Attention Etsy Sellers: Have you ever looked at your payment account / finance tab within your shop and been baffled by how refunds, VAT or fees break down for your items sold?

Well, let’s just say you’re not the only one. Sellers have long been challenged by the lack of clarity in the Payment Account and Etsy has taken all this feedback from it’s seller community and finally done something about it. We decided to check it out, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with what we’re seeing now!

Changes were rolled out on January 3rd, 2022 and we’ve already noted a few key things that will be wildly helpful for sellers. Etsy announced the following updates:

Straightforward financial summaries: We've updated the way we summarize information - refunds, total sales and taxes collected - to make understanding your finances easier. Within those summaries, all refunds, credits, processing fees, and sales tax are separated out from each other. (Announced Jan 3, 2022)

Dipping into our own seller accounts, going through Shop Manager > Finances > Payment Account we were super excited to see the following changes:

1. A new, simple to understand Etsy Activity Summary that breaks down your finances clearly

They made it easier to see quickly at a glance:

Sales and Fees:

• Seller payments: Includes the dreaded refunds but also clarity on sales tax paid by buyer (Remitted) as well as VAT paid by buyer (Remitted).
• Seller fees: Includes processing fees, transaction fees and listing fees.
  

Seller Services

• Marketing spend: Includes Etsy in app ads vs. off site ads (as the former is charged on a cost per click on ad basis, while the latter is charged as a rate of 15% of the overall order price)
• Delivery costs: Includes cost of shipping labels and applicable taxes
  

2. A new, clearer view for Etsy Recent Activities on Orders

We were ecstatic to see a change in the way each item sold was now itemized when we scrolled down through to Recent Activities. Previously, one item sold would break down into three line items:

• Payment for order 
• Processing fee + transaction fee*
• Listing fee auto-renew
  

*Frankly, it quite unclear how much of this cost was transaction fee vs. processing in a quick glance, you would have to manually break down the cost by the fees to see how much was in each category. 

Now, we’re seeing this broken down into a much more clear and easy to follow format**:

• Transaction fee - %5 of item cost
• Payment for order 
• Processing fee - 4% of order + $0.25
• Listing fee auto-renew - 
  

**Please note that this breakdown is specific to this example shown here, so your actual processing fees may vary depending on your country (generally between 3-4% + $0.25 per order)

We have to say, we are just loving this new view/breakdown within the Seller Account. It’s no doubt going to change the way a lot of sellers look at their monthly summary and empower them to have a better grasp on their business finances in a clearer way than they have before. The detailed view that’s also now available in recent activities is likewise going to provide more transparency on a listing basis so that sellers can see how much they are getting charges in processing and transactions, and can hopefully use this data to create better pricing strategies, or consider how to implement free shipping or minimum orders on their shops to increase order values and drive more profits!

We hope that these new changes give you the tools to make a splash this year. But if you’re interested in getting more insights on your margins by individual listing in greater detail, the Propel Profit app can help you see your listings’ true profitability. We do this by accounting for all your expenses and cost of business (including your cost of goods, your time, and all these pesky fees associated with selling on Etsy and more). Join sellers that have already seen the Propel Profit advantage - try it free for 7 days, no risk, no credit cards required. We want to help you see the financial data that can make 2022 your most profitable yet!

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