# Why Is My Etsy Deposit Lower Than My Sales?

> An Etsy deposit is lower than your sales because Etsy deducts its fees and taxes first, because charges such as shipping labels come out of the same account, and because sales that are not yet available are left out. A worked example below reconciles a $350 month to a $251.70 deposit.

Source: https://keepcent.com/guides/why-is-my-etsy-deposit-lower-than-my-sales
Updated: 2026-10-25

If your Etsy deposit is smaller than the sales figure on your dashboard, nothing is necessarily wrong. A deposit is not your sales total. According to Etsy's own help article on calculating your Etsy Payments deposit amount, the deposit is your Etsy Payments sales minus fees and taxes, and sales that are not yet available are left out. Four things usually explain the gap: Etsy's fees, other charges that run through the same account, tax, and timing.

## 1. The fee stack on every order

Each order carries several fees, and each uses a different base. For a US shop, Etsy publishes a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee on the item price plus shipping plus gift wrapping, and a payment processing fee of 3% of the order total plus $0.25. If the order came from an Etsy ad shown off Etsy, an Offsite Ads fee of 15% (12% for shops that made $10,000 USD or more in the prior 365 days) is added, capped at $100 USD per order. Other countries have their own processing rates and some have a regulatory operating fee. You can see all of it for one order in the [Etsy fee calculator](/etsy-fee-calculator).

## 2. Other charges in the same account

Etsy charges more than order fees to the same payment account. Shipping labels bought through Etsy, Etsy Ads, refunds and subscription fees are examples. They reduce the money available for deposit even though they are not "fees on the sale". Sellers who see a negative balance or an unexpectedly small deposit often find a batch of labels or a refund is the reason.

## 3. Tax

Etsy can charge VAT, GST or sales tax on its own fees, depending on your country and status. Tax that the buyer paid on the sale is also separate from your sales figure in many cases. See the [guide to VAT on Etsy fees](/guides/etsy-vat-on-etsy-fees) for how it works.

## 4. Timing

Not every sale is available for deposit the moment it is made. The statement shows a date in the Info column for sales that are not yet available, and Etsy says they are excluded from the deposit calculation until then. A month's sales and a month's deposits therefore rarely line up exactly, even when every fee is correct.

## A worked example

Suppose a US seller has ten orders in a month, each a $30 item with $5 shipping, so the sales total is $350.00. Two of the orders were attributed to Offsite Ads at 15%. She also bought ten shipping labels through Etsy at $5.00 each.

| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Sales | $350.00 |
| Listing, transaction and processing fees, 10 orders x $3.78 | -$37.80 |
| Offsite Ads, 2 orders x $5.25 | -$10.50 |
| Shipping labels, 10 x $5.00 | -$50.00 |
| Deposit | $251.70 |

The deposit is $98.30 lower than the sales, with no error anywhere. Of that, $48.30 is Etsy's fees, which is 13.8% of sales, and $50.00 is postage she would have paid anyway. Her profit is lower still, because materials and time are not in the table. The fee numbers follow the same arithmetic as the calculator: on one $35.00 order, 6.5% is $2.28, processing is $1.05 plus $0.25, and the listing fee is $0.20.

## How to reconcile your own month

1. Download the monthly statement CSV from Shop Manager, under Finances, then Monthly statements.
2. Add up the sales rows, then each kind of fee row, then labels, refunds and any other charges.
3. Look for sales with a future date in the Info column: they belong to a later deposit.
4. Compare the result with the deposit. If a gap remains, check for a reserve or hold, covered in the [reserve guide](/guides/etsy-payment-reserve-is-not-a-fee), and for refunds from earlier months.

The [guide to reading the statement CSV](/guides/how-to-read-your-etsy-monthly-statement-csv) explains the columns and row types in more detail. To turn fees into profit, use the [Etsy profit calculator](/etsy-profit-calculator). Rates quoted here were checked on 25 October 2026 on Etsy's [Fees & Payments Policy](https://www.etsy.com/legal/fees) and [Etsy Payments Policy](https://www.etsy.com/legal/etsy-payments). KeepCent is independent and not affiliated with Etsy, Inc.

**Is the Etsy deposit the same as my profit?** No. The deposit is what is left of your Etsy Payments sales after Etsy's fees, taxes and other account charges. Your profit is lower again, because it also subtracts materials, postage you paid, packaging, ads and your time.

**Why are some sales missing from my deposit?** Etsy's help article on calculating your deposit says sales that are not yet available show a date in the Info column of the monthly statement and are excluded from the calculation until that date. They are paid out in a later deposit.

**Where can I see the numbers behind a deposit?** Download the monthly statement CSV in Shop Manager under Finances, then Monthly statements. It lists sales, fees and other charges as separate rows, so you can add them up and compare with the deposit.

**Does a payment reserve explain a lower deposit?** It can delay money, which makes a deposit look lower for a while, but a reserve is not a fee and the money is still yours. Read our guide on the difference between a reserve and a fee.

**Can the Etsy fee calculator predict my deposit?** It shows the fees on a single order, which is most of the gap. It cannot know about labels you bought, refunds, timing or holds, so use it as a check, not as a replacement for your statement.