wareby vs etsy.

wareby vs etsy at a glance

marks the better side for local makers and shoppers. fees checked october 12, 2026.

what does it cost to sell on etsy vs wareby?

here’s every fee on the same $35 order (before sales tax), taken from each company’s own fee page.

on an ordinary sale, etsy’s fees are about a dollar lower than wareby’s free plan. when one of etsy’s offsite ads brings the sale, etsy’s share jumps to about $9. founding shops (the first 10 near you) get wareby’s loved plan free for a year: 6% per sale and no monthly fee.

on the loved plan, orders that come in through your own shop link or qr code have no sale fee at all, just card processing: $1.35 on that same $35 order.

etsy also has costs that don’t show up in a single sale:

• a one-time shop set-up fee for many new sellers. etsy says it depends on where you are and shows it when you sign up
• etsy plus, an optional $10 a month
• ads on etsy itself, with a budget you set
• card processing on the sales tax too, since it’s charged on the whole order

wareby has no listing fees, no ad fees and no fee to open. the paid plans are $29 or $79 a month for more tools, with no contract, and we give at least 30 days’ notice before any price goes up. see seller plans.

what are etsy’s offsite ads, and can you turn them off?

etsy buys ads for sellers’ listings on other sites, like google and social media. if a shopper clicks one and buys from that shop within 30 days, etsy charges the seller a fee on the whole order, shipping included, up to $100 an order.

the order doesn’t have to come right after the click. any order from your shop within 30 days of it counts, whether or not the ad is the reason they bought.

wareby doesn’t buy ads for your shop and send you the bill. the found and loved plans include boosts in “new near you” at no extra cost, and on loved, orders you bring in yourself have no sale fee.

how have etsy’s fees changed?

etsy’s transaction fee has nearly doubled since 2018:

in 2025, etsy, inc. (which then also owned depop) reported $2.88 billion in revenue, equal to 24.2% of everything sold on its marketplaces once fees, ads and services are counted. it calls this its take rate.

wareby’s prices are all on one page, and we promise at least 30 days’ notice before any of them go up.

who are you actually buying from?

etsy’s rules say every item must be made, designed, handpicked or sourced by the seller. “designed by” covers items made by a production partner, as long as the seller says so. drop-shipping and reselling are banned in most categories, but reporters keep finding mass-produced goods listed as handmade: in 2024, modern retail reported resold h&m and shein clothing and stanley tumblers listed that way, which etsy removed once they were flagged.

on wareby, a real person checks every shop before it opens: the owner’s id, the address they sell from, and a food permit for anyone selling food. only independent businesses can sell (no chains, franchises or drop-shippers), and shoppers only see shops within 25 miles. what “verified local” means.

can you bring in your own customers?

not to anywhere but etsy. etsy’s off-platform policy bans pointing buyers to your own website or social shop, offering discounts for buying somewhere else, and qr codes that lead off etsy. buyer details are for etsy-related messages only.

on wareby, your shop link is the point: send your instagram followers and your market regulars to it, and on the loved plan those orders have no sale fee. found and loved add qr code signs for your stall or counter, and loved adds follow-ups to past customers by text or email, plus subscriptions and preorders. like etsy, wareby asks shops to use customers’ details only to fill and support their orders.

where does your money go?

on wareby, the maker is within 25 miles of you. wareby keeps its sale fee (6 to 10%), the card processor takes 3% + 30¢, and the rest goes to your neighbor.

civic economics, an economic research firm, surveyed 318 businesses in 20 places between 2012 and 2022. independent retailers put 52.9% of their revenue back into the local economy (local wages, local suppliers, local services and profits spent nearby), compared with 13.6% for chain retailers.

on etsy, the seller can be anywhere in the world, and so can your money.

can you sell on etsy and wareby at the same time?

yes. wareby doesn’t ask you to sell only on wareby. plenty of makers ship across the country on etsy and sell to their own town on wareby: pickup, local delivery, and regulars who live nearby. on etsy itself, keep its off-platform rules in mind.

when is etsy the better pick?

questions people ask

sources

1. etsy: fees & payments policy
2. etsy: payments policy
3. etsy: off-platform transactions policy
4. etsy: creativity standards
5. etsy, inc.: 2025 annual report (form 10-k)
6. etsy, inc.: 2018 transaction fee change
7. ecommercebytes: etsy enrolls all sellers in offsite ads (2020)
8. techcrunch: etsy sellers strike over fee increase (2022)
9. modern retail: sellers worry about the “amazon-ification” of etsy (2024)
10. civic economics: indie impact study series
11. wareby: seller plans
12. wareby: seller agreement

we checked every fee and fact about etsy on october 12, 2026, on its own pages where it has them. fees change, so check theirs before you decide. spot something out of date? email hello@shopwareby.com and we’ll fix it.

etsy is a trademark of etsy, inc. wareby isn’t affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by etsy, inc.. the opinions here are ours.