Few things on Etsy get mixed up as often as "Etsy Ads" and "Offsite Ads." The names are almost identical, they both have the word "ads" in them, and they both take money — so sellers assume they're the same feature, or two names for one thing. They're not. They're two separate products, billed in two completely different ways, and confusing them leads to real, avoidable mistakes: turning off the wrong one, blaming a fee you never chose, or budgeting for the wrong cost entirely. Here's the honest 2026 breakdown.
The one-sentence difference
Think of it this way: Etsy Ads (onsite) is a faucet you turn on and control. Offsite Ads is a commission you owe only when an outside ad produces a sale. One is a budget you set and pay per click. The other is a percentage you pay after the fact — and above a certain size, you can't switch it off at all.
Etsy Ads (onsite): you choose it, you pay per click
Etsy Ads are the promoted listings that appear inside Etsy — at the top of search results and on other listing pages, marked "Ad by Etsy seller." You opt in, you set a daily budget (minimum $1/day), and Etsy shows your listings more often. You're charged per click, not per sale.
- Cost model: cost-per-click (CPC). In 2026, clicks typically run $0.20 to $1.50, with most handmade and craft categories landing around $0.20–$0.60; competitive niches like jewelry and weddings can push above $1.00.
- You're in control: set the budget, pause it, or turn it off any time. You never spend more than your daily budget.
- The catch: you pay for the click whether or not it becomes a sale. Ten clicks and no orders still costs you money. That's the risk you're taking on in exchange for control.
Offsite Ads: Etsy runs it, you pay a commission on the sale
Offsite Ads are different in almost every way. Etsy places ads for your products on outside platforms — Google, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and partner sites — using its own ad budget, not yours. You don't set a budget, you don't manage anything, and you pay nothing per click. You're only charged when someone clicks that outside ad and then buys from you within 30 days.
- Cost model: a flat commission on the whole attributed order (item + shipping) — 15% if your shop made under $10,000 in the past 365 days, 12% if it made $10,000 or more. The fee is capped at $100 per order.
- The 30-day window: if a buyer clicks an offsite ad today and comes back to buy three weeks later — even by typing your shop name directly — that sale still counts, and you still pay the commission.
- You can't always opt out: under $10,000 in trailing sales, Offsite Ads are optional and you can turn them off. Once your shop crosses $10,000, enrollment becomes mandatory for the life of the shop — though your rate drops from 15% to 12%.
Side by side
- Where the ad appears: Etsy Ads = on Etsy. Offsite Ads = on Google, social and partner sites.
- Who pays for the ad space: Etsy Ads = you (from your budget). Offsite Ads = Etsy.
- When you're charged: Etsy Ads = per click, sale or not. Offsite Ads = only on an attributed sale.
- Can you turn it off: Etsy Ads = always. Offsite Ads = only under $10k/year.
- What it costs: Etsy Ads = $0.20–$1.50 per click. Offsite Ads = 12–15% of the order, capped at $100.
Why mixing them up costs real money
The confusion isn't harmless. Three common mistakes come straight out of it. First, sellers turn off Etsy Ads to "stop paying for advertising" — then get an Offsite Ads fee anyway, because that's a different product they may not be able to switch off. Second, they see a big fee on one order, assume the ad campaign they're running caused it, and cut a budget that had nothing to do with it. Third, they price their products to cover a per-click ad spend but forget that an attributed Offsite sale can hand 12–15% of that specific order back to Etsy — a much bigger, less predictable hit that turns a "win" into a break-even.
Both are just more layers on a fee stack that's already easy to underestimate — part of why your Etsy fees feel so high in the first place.
So which should you use?
They're not either/or — most shops end up with both. Whether onsite Etsy Ads pay off depends on your click cost versus your conversion rate and margin (we go deep on that in are Etsy Ads worth it?). Whether Offsite Ads are a good deal depends mostly on your margin, since you can't control the spend (see is Offsite Ads worth it?). The one rule that covers both: price every product with enough margin to survive an ad fee, because you can't always predict — or prevent — which sales will carry one.
See what each ad type actually costs you
You can pressure-test a single product against Etsy's fees with our free Etsy fee calculator. But the real question — how much Etsy Ads spend and Offsite Ads commission actually came out of your orders last month, per product, against your real costs — only lives buried in your payment records. That's what Seller Profit Lens reads for you: it connects to your shop read-only, separates the onsite ad spend from the offsite commission, ties each to the products it hit, subtracts your own costs, and reconciles to the cent so your numbers match Etsy's. Then "are my ads paying off?" becomes a number you can look at, not a guess. It's in free beta now. Join the waitlist →