How do Artist Earnings work?

Understanding Artist Earnings

There are two primary ways to earn on our platform, depending on where your designs are sold.

Artist Shops

In your own Artist Shop, you have control over your pricing. Your earnings are calculated using this simple formula:

Retail Price - Base Cost = Your Artist Shop Earnings

The Base Cost includes the manufacturing cost plus a 5% processing fee based on your chosen retail price. You keep the entire difference between the retail price you set and the base cost.

Threadless Marketplace

For sales made directly through the Threadless Marketplace, we use a streamlined royalty system:

Purchase Price x 10% = Your Threadless Earnings

Introduced in early 2025, this 10% royalty rate was designed based on artist feedback to make marketplace earnings predictable and easy to calculate.

For a complete breakdown of base costs and payment policies, please refer to the Policy Concerning Payments to Artists and Artist Shop Owners within our Terms & Conditions.

How You Get Paid

All artist earnings are distributed via PayPal. To ensure you receive your funds:

Navigate to the Payment Information section of your Artist Dashboard.
Enter the email address associated with your PayPal account and select Update.
Once you see the confirmation message, your account is linked.

Payments for cleared earnings are sent the following month, typically between the 18th and 20th. If you have past earnings that were held because your PayPal was not yet linked, those will be included in the next monthly payout once your information is updated.

Tracking Your Earnings

Your Artist Dashboard organizes your earnings into three distinct categories to help you track your success:

Pending Earnings

When a sale occurs, it appears as Pending once the order is sent to fulfillment. There is usually a 1 to 2 hour delay after the order is placed before it shows up here. Sales remain in this status for 15 days to account for potential customer cancellations or changes.

Cleared Earnings

If an order is not canceled or returned during the 15-day pending period, it moves to Cleared Earnings. These funds are ready to be included in the next monthly payment cycle.

Paid Earnings

This section shows the recent earnings that have been successfully sent to your PayPal account. You can use the Purchase Period filter to see exactly when specific sales were made and track your monthly growth.