Fully understanding eBay fees is an essential component of selling on the marketplace.
You need to know exactly how much you’re spending on inventory, shipping and eBay fees to calculate your net margin and to ensure you’re making a healthy profit.
But eBay fees can get a bit complicated. Some fees are charged pre-sale, others post-sale, and there are also charges for optional extras. On top of that, fees differ for business sellers and private sellers.
Don’t worry, this comprehensive guide to eBay fees will help you figure out how exactly much you’ll be charged.
What types of eBay fees are there?
There are five different types of eBay fees, these are:
- Store subscription fees
- Insertion fees
- Final Value Fees
- Managed payment fees
- Promoted listing fees
Let’s take a look at each of these in more detail.
1. eBay subscription fees
Signing up for a store is optional. But eBay offers plans to suit occasional sellers, right through to large scale enterprises. It’s definitely worth considering if you sell regularly.
Although subscriptions come with a monthly fee, you can also take advantage of more free listings, smaller fees, as well as some tools to increase conversions. The more you pay per month for your subscription, the smaller your other fees will be.
Here’s the breakdown of current eBay store subscription fees:
Starter (or occasional sellers): From $4.95 per month
Basic (for growing businesses): From $21.95 per month
Premium ( for large businesses): From $59.95 per month
Anchor (for high volume sellers): From $59.95 per month
Enterprise (for only the biggest brands): $2999.95 per month
2. Insertion fees
When you list an item on eBay, all sellers are charged an insertion fee.
Private sellers and business sellers without an eBay store subscription receive 50 free listings per month. These can be used to cover auction style sales or fixed priced items. After this, they are usually charged a flat fee of 35c per listing.
For store subscribers, their free listings and charges are as follows:
| Auction style listings | Fixed price listings | |
| Starter | 100 free and 30c per listing thereafter | <N/A |
| Basic | 250 free and 25c thereafter | 250 free and 25c thereafter |
| Premium | 500 free and 15c thereafter | 1,000 free and 10c thereafter |
| Anchor | 1,000 free and 10c thereafter | 10,000 free and 5c thereafter |
| Enterprise | 2,500 free and 10c thereafter | 100,000 free and 5c thereafter |
It’s also worth noting that these fees are charged per listing and per category. So if you’re listing a baseball bat under both ‘sporting goods’ and ‘toys and hobbies’, you’ll pay two insertion fees – one for each category.
Your insertion fees are not refunded if your product doesn’t sell. And if you re-list your product, it will be charged again. Keep this in mind, if you’re using ‘Good ’til cancelled’ listings which renew automatically every month.
Fees for eBay’s optional listing upgrades
eBay allows sellers to make their listings stand out by adding subtitles, bold text or a customized design. These enhancements come with extra costs, which vary depending on duration, item price and listing format.
To give you an idea of the eBay fees for this, here are the starting prices:
| Auction style listings | Good ’til cancelled listings | |
| Bold text | From $2 | From $4 |
| Subtitle | From $1 | From $1.50 |
| Gallery plus* (enhanced images) | From 35c | From $1 |
| Listing designer (customer entries) | From 10c | From 30c |
| International visibility | From 10c | From 50c |
Important point: All items sold under the Collectibles, Art, Pottery and Antiques categories benefit from Gallery Plus free of charge.
3. Final value fees
Once an item is sold, sellers pay a final value fee. Rather than a flat fee, eBay charges a percentage of the product’s final sale price – this includes the cost of the product, as well as any other shipping and packaging charges added to the sale.
The percentage you are charged depends on the product category in which your product was listed.
Final value fees for sellers not using eBay managed payments
For sellers whose payments are not processed by eBay yet, the below fees continue to apply.
On top of these eBay fees, they’ll probably pay a third-party charge to PayPal. This will cost 2.9% of the order, as well as 30c per transaction.
Final value feeFee capsMost categories10%$750Books, DVDs & movies, Music (except Records)12%$750Business & Industrial categories2%$300Musical Instruments3.5%$350
Final value fees for those using eBay managed payments
With eBay managed payments being rolled out to more and more sellers, eBay has introduced a new fee structure.
These new final value fees cover payment processing and also come with a 30c charge on each order.
| Final value fee on first $7500 | |
| Most categories | 12.35% |
| Books, DVDs & movies, Music (except Records) | 14.35% |
| Business & Industrial categories | 4.35% |
| Musical Instruments | 5.85% |
On any products which cost more than $7,500, eBay only charges 2.35% on anything above that figure.
It’s also important to note that sellers using eBay managed payments will now have to include sales tax in the final order price when calculating their final value fee.
Once a sale is finalized, eBay charges your account. But in situations where the buyer doesn’t pay, you can have the final value fee refunded by opening an unpaid item case in the eBay Resolution Center.
Reductions for store subscribers
If you have an eBay store subscription, you may benefit from reduced Final Value Fees.
Those on Starter plans will pay the same rates as the tables above. But those with Basic plans and upward pay between 4% and 9.15% on most listings. However, it is unclear how eBay managed payments will affect these rates.
For subscribers, payment caps for each category are also reduced, which is worth keeping in mind if you sell high value items.
Save with multiple shipping options
As mentioned earlier in the article, shipping costs are taken into account when calculating final value fees. This is usually based on whatever shipping option a shopper selects and pays for.
However, for sellers in the US who offer buyers one-day or international shipping, as well as a free or less costly domestic option, the final value fee will be based on the cheaper option offered. Even if the buyer selects the more costly one! This loophole encourages sellers to offer more choice.
Related article: How to Combine Shipping on eBay in Three Simple Steps
How seller performance impacts Final Value Fees
Seller performance also comes into the mix when calculating eBay final value fees. If the service you offer isn’t up to scratch, you may be hit with a 5% increase on all your final value fees.
Sellers who aren’t meeting eBay’s performance standards won’t benefit from fee caps either. So poor performance could really hurt your income.
Sellers need to keep late shipments, transaction defects and unresolved customer cases to a minimum. Too many returns citing ‘item not as described’ will lead to extra fees too.
On the other hand, if you become an eBay top rated seller, any listings which meet top rated plus requirements get a 10% discount on final value fees.
Your current performance metrics are available in the Seller Dashboard. You can also find out more about eBay’s seller performance standards here.
4. eBay managed payment fees
As well as increased final value fees and a 30c charge on every order, fees for eBay managed payments may also include:
- International fees: 1.65% is charged on orders you send outside of the US.
- Currency conversion charge: If you sell on an eBay site with a currency that is different to your payout currency, eBay’s transaction exchange rate includes a charge of 3%.
5. Promoted listings fees
eBay promoted listings are a supplemental service which can help you boost the visibility of your products and increase sales.
How much it costs is up to you. Like with final value fees, the cost of promoted listings is based on the final sale price. Sellers can bid 1-20% of each sale.
However, you’re only charged when someone clicks on your ad and then buys your product within the next 30 days. If a click doesn’t end with a sale, you don’t pay anything!
Related article: 5 Ways eBay Promoted Listings Will Boost Your Sales!
If an item is returned, you can also claim back free ad credits. So it’s a low risk investment as long as you factor it in when pricing products. To see how much you’ll have to bid to beat out other advertisers, you’ll find a list of average ad rates by category in the Seller Hub.
