What to Charge for Shipping on Etsy (Keep It Under $6)
Etsy favours US listings with shipping under $6, and a 3D print’s postage sits right around that line. How to price it without losing search or money.
Keep the shipping price on your Etsy listings under $6, and put whatever postage costs beyond that into the item price. Etsy has favoured US listings with shipping under $6 in search since October 2024, and because its fees are charged on price plus shipping, moving money from one to the other changes nothing the buyer pays and nothing you keep. In our quotes from California, a small print cost a little under $6 to post to Los Angeles or Dallas, and a little over it to New York or once the parcel passed about half a pound. That is exactly why this matters.
The product
Postage for a 201 g drawer organizer: about $6.57 from our live quotes.
Buyer pays, every way
$38.57
Etsy’s fees, every way
$4.11
You keep, every way
$14.44
Etsy’s 6.5% transaction fee and 3% + 25¢ processing are charged on price plus shipping, so the split does not move the money. Make cost $13.45 at today’s rates; sales tax left out. Calculated shipping varies by buyer, so its row shows a typical rate.
The number to remember
$5.99. Everything above it belongs in the item price.
Why $6Etsy says its data shows buyers are less likely to buy once shipping reaches $6 or more.
What Etsy actually rewards
- Shipping under $6
- US listings shipping to US buyers for less than $6, including free shipping, are prioritised in US search.
- Free shipping guarantee
- Shops can guarantee free shipping on US orders of $35 or more. Listings priced at $35 and up in those shops are left out of the $6 rule, because they ship free anyway.
- Calculated shipping
- Listings that charge the carrier’s live rate are excluded from the rule for now. The buyer sees a real rate, which for a print is often over $6.
- What is not affected
- Digital listings, orders shipping abroad, and shops shipping from outside the US.
Three ways to price shipping on a 3D print
- Free shipping
- The simplest for buyers. Add the whole postage to the price. It is easiest to absorb on higher-priced items, where a few dollars is a small share of the price.
- A flat $5.99 or less
- Show a low, honest shipping price and fold the rest into the item. Good for small, cheap prints where free shipping would make the price look high.
- Calculated shipping
- The buyer pays exactly what the label costs. Fair, and outside the $6 rule, but the price they see at checkout can put them off.
Whichever you choose, start from what postage really costs. In our live quotes, a parcel under a pound went anywhere in the US by ground for $5.27 to $8.23, and the typical one was about $6.14. The full table is in how to ship 3D prints. To see every Etsy fee and the price that leaves the profit you want, use the Etsy profit calculator.
FAQ
Under $6 for US listings, because Etsy prioritises US listings with shipping under $6 in search. Put any postage above that into the item price; the buyer’s total and Etsy’s fees stay the same.
Free shipping counts as under $6, so it is prioritised. Shops can also guarantee free shipping on US orders of $35 or more.
Yes. The 6.5% transaction fee and the payment processing fee are charged on the item price plus shipping, which is why moving postage into the price does not change what Etsy takes.
In our live quotes, a parcel under a pound cost $5.27 to $8.23 by ground, depending mostly on distance, with a typical parcel around $6.14.
Price it once. We post every order.
Every Etsy order printed, checked by hand and sent from Orange, California at the cheapest ground rate on your own Shippo account.
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