Etsy To Slap Sellers With 30% Transaction Fee Hike (Again) 

Online marketplace Etsy appears to be screwing over its sellers (again) following a record-breaking fourth-quarter earnings report. The crafts-focused online marketplace announced raising seller transaction fees to 6.5% from 5%. 

The 30% hike is expected to go into effect on April 11. The transaction fee is the percentage of the total order amount Etsy charges when a seller makes a sale and is the second time the company has raised seller fees. The last time was in 2018 when it went from 3.5% to 5%. 

The added expense to sellers comes as Etsy announced fourth-quarter revenue of $717.1 million, up 16.2% year-over-year, which the company attributes to a strong Christmas shopping season. 

“We have demonstrated our ability to make improvements that directly translate into more sales for our sellers, as evidenced by record sales per seller in 2021,” Etsy CEO Josh Silverman said in the earnings report. “Our new transaction fee will enable us to invest in key areas like marketing and support to further extend our strong momentum.”

Sellers on Etsy’s community blog weren’t happy with the company’s decision to increase fees. Many sellers said Etsy’s ongoing squeeze on them could be the last straw, as one person called for a platform strike. Here’s what they had to say: 

“Etsy has become so expensive that my shop pays more than I make and the average buyer can’t afford to shop here. I have been on this site struggling away since 2009 and it has got to the point where I will save money withdrawing my shop. I wrote a long letter explaining my issues and never even got a response. I think I am going to retire,” one seller said.

Another seller said: “Even my little shop really should bump up prices because of the fee change. I’m afraid Etsy may be planning to keep bumping their prices up regularly now, so I’ll just have to risk some buyers deciding it’s not worth it. My work has to be worth it to me for the price.”

Some sellers are even calling for a “platform-wide strike” to protest increased seller fees.

Etsy is a business, and like any business today, costs are soaring because of the inflationary environment. The end result will be consumers who use the online platform will likely see prices increases come April as sellers pass them along. There’s going to be a breaking point of just how much inflation households can handle as consumer confidence slipped to 5-month lows last week as inflation bites.