How to price for US tariffs on Etsy
Facts checked 2026-11-03 · HTS Revision 22 (2026)
Adding “the tariff” to your price sounds simple, but three things grow with the price: the duty (charged on the value you declare, normally what the buyer paid for the item), Etsy’s percentage fees, and any carrier fee that is a percentage of the duty. So the right US price is found by grossing up, not by adding.
The inputs you need
| Input | Where to get it |
|---|---|
| Your cost to make and post one item | Your records |
| Duty rate | Your HTS line’s General rate + any Chapter 99 add-on for your origin country (lookup) |
| Etsy fees | Transaction fee 6.5% of item price plus shipping (Etsy); payment processing by bank country, e.g. UK 4% + £0.20, Canada 3% + CA$0.25 for orders from the US (Etsy); regulatory operating fee in some countries, e.g. UK 0.48%, Canada 0.50%, France 1.14% (Etsy) |
| Carrier DDP fees | Your carrier’s rate guide (see postal vs courier) |
The method
- Decide your target: a fixed profit per sale, or a margin percentage of what the buyer pays.
- Write profit as a function of price:
profit(P) = P + ship − fees(P + ship) − duty × P − carrierFees − cost − postage. - Find the P where profit(P) equals your target. DDPCalc does this numerically, so it also handles minimum fees (like a courier’s $17.50 floor) that break simple formulas.
- Round up to a price ending you like (.99, .95 or whole), never down.
Worked example
A UK maker sells a cotton tote. Cost £12, postage £9, shipping charged £9, target £10 profit. Origin UK, so the HTS General rate for the line plus the 10% UK add-on in Chapter 99 heading 9903.05.81 applies (HTS). Open it below, choose your HTS line, and the calculator shows every fee line, including how much of Etsy’s fee is charged on the duty itself.
Try it with your numbers. The link below opens the calculator prefilled for this case. Change anything.
Price the tote example →Variations
Each size or material has its own cost and often its own postage, so each needs its own US price. Etsy’s tariff estimator does not work on listings with price variations (Etsy Help); our variation table prices every row and exports a CSV.
FAQ
Should I add the tariff to the price or to shipping?
Either way Etsy’s transaction fee applies to both item price and shipping, so the fee-on-fee effect is the same. Most sellers use US-specific item pricing so the duty is visible only to US buyers.
What is the formula?
Solve for price P where P + shipping − marketplace fees(P + shipping) − duty(P) − carrier fees − cost − postage = target profit. Because fees and duty grow with P, the answer needs a gross-up, not a simple add-on.
Sources
- Etsy Fees & Payments Policy
- Etsy Help: payment processing fees by country
- Etsy Help: Regulatory Operating fee
- USITC Harmonized Tariff Schedule
Estimate and general information only, not legal, tax or customs advice.