Sell handmade, vintage, and craft-supply goods on Etsy from Canada: check your goods fit Etsy's rules, open the shop in Canadian dollars, price the full fee stack, and ship with Canada Post labels.
Applies in: across Canada
Etsy is a marketplace for goods that are made, designed, handpicked, or sourced by the seller — handmade work, vintage items at least 20 years old, and craft supplies — not a general resale marketplace. A Canadian seller opens the shop on a desktop browser, chooses Canadian dollars as the shop currency, verifies identity, connects a Canadian bank account, and adds a first listing before the shop can open. The cost that surprises new sellers is not the $0.20 USD listing fee. It is the stack on every sale: the 6.5% transaction fee, the payment processing fee, and the 0.50% regulatory operating fee for Canada, plus tax on the fees themselves. Price all of it into the listing, set shipping up before the first order, and leave the tax collection to Etsy until you are registered and collecting it yourself.
This guide covers starting from scratch as a Canadian seller. If you already sell on another marketplace, the companion eBay guides work through the same currency and payout questions at the border.
Before you build anything, sort your goods into Etsy's categories, because the category decides whether the listing is allowed at all.
Made by a seller covers physical items you make by hand or produce with computerized tools such as a 3D printer, a CNC machine, or a cutting machine, including handcrafted, hand-altered, and hand-assembled items. Your listings must use your own photographs. Designed by a seller covers your original design sold as a digital download, or produced onto a physical item by a third party. If you work with a production partner, disclose the partner in the relevant listings. Handpicked by a seller covers vintage items at least 20 years old, items from nature, and certain curated collections. Sourced by a seller covers items that enable buyer creativity, such as craft supplies, party decorations, and items personalized with a buyer's text or image.
Two rules end more shops than any other. Reselling mass-produced items is not allowed, with limited exceptions for creative items that are handpicked or sourced. And reselling is not allowed in the Handmade category: an item listed as handmade when you were not involved in designing or making it violates the rule, even if the item itself is handmade by someone else.
AI tools have their own disclosure rule. Etsy allows AI tools where the seller contributes creative input and follows its policies, and sellers must disclose the use of AI within the listing description. Bot-generated content, AI-generated functional instructions such as craft patterns and recipes, and AI prompt bundles are not allowed. Services and rentals are generally not allowed either, except services that produce a new tangible item. Metaphysical services such as reiki and spell casting are prohibited, although supplies related to spell work, such as herbs and candles, may be sold without metaphysical claims.
Read the Prohibited Items Policy before you list. The headline categories on Etsy's page are alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and medical drugs; certain animal products and human remains; dangerous items including hazardous materials, recalled items, and weapons; hate items; illegal and highly regulated items; internationally regulated items; pornography and mature content; and violent items. If a product sits anywhere near one of those lines, check the policy page itself rather than guessing from a listing you have seen.
You need an existing Etsy account before creating a shop, and you must set the shop up using a desktop web browser. Once the shop is set up, you can manage it on the Etsy Seller app. Start at Etsy.com/sell and select Get started.
Three choices come first, and two of them are hard to undo. The shop language is the default language you use to describe your items, and Etsy states you will not be able to change it later, so choose the language you are comfortable communicating with buyers in. The shop country is the country you run the shop from. The shop currency is the currency you price listings in. Choose Canadian dollars when your bank account is in Canadian dollars: if the listing currency differs from your payment-account currency, Etsy applies a 2.5% currency conversion fee, and fixed fees published in US dollars are converted at the market rate when they land in your Payment account.
The shop name must be 4 to 20 characters, with no spaces or special characters, no profanity, not already in use by an existing Etsy member, and not infringing on another's trademark. If the name you enter is in use, Etsy shows suggestions for names that are still available, and the name is held for you while you open the shop. Pick a name that reflects what you sell rather than a name you will want to replace in a month, even though Etsy does allow a shop name change after opening.
Etsy only lets you open a shop in a country where Etsy Payments is available, and Canada is one of them. To get paid, connect your bank account to the shop and add a debit or credit card to pay your Etsy bills. Under the tax section of setup, choose whether you are an individual or sole proprietorship, or an incorporated business. The Payoneer route described on Etsy's setup page lists other countries, not Canada, so a Canadian seller connects a Canadian bank account directly.
Identity verification comes before the storefront. Etsy partners with Persona for identity and fraud-prevention checks. You provide a photo of a government ID and a clear selfie, and Persona compares the two. The ID must not be expired, and it must match the name on the bank account you added to get paid. You can keep setting up the shop while the review runs, and check the verification status later in Shop Manager under Legal and tax information.
Two-factor authentication is required. When you sign in from an unrecognized browser or device, Etsy sends a verification code, through an authenticator app on your phone, which Etsy recommends, or by SMS or phone call. Set it up with the authenticator app if your phone number gives you trouble.
Once billing information is added, a one-time, non-refundable shop set-up fee must be paid. The fee helps Etsy invest in support for new sellers and enhanced security checks. Its amount varies by location, and the amount that applies to you is displayed and charged as part of setup, in the Total due now section. Do not budget a figure you read in someone else's setup story: read the amount on your own setup screen, and note that taxes may apply.
A shop cannot open until it has at least one listing, so treat the storefront and the first listing as one job, not two.
For the storefront, add a logo that reflects what you sell, a shop banner showing your products, an About section telling buyers who you are and how you create, any shop team members or collaborators, and shop policies covering shipping, returns, exchanges, payments, custom items, and anything else a buyer should know before purchasing. Set up shipping profiles that state what shipping costs and whether you offer free shipping. Etsy also suggests adding your location so the shop can be found in local searches.
For the first listing, use your titles and tags to help buyers find the item in Etsy search, take high-quality listing photos, add attributes, describe the item in a way that captures interest, and set an accurate processing time so buyers know when the item will ship. Decide the shipping price or free-shipping offer for that listing as part of the listing itself, through its shipping profile. A shop that opens with one thin listing and blank policies gives a first buyer nothing to trust, so make the first listing the standard every later listing follows.
Price from Etsy's fee pages, not from a calculator that may carry a stale country rate. Three secondaries disagreed about Canada's regulatory operating fee during the research for this guide, and Etsy's own live page settled it at 0.50%. Check the pages again when you price, because Etsy reviews country rates each year.
The stack on a Canadian sale is:
Work one real order through the stack before you publish. A CA$40 item with CA$10 shipping and no sales tax in the total carries a CA$3.25 transaction fee, a CA$1.75 processing fee, and a CA$0.25 regulatory fee: CA$5.25 in order-linked fees, before the $0.20 USD listing fee, any tax charged on your fees, the cost of the shipping label, and any Offsite Ads fee. If that arithmetic leaves no margin after materials, packaging, and postage, the price is wrong, not the fee stack.
Buyers cannot tell from a listing page whether your shipping plan exists, so settle it while the shop is still empty.
If you ship with Canada Post, you can purchase and print Canada Post labels directly from Shop Manager. You must be based in Canada and accept Etsy Payments, and all sellers in Canada automatically receive Level 4 Solutions for Small Business rates when purchasing labels through Etsy. Label costs vary with origin, destination, weight, dimensions, fuel surcharges, and taxes, and Etsy shows a preview of the total cost after you add the package details. If you use calculated shipping, buyers see prices based on their location and the listing's weight and dimensions, using the Level 4 pricing available when you buy postage on Etsy.
Domestic services on Etsy's Canada Post page are Priority for the fastest delivery with signature confirmation, Xpresspost for fast delivery, and Expedited Parcel for ground service. All domestic shipping services include tracking, delivery confirmation, and coverage against loss or damage for up to $100 CAD. For other eligible countries, the page lists Xpresspost International, International Parcel Air, International Parcel Surface, Tracked Packet International, and the Small Packet international services.
For the United States, check the live page before you promise anything. At the time this guide was checked, on November 1, 2026, Etsy's Canada Post page stated that the purchase and use of shipping labels through Etsy with a United States destination is temporarily suspended in response to changes in United States trade policy, while the same page still listed United States services. Do not treat that service list as proof that labels are available. Recheck the notice on the live page, and confirm the carrier's own service availability separately, before accepting or promising a United States shipment on an Etsy-bought Canada Post label. A label bought through another carrier or provider is a separate check, not covered by this notice.
Two smaller mechanics are worth knowing now. A label bought by accident, or no longer needed, can be refunded if it is unused and unscanned, within 15 days of purchase, with the refund option usually available an hour after purchase. And buying a shipping label on Etsy automatically completes the order and sends a shipping notification to the buyer on the label's ship date, so buy the label when the parcel is actually ready to go.
Tax on Etsy has two separate parts: tax on what the buyer pays, and tax on the fees Etsy charges you. Keep them apart in your records.
For buyer tax, Etsy is the collector by default. Starting July 1, 2022, Etsy began collecting GST/HST on eligible orders placed by shoppers in Canada, including the tax in the buyer's total at the last stage of checkout and remitting it to the relevant tax authorities. Etsy also collects QST from Quebec buyers, PST from British Columbia and Saskatchewan buyers, and RST from Manitoba buyers, and is required by law to collect those provincial taxes and remit them regardless of whether you hold a registered tax ID from those provinces. Etsy charges the buyer tax only where it ordinarily applies to the item in that region, as listed.
That default changes the moment you add your own tax IDs. Add a GST/HST ID or QST ID in Shop Manager under Finances, then Legal and tax information, under Canadian Taxpayer IDs, and you are telling Etsy you are already handling the taxes you are responsible for. From then on, for a Canadian-to-Canadian physical shipment, you include GST/HST in the listing price instead of Etsy charging it at checkout, and likewise for QST on Quebec shipments. Adding an ID before you are registered, or leaving it off after you register, is how buyers get charged twice, so change the ID only when your registration status actually changes.
Registration itself follows the Canada Revenue Agency test, not Etsy's summary of it. You are a small supplier if your revenue from worldwide taxable supplies was $30,000 or less in a single calendar quarter and over the last four consecutive calendar quarters. A small supplier does not have to register. Once you exceed the threshold and make taxable supplies in Canada, you must register for a GST/HST account, and the effective date rules on the CRA's registration page decide when charging starts. If you register voluntarily before crossing the line, you charge, collect, and remit from your registration date, and you may claim input tax credits on the GST/HST paid on business purchases and expenses. Sales through Etsy count toward the threshold along with sales everywhere else, so track the total across all channels, not just the Etsy dashboard.
For tax on your seller fees, the rule turns on registration. If Etsy already collected GST/HST on an order, you are not charged GST/HST on that order's payment processing and transaction fees. GST/HST is always charged on the other seller fees, such as listing fees, Etsy Ads or Offsite Ads fees, and Pattern subscription fees, regardless of registration status. A seller who is GST/HST registered is charged GST/HST on all seller fees, and a Quebec seller who is QST registered is charged QST on all seller fees. Sellers in British Columbia are charged PST on all seller fees, while sellers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are not charged PST on any seller fees. The tax you pay on fees appears in your Payment account, and a tax accountant can advise whether you can reclaim it.
For income tax, the CRA's platform-economy page states the mechanics plainly. Report peer-to-peer sales income as self-employment income on your income tax and benefit return, with taxable income reflected on line 26000 and Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities, filed for each business you operate. If the business is incorporated, complete the T2 corporation income tax return with Schedule 125 instead. Eligible expenses include platform costs and the cost of materials such as wood, wool, paint, and beads, and claiming them requires proper financial records. Keep records of all transactions, including sales to buyers in Canada and other countries. To see the amounts Etsy remits for Canadian sales, download the Orders CSV from Shop Manager under Settings, then Options, then Download Data, and sort by buyer country.
Get those answers before you open, and the shop starts as a business with its currency, fees, and tax handling decided once, on purpose, instead of a listing that discovers the fee stack one payout at a time.
| Shop set-up fee | One-time, non-refundable; amount varies by location and is shown during setup |
|---|---|
| Listing fee | $0.20 USD per listing, for 4 months; $0.20 USD again on renewal or for each extra quantity sold |
| Transaction fee | 6.5% of the total order amount, including shipping and gift wrapping |
| Payment processing, Canadian bank account, domestic or United States order | 3% + CA$0.25 per order |
| Payment processing, Canadian bank account, other international order | 4% + CA$0.25 per order |
| Regulatory operating fee, Canada | 0.50% of item price plus shipping and gift wrap, excluding tax collected by Etsy |
| Currency conversion | 2.5% when the listing currency differs from the payment-account currency |
| Offsite Ads fee, on attributed orders only | 15% of the order total under $10,000 in the past 365 days, 12% at $10,000 or more, never more than $100 per order |
Fixed fees are published in US dollars and converted to your payment-account currency at the market rate when they land in your Payment account, so the Canadian-dollar amount of the listing fee moves with the exchange rate. Tax on seller fees depends on where you are located and whether you are GST/HST or QST registered — see Step 7.
Yes, if the goods fit one of Etsy's four categories. Everything listed must be made, designed, handpicked, or sourced by you. Made-by-a-seller items must be physically made by hand or produced with computerized tools such as a 3D printer, CNC machine, or cutting machine, and must use your own photographs. Handpicked covers vintage items at least 20 years old, items from nature, and certain curated collections. Sourced covers items that enable buyer creativity, such as craft supplies. Reselling mass-produced items is not allowed, and reselling is not allowed in the Handmade category: listing an item as handmade when you were not involved in designing or making it breaks the rule. If you use a production partner, disclose the partner in the listing, and if an item is created with AI tools, disclose the AI use in the listing description.
Opening costs the one-time, non-refundable set-up fee, whose amount varies by location and is shown during setup, plus $0.20 USD for each listing. On a sale, the order-linked fees stack. Take a Canadian order of a CA$40 item with CA$10 shipping and no sales tax in the total: the 6.5% transaction fee is CA$3.25, payment processing at 3% plus CA$0.25 is CA$1.75, and the 0.50% regulatory operating fee is CA$0.25, for CA$5.25 before the listing fee, any tax on your fees, the shipping label, and any Offsite Ads fee. Price in Canadian dollars with a Canadian bank account and the 2.5% currency conversion fee does not apply. Check the fee pages again before you price, because Etsy changes country rates from time to time.
Etsy does not require sellers to have a business licence to sell on Etsy, but you must follow any laws that apply to you as a small business selling online, and Etsy points sellers with questions to a qualified professional. For tax, the Canada Revenue Agency test governs: you are a small supplier if your revenue from worldwide taxable supplies was $30,000 or less in a single calendar quarter and over the last four consecutive calendar quarters, and a small supplier does not have to register for GST/HST. Once you are no longer a small supplier and you make taxable supplies in Canada, you must register. Etsy collects GST/HST from Canadian buyers on eligible orders by default and remits it, so do not add your GST/HST ID to your account until you are registered and collecting the tax yourself in your listing prices.
Sale funds land in your Payment account on Etsy first, and fees come out of that balance before anything is deposited. Deposits go to the bank account on file, on the deposit schedule you choose: daily, weekly, biweekly, or monthly, with weekly every Monday as the default for a new seller. For a Canadian-dollar bank account, the daily deposit minimum is CA$25.00, so a smaller available balance waits until the next deposit day. Updating your bank details puts a 5-day hold on funds in the Payment account. Once a deposit is sent, funds may take up to 1 to 5 business days to appear in your bank account. Etsy may also apply a Payment account reserve to a new shop that has not yet established a track record, holding part of the balance back.
Not through Etsy at the time this guide was checked, on November 1, 2026. Etsy's Canada Post help page states that the purchase and use of shipping labels through Etsy with a United States destination is temporarily suspended, while still listing United States services on the same page. Treat the service list as stale for this purpose and recheck the live page before you promise a United States buyer a label bought on Etsy, and check the carrier's own service availability separately. For orders inside Canada, buying Canada Post labels through Etsy is the normal route: you must be based in Canada and accept Etsy Payments, and you automatically receive Level 4 Solutions for Small Business rates. Domestic services on the page are Priority, Xpresspost, and Expedited Parcel, all including tracking, delivery confirmation, and coverage against loss or damage up to $100 CAD.
By default, Etsy handles it. Starting July 1, 2022, Etsy began collecting GST/HST on eligible orders placed by shoppers in Canada, adding the tax to the buyer's total at the last stage of checkout and remitting it to the relevant tax authorities. The same page covers QST for Quebec buyers, PST for British Columbia and Saskatchewan buyers, and RST for Manitoba buyers, which Etsy collects and remits regardless of whether you hold a registered tax ID from those provinces. The switch happens when you add your own GST/HST or QST ID to your account: then you include the tax in your listing price and Etsy stops collecting it at checkout, which is how double charging is avoided. Tax on your seller fees is separate. If Etsy already collected GST/HST on an order, you are not charged GST/HST on that order's payment processing and transaction fees, but GST/HST is always charged on listing fees, Etsy Ads or Offsite Ads fees, and Pattern subscription fees. A seller who is GST/HST registered is charged GST/HST on all seller fees.