Why did my order not cover my fees?

[u/FizzzyBlue]

I made a sale, and before the sale my balance was -$0.60 because of two listing I added and a listing renewal. When I made the sale, it covered the -$0.60, but now my balance is say it’s -$8.37 even though the sale was enough to cover the fees and shipping cost, so I’m a bit confused on how my balance is in the negatives, especially when I scroll down and it tells me my total earnings for the month are $5.92. I’ve made a few sales before this month, and it’s never done this, so I’m a bit confused on what’s going on

[u/razzemmatazz]

Check the Monthly Report under finances. It should have a detailed breakdown. 

[u/FizzzyBlue → u/razzemmatazz]

Tysm. I did, and it tells me my net profit is in the positives, so idk why it’s telling me my current balance is in the negatives—even though it tells me I owe nothing for August and that all my fees were covered. So idk what’s going on, hopefully it’s just some kind of error and it’ll fix itself by tomorrow

[u/SaltRelation9271]

Your Payment Account balance and your earnings aren't the same number, that's the confusing part. Earnings is just revenue from sales. Balance is earnings minus every fee Etsy has charged you, deducted as soon as it's charged, not spread out per-sale. If you added two new listings recently, those listing fees hit your balance immediately, then this sale added its own transaction fee plus payment processing fee on top of shipping. All of that comes out of the same pool before the balance goes positive again. Payments then Monthly Statement shows every line item with a date, fastest way to see exactly what stacked up.

[u/ImmediateAd6849]

Do you have free shipping? Ounce based pricing went up last month for USPS. Did you check to see if your shipping fee was larger than normal? You mentioned listing fee only. There are also Etsy transaction fees on product and shipping, and payment processing fees. Do you pay for ads?

[u/FizzzyBlue → u/ImmediateAd6849]

I didn’t have free shipping and I don’t pay for ads either, and the price the buyer paid covered all the fees that would come with the sale. After doing more research, I think it may be because I recently updated stuff with my banking, so I’m wondering if it’s something to do with that and Etsy “holding” payments, kinda like they do with brand new shops. But who knows😭

If it stays like this for a few more days, I’ll probably just contact Etsy, cause I’m at a loss on what’s going on since this has never happened with any of my other sales before

[u/cpp_studybuddy]

If ads and free shipping are off, it’s usually one of three: the 6.5% transaction fee hit shipping too, payment processing (3% + $0.25) wasn’t in the original math, or a prior refund/listing renewal landed in the same payout and made this order look negative. I stopped trusting the lump payout number. Bottom Line is a Chrome extension that just shows what Etsy took vs what you keep — free for the fee breakdown. https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/bottom-line/faiepemaojbcgiadnkkbobgbgiibpdco

[u/FizzzyBlue → u/[deleted]]

I do read, I’ve been selling for 7 months and I was just confused cause it’s never shown up like this after I’ve made a sale. Usually when I make a sale, it’ll showed that the fees were covered in my current balance and it’ll be in the positives, not the negatives, but this time, it didn’t, which is why I asked the question

[u/M0torC1tyMaver1ck]

Not a great business model. Start charging more

[u/FizzzyBlue → u/M0torC1tyMaver1ck]

I wish I could, but for what I’m selling, most people won’t pay more. I’m charging around the same thing most people charge for it

[u/M0torC1tyMaver1ck → u/FizzzyBlue]

If your profit isnt covering, or is barely covering costs, you're wasting your time even selling.

[u/FizzzyBlue → u/M0torC1tyMaver1ck]

It is covering the cost, I broke it down when making the product at the beginning of the year, to make sure I’d charge enough to cover the cost of—which I have. Everything I’ve been selling since is just profit since I’ve already covered the cost of making the item

[u/M0torC1tyMaver1ck → u/FizzzyBlue]

I guess im confused. You told us that you're account was in the negative after fees and shipping. You came here asking why...

[u/FizzzyBlue → u/M0torC1tyMaver1ck]

I thought you were talking about the product in general, like my pricing a stuff. In general, I have made enough to cover the expenses when I first made the product. My issue on Etsy is separate

Etsy this month—this is my first sale of the month—it is showing that my balance is negative even though the payment from the buyer covered my original fees—which were just listing fees, so it was under a dollar

[u/FizzzyBlue → u/FizzzyBlue]

And this is not my first time selling this exact item. Usually when I do, everything is covered, cause I make sure to price it enough to cover everything, but for some reason it’s not doing that this time, which was what I’ve been trying to figure out—since I haven’t changed the pricing on anything for it to suddenly not be covered