Comparing Saatchi Art, Etsy, Redbubble, Singulart, and Immibrand side by side sounds simple until the fee types themselves turn out to be genuinely different animals: a flat percentage of the sale, a stacked series of smaller charges, a percentage of the artist’s own markup, and a percentage plus a required subscription. This piece puts all five in one table, then explains what each number actually means in practice, so the comparison holds up beyond the headline percentage.
In this article:
- What One Table Can and Can’t Tell You
- The Full Fee Comparison Table
- Saatchi Art: The Curatorial Cut
- Etsy: The Fee Stack, Not a Single Number
- Redbubble: A Markup Split, Not a Sale-Price Cut
- Singulart: Commission Plus a Required Subscription
- Immibrand: A Sliding Commission With No Subscription
- A Worked Comparison on the Same $1,000 Sale
- What a Single Flat Percent Hides
- Best For
- Frequently Asked Questions
What One Table Can and Can’t Tell You
A single row per platform, one flat percentage number each, is the easiest way to compare five options at a glance, and it is also the easiest way to compare them dishonestly. Saatchi Art’s 40 percent and Etsy’s roughly 20 percent effective rate are not the same kind of number: one is a flat commission on the sale price, the other is a stack of five separate charges that only adds up to that percentage once transaction fees, payment processing, and a conditional advertising fee are all counted. Redbubble’s 50 percent is not a commission on the sale price at all, it is a split of the artist’s own markup specifically. Singulart’s roughly 50 percent comes with a required monthly subscription sitting underneath it, a fixed cost regardless of whether anything sells that month. A table alone can make all four look like variations on the same idea. They are not, and the sections below unpack each one honestly before the numbers get compared directly.
The Full Fee Comparison Table
| Platform | Headline Rate | Fee Type | Extra Fixed Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saatchi Art | 40% | Flat commission on sale price | None (promotional discount can stack on sales over $1,000) |
| Etsy | ~20%+ effective | Stacked fees (transaction, processing, listing, regulatory, conditional ads) | $0.20 per listing, recharged on renewal |
| Redbubble | 50% of markup | Split of artist’s own set margin, not sale price | Penalty fee above 20% markup |
| Singulart | ~50% | Flat commission on sale price | ~€150/month required subscription |
| Immibrand | 10-20% sliding | Flat commission on sale price, scaled by price tier | None |
Each platform’s fee type shapes who it actually works well for, which is the more useful comparison than the headline percentage alone, covered platform by platform below.
Saatchi Art: The Curatorial Cut
What It Charges
Saatchi Art’s 40 percent commission (raised from 35 percent) is a flat cut of the full sale price. On sales over $1,000, a 15 percent site discount can also stack with the commission, some artists report netting closer to 51 percent of list price rather than the 60 percent the flat rate alone would suggest.
What It Buys
That commission buys real curatorial attention: a human editorial team, featured placements, and themed digital exhibitions. That attention is selective, though, earning it typically requires sustained, frequent posting, and the commission applies whether or not an artist is ever featured.
Etsy: The Fee Stack, Not a Single Number
Five Separate Charges, Not One Rate
Etsy’s roughly 20 percent effective rate is really five separate charges: a 6.5 percent transaction fee, roughly 3 percent plus $0.25 payment processing, a $0.20 per-item listing fee that recharges on renewal, a rising regional regulatory operating fee, and an offsite ads fee of up to 15 percent that becomes mandatory once a shop crosses a revenue threshold.
A Measurable Seller Decline Alongside It
Etsy’s own reporting shows active sellers fell 10.9 percent to 5.5 million by Q3 2025, alongside these changes. The full itemized breakdown is covered in a dedicated breakdown of every charge on a real $50 sale.
Redbubble: A Markup Split, Not a Sale-Price Cut
What It Charges
Redbubble’s standard tier, following its September 2025 overhaul, keeps 50 percent of whatever markup an artist sets over the platform’s base production cost, not 50 percent of the sale price itself. Set a markup above 20 percent and the excess portion carries an additional 50 percent fee.
What It Buys
In exchange, Redbubble provides true zero-inventory fulfillment across 70+ product types through a global manufacturing network. The full mechanics are covered in a dedicated breakdown of the September 2025 fee overhaul.
Singulart: Commission Plus a Required Subscription
What It Charges
Singulart charges roughly 50 percent commission on top of a required subscription of about €150 per month just to keep a shop live, whether or not anything sells that month. One documented example makes the combined effect concrete: a €1,950 sale nets the artist roughly €750 after both costs, close to 38 percent of the original sale price.
What It Buys
In exchange, Singulart offers a dedicated agent per artist, fully insured worldwide shipping with Singulart managing claims directly, and editorial exposure to a large collector base, a genuinely different level of white-glove service than any other platform in this table.
Immibrand: A Sliding Commission With No Subscription
The Three Bands
Immibrand uses a sliding commission instead of one flat number: 10 percent on sales from $1 to $499, 15 percent from $500 to $999, and 20 percent at $1,000 and above.
No Listing Fee, No Subscription, No Forced Ads
None of the three bands carry a listing fee, a required subscription, or forced advertising spend. The full mechanics of how that sliding structure works are covered separately for anyone comparing commission math generally, not just against these four specific platforms.
A Worked Comparison on the Same $1,000 Sale
Run an identical $1,000 sale through all five fee structures, before any platform-specific extra (Saatchi Art’s discount stacking, Etsy’s offsite ads, Singulart’s subscription) is even added:
- Saatchi Art: $400 commission, artist keeps $600
- Etsy: roughly $200 in stacked fees before offsite ads, artist keeps roughly $800
- Redbubble: not directly comparable to a $1,000 sale price, since its cut applies to the artist’s own markup rather than the sale price itself
- Singulart: roughly $500 commission plus the fixed monthly subscription, artist keeps roughly $500 minus that month’s subscription cost
- Immibrand: $200 commission (20% band), artist keeps $800, with no subscription to subtract afterward
Immibrand and Etsy land closest on this specific sale price, the meaningful difference between them is what sits underneath that number: Etsy’s $800 already has ads, listing, and regulatory fees baked in and can still shrink further if offsite ads apply, while Immibrand’s $800 has no additional stacked fee waiting underneath it.
What a Single Flat Percent Hides
A fixed subscription, like Singulart’s, always matters more to a smaller shop than a larger one, since it represents a bigger share of less revenue at low sales volume. A stacked fee structure, like Etsy’s, hides its true size behind several smaller-sounding individual charges rather than one number an artist can mentally track. A markup-based split, like Redbubble’s, cannot even be compared directly against a percent-of-sale platform without first converting one framework into the other. Before comparing any two platforms by their headline percentage alone, it is worth asking what type of fee that percentage actually is, not just how big the number looks.
Best For
Saatchi Art suits an artist who wants active curatorial involvement and is willing to post consistently to earn it. Etsy suits an artist who values Etsy’s enormous existing search demand over a lower, more transparent fee. Redbubble suits an artist who wants zero-inventory fulfillment across a wide product catalog and is comfortable pricing around a 50 percent markup split. Singulart suits an artist who wants full-service, insured, white-glove logistics and can support a required monthly subscription. Immibrand suits an artist who wants to know exactly what they will keep on every sale, at any volume, without a subscription or a stacked fee waiting underneath the headline number.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which platform has the lowest fee overall?
It depends on sale price and volume. Immibrand’s sliding 10-20 percent has no listing fee or subscription at any tier, which tends to outperform the others across most price points, but Etsy’s stacked fee can land close to Immibrand’s rate on some individual sales before offsite ads apply.
Why isn’t Redbubble’s fee directly comparable to the others in dollar terms?
Because Redbubble’s 50 percent split applies to the artist’s own markup over base production cost, not to the full sale price the way Saatchi Art, Etsy, Singulart, and Immibrand all calculate their fees.
Does Singulart’s subscription apply even in months with no sales?
Yes. The roughly €150 monthly subscription is required to keep a shop live regardless of sales volume, on top of the roughly 50 percent commission charged when a sale does happen.
Is Saatchi Art’s 40 percent commission the full cost to the artist?
Not always. On sales over $1,000, a 15 percent site discount can stack with the commission, and some artists report a combined effect closer to 51 percent of list price rather than the 60 percent take-home the flat rate alone suggests.
Does Immibrand charge a subscription like Singulart does?
No. Immibrand’s sliding commission has no required subscription, no listing fee, and no forced advertising spend at any sales tier.
How does Etsy’s fee compare once every charge is counted?
Etsy’s effective take is commonly 20 percent or more once transaction fee, payment processing, listing fee, and a rising regulatory fee are all counted, before any mandatory offsite ads fee that can apply past a revenue threshold.
What does Singulart’s subscription and commission actually buy an artist?
A dedicated agent, fully insured worldwide shipping with claims handled by Singulart directly, and editorial exposure to a large collector base, a genuinely higher service tier than the other platforms in this comparison.
For the full mechanics behind any single platform’s number in this table, Saatchi Art’s real math on a $2,000 sale and Redbubble’s September 2025 fee overhaul both break their specific mechanics down in full.
Ready to see your own numbers next to this table? Sign up to sell on Immibrand, it’s free to start.
