
It doesn't matter what Etsy's fees are if you aren't taking costs into consideration when determining your pricing. I know that if I want to receive $10 for an item, then I can't price it at $10. I have to price it at least $12 plus shipping. If I want $100 for an item, then I need to price it at $115-120. Because remember, the general fees are around 10%, but that 10% increases with a higher sale, so charging an additional 10% won't actually cover it, you have to consider what 10% will be on the inflated amount.
But your first statement was right, this isn't a technical issue. If you posted here because that's the only category you can post in, that's a separate issue going on and there are other posts where you can see how they are getting it resolved so you have access to the whole forums. Last I knew the mods had to fix something within the accounts, but not sure if there's working on a mass fix or just those who speak out and identify they have that issue.
