Etsy UK Shipping Options for Sellers

After a sale, open the order and choose to buy a postage label. Etsy previews the price before you commit, pre-fills the buyer's address, attaches the tracking number to the order and notifies the buyer when the parcel is dispatched. Etsy says its label prices are discounted but does not publish by how much, so compare the preview with royalmail.com and evri.com if the sums matter to you. The postage you charge the buyer is whatever your listing or Shipping Profile says, so the label cost and the postage charged are two different numbers.

For UK orders you can buy 1st and 2nd Class, Signed For, Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 and Special Delivery; for overseas orders Etsy offers Royal Mail's international services with the customs forms pre-filled. Domestic labels bought on the Etsy website (not in the Seller app) come with a QR code: show it at the Post Office and staff print and apply the label, so no printer is needed. Otherwise print at home at 100% on A4. Drop off at a Post Office, Collect+ shop or Royal Mail locker; a prepaid barcoded parcel up to 44 × 35 × 16 cm and 2 kg can go in a parcel postbox.

Since 5 October 2026 the online prices are £2.90 for a Tracked 48 Large Letter, £3.75 for a Tracked 48 Small Parcel, £4.80 for Tracked 24, £4.40 for a 2nd Class Small Parcel and £7.00 for a 2nd Class Medium Parcel up to 2 kg (£9.00 up to 10 kg). Special Delivery starts at £9.85.

Etsy sells Evri labels for UK addresses as print-at-home PDFs; drop the parcel at any of Evri's 9,000-plus ParcelShops or at an Evri locker. Unused Evri labels can be refunded within 15 days, and claims for lost or damaged Evri parcels must be raised within 28 days. Etsy's Evri-to-US service was suspended in August 2025, so international parcels go by Royal Mail. If you have no printer and want Evri, book directly on evri.com with 'print in ParcelShop' for a QR code and add the tracking number to the order by hand.

A Shipping Profile is a saved set of postage rules (destinations, carrier, service and price) that you apply to listings instead of setting postage on each one. Create one per parcel format in Shop Manager, then Settings, then Shipping settings: Large Letter Tracked 48, Small Parcel Tracked 48, Medium Parcel, International Tracked. When Royal Mail changes prices, which now happens in April and October, you update the profile once and every listing follows. A profile left at April's £3.65 for Tracked 48 under-recovers 10p on every order since 5 October 2026; one left at £6.25 for a Medium Parcel loses 75p.

InPost, DPD and the former Yodel network (now InPost) are not sold through Etsy. If a buyer wants locker delivery, buy an InPost label directly (£1.99 Small, £2.59 Medium, £3.99 Large to another locker or shop), drop it at any InPost locker and add the tracking number to the order manually; remember InPost will not carry batteries, liquids or aerosols and covers handmade items only up to £50. There is also no Etsy QR code for Evri labels; the QR option is documented only for Royal Mail labels bought on the website.

Etsy does not force tracking, but if a buyer opens an 'item not received' case, tracking is the evidence Etsy looks for, and untracked 1st and 2nd Class carry only £20 of Royal Mail cover. Tracked 48 includes £75 of cover and since October costs less than 2nd Class, so there is no longer a saving in going untracked. Special Delivery (£750 of cover, extendable to £2,500) is the service for high-value handmade or vintage pieces, and International Tracked or Tracked & Signed for overseas orders, where an untracked parcel is almost impossible to claim on.

A handmade ceramic mug sold for £24 to a buyer in Leeds. Packed in a box with padding it is 16 × 14 × 14 cm and 600 g: a Small Parcel. The seller's 'Small Parcel Tracked 48' profile charged the buyer £3.75; the Etsy preview for Royal Mail Tracked 48 shows a price at or below that. The label is bought on the website with the QR option, printed at the Collect+ counter and the parcel is on its way with £75 of cover. The same mug sent 2nd Class would have cost the seller £4.40 for less cover and no tracking.