Do Etsy Sellers Get Paid Before Shipping? | Answered

  • By: Reece Williams
  • Date: June 22, 2023
  • Time to read: 4 min.

Organising your finances is a key aspect of running an online business, and Etsy store is no different. Ensuring your cash flow is in the right place at the right time is key.

For example, you need money to pay for materials before you can even begin making an item. The same is true for shipping. Whilst you may advertise free shipping on your listing you still need to pay for it!

So it’s no surprise this is a big question for new sellers. How can I pay for shipping if I don’t have the payment yet?

Do Etsy Sellers Get Paid Before Shipping? No, not always. Etsy doesn’t send payments to sellers right away, so an Etsy seller may find they haven’t received their payment before shipping the product.

That sounds worrying, but there are a few ways you can get around this. Let’s look into it now.

Who gets the handling fee on Etsy?

Do Etsy Sellers Get Paid Before Shipping?

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of how payments work, it’s important t to clarify where the different payments go.

Who gets the handling fee on Etsy? The seller does. If a seller chooses to add a shipping cost through their shipping methods they will get that money at the same time the payment for the item. If a seller offers “free shipping”, then the cost of shipping must come out of the amount paid for the item.

Now we’ve cleared that up – let’s talk about money…

Does Etsy pay you right away?

The first piece of the puzzle is getting your money from Etsy.

Etsy does not pay you right away. The rules vary for new sellers compared to experienced sellers. New sellers will have to wait a minimum of 3 days before their payment is available for deposit. After 90 days the payment is available the next business day.

But this still doesn’t mean you will get it in those two time periods. Etsy manages your deposits on a schedule. The default payment schedule is 1 week, but payments can be scheduled daily if needed.

If you’re a new seller, for your first 90 days, your funds will generally be Available for deposit 3 days after a sale. When the 90-day period ends, Etsy Payments orders will become Available for deposit the next business day.

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002080688-Why-Hasn-t-My-Money-Been-Deposited-Yet-?segment=selling

Should I ship an item before payment?

On the face of it, this is a tricky question. Should you send your item before the payment from Etsy has arrived? Yes, if your item is due for dispatch you should send it.

There are a couple of reasons to do this:

  1. you have set an expectation with the customer. They are expecting that package to be posted, because you told them it will be posted. The key to good reviews and happy customers is setting solid promises and keeping to it
  2. you will be paid eventually. Your payment should never be more than a couple of days away. Unless you are doing a massive number of sales, you should have some cushion in the bank to see you through

How can I get my Etsy Payment Quicker?

There are a few ways you can get around the issue of your shipping payment not getting to you in time for shipping.

Keep a buffer

As your sales start to come in you should start creating a buffer. This is a small sum of money in your business account (or whatever account you are using for your Etsy store) that you use to cover basic costs in-case of an emergency.

However, this isn’t ideal when you are just starting out – but I would recommend having at least $50 to start your store with just in case you are caught short by Etsy.

Set a daily payment schedule

This seems like the obvious solution – but it’s not quite that simple (nothing ever is!)

Firstly, how do you update your deposit schedule?:

  • Sign in to Etsy.com and go to Shop Manager.
  • From Finances, go to Payments Settings.
  • Under Deposit schedule, choose daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly deposits.

So what’s so complicated about this? Surely I just set my deposit to “daily” and wait for my money, right? Well, not quite.

Whilst the deposit is “daily” you must first hit a minimum amount before you get paid. This minimum amount varies by currency, but some common amounts are:

CurrencyMinimum payment threshold
United States Dollar (USD)USD 25.00
British Pounds (GBP)GBP 15.00
Euro (EUR)EUR 20.00

You can find the rest of the minimum thresholds here https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360046998234-How-to-Receive-Your-Etsy-Payments-Deposit?segment=selling

Set realistic processing times

When a customer buys a product on Etsy they are told how long the seller expects it to take before the item is shipped. This is known as the “processing time”.

The purpose of this is to set a realistic expectation for the customer. For example, a customised painting may take several weeks before shipping, whereas a pre-made item can be dispatched much quicker.

Some new sellers believe “quicker is better” and set their dispatch times to be 1-2 days. However, this is counterproductive.

If you need the Etsy payment to be sent before you can send the package, then make sure your processing time is long enough for the payment to reach you. 7-10 days should be more than enough.

Conclusion

So, in summary – no an Etsy seller may have to ship an item without the money being given to them by Etsy.

However, with proper planning and setup this situation can be avoided.