Sales on Etsy Inc.’s marketplace for handcrafted goods grew 14.4% in its third full year as a public company. Comparatively, Etsy’s sales have grown approximately 20% for the last two years.
Etsy’s sales, which the marketplace calls gross merchandise sales, were $3.25 billion in 2017, up from $2.84 billion in 2016. In the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, gross merchandise sales crossed $1 billion, growing 17.9% to $1.02 billion from $865.2 million in the same period a year ago.
Etsy is increasingly generating revenue from services it offers sellers. Total revenue, which Etsy generates from listing fees, seller services and commission on sales, jumped 20.9% to $441.23 million from $$364.97 million in 2016. Seller services revenue, which Etsy receives from such services as promoted listings, credit card processing and web services, grew 28.7% in 2017 and represented nearly 60% of total revenue. The rest of its revenue, which Etsy calls marketplace revenue, increased 13.5%. Marketplace revenue comes from the 20-cent listing fee Etsy charges and the 3.5% commission it takes on every sale.
For the year, sales from mobile devices represented 51% of total sales, up from 49% in 2016. International sales accounted for 33% of total sales, compared with 30% last year.
The number of active sellers increased to 1.93 million from 1.75 million a year ago. Active buyers increased to 33.4 million from 28.6 million.
Etsy is No. 13 in the Internet Retailer 2018 Online Marketplaces database.