How much does eBay take per sale?

For most categories, 13.6% of the total sale plus a per-order fee of $0.30 on orders of $10.00 or less and $0.40 above it. On a $50.00 sale that is $7.20, or 14.4% of the sale.

Do I pay eBay fees on sales tax?

Yes, and this surprises people. Sales tax is part of the fee base, but eBay collects and remits it — you never see that money. On a $50.00 sale with $5.00 of tax, the tax alone adds $0.68 to your fee while adding nothing to your payout. Enter the tax above to see it.

Is the eBay fee lower on expensive items?

On the portion above $7,500.00 per item, yes — that part is charged at 2.35% instead of 13.6%. Below that threshold the rate is flat. The calculator applies the tier automatically.

How many free listings do I get?

250 a month without a Store subscription. Beyond that, each listing costs $0.35 whether or not it sells. Tick the box above if you are past your allowance. Store subscriptions raise the allowance and cut the final value fee, which this calculator does not model.

eBay Fee Calculator — Final Value Fee & Payout

What eBay charges

eBay's pricing is simpler than Etsy's — payment processing is already baked into the final value fee rather than billed separately — but it has two wrinkles that catch sellers out.

Final value fee — 13.6% for most categories, on the total sale.
Per-order fee — $0.30 on orders of $10.00 or less, $0.40 above. Not one flat figure, as many calculators assume.
Insertion fee — $0.35, only past your 250 free listings a month.

The fee you pay on money you never get

eBay's fee base is "the total amount of the sale, including the cost of the item and shipping, sales tax, and other applicable fees". Shipping being included is normal enough. Sales tax being included is not — eBay collects that tax from the buyer and remits it to the state, so it never reaches you, yet you are charged a percentage of it.

On the $50.00 example, adding $5.00 of sales tax raises the final value fee from $6.80 to $7.48 — an extra $0.68 out of your pocket for money that was never yours. It is a small amount per order and a real one across a year.

The formulas

Fee base = item + shipping you charge + sales tax eBay collects.
Final value fee = 13.6% of the fee base, or, above $7,500.00 per item, 13.6% of the first $7,500.00 plus 2.35% of the rest.
Payout = item + shipping − fees. Sales tax is excluded; it was never yours.
Profit = payout − your item cost − your postage cost.

Worked example: a $50 sale

You sell an item for $50.00 with free postage. It cost you $20.00, and you are within your free listings.

Fee base = $50.00 with no shipping or tax.
Final value fee = 13.6% × $50.00 = $6.80.
Per-order fee = $0.40, because the order is over $10.00.
Total fees = $7.20, or 14.4% of the sale.
eBay pays you $42.80; after the $20.00 the item cost you, profit is $22.80.

Load this example in the calculator

Fees by sale price

Most categories, free postage, within the free listing allowance.

Sale	Final value	Per order	Total fees	Fees as %
$5.00	$0.68	$0.30	$0.98	19.6%
$10.00	$1.36	$0.30	$1.66	16.6%
$25.00	$3.40	$0.40	$3.80	15.2%
$50.00	$6.80	$0.40	$7.20	14.4%
$100.00	$13.60	$0.40	$14.00	14%
$500.00	$68.00	$0.40	$68.40	13.7%

Notice the percentage on a $5.00 sale: the flat per-order fee dominates, so cheap items carry a much higher effective rate. Below about $10.00 the per-order fee alone can be a tenth of the sale, which is why low-value items are usually bundled rather than listed singly.

Where the listing allowance bites

eBay's 250 free listings a month are generous enough that most casual sellers never think about them, which is exactly why they catch people out. The allowance is per month, not per active listing, and a listing that renews consumes another slot.

A seller who lists 300 items in a burst pays $17.50 in insertion fees that month for the 50 beyond the allowance — before anything sells. If those items sit unsold and relist, the charge repeats. It is modest next to a final value fee, but it is charged whether or not you earn anything, which makes it the one eBay cost that can run at a loss.

A Store subscription raises the allowance substantially and cuts the final value fee, which is why high-volume sellers take one. This calculator models the no-Store case, so if you have a Store your real fees are lower than shown here — check your own tier's rate.

How eBay compares with Etsy

eBay's pricing looks worse at first glance and often is, but not by as much as the headline suggests. Etsy charges 6.5% plus payment processing separately, typically around 3% + $0.25, so the real Etsy take on a typical order is close to 10% rather than the 6.5% people quote. eBay's 13.6% already includes processing.

The genuine differences lie elsewhere: eBay charges you on sales tax and Etsy does not, while Etsy charges $0.20 per listing and eBay gives you an allowance. Which platform is cheaper for you depends far more on your sell-through rate than on the commission rates.

Common mistakes

Using one flat per-order fee. It changes at $10.00.
Forgetting the fee on sales tax. You pay a percentage of money you never receive.
Excluding shipping from the fee base. It is included, as on Etsy.
Assuming a flat rate on expensive items. The portion above $7,500.00 is cheaper.
Ignoring the listing allowance. Past 250 listings, unsold items start costing money.

To see how this compares with selling the same item elsewhere, use themarketplace fee comparison, or look at theEtsy fee calculator andShopify fee calculator. For handmade goods specifically, read Etsy vs eBay for handmade items.

eBay Fee Calculator

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