eBay fees: what you keep from a sale

Fees and profitOctober 4, 20263 min read

The final value fee, the per-order fee and the insertion fee; how tax and shipping count. Three examples with eBay's published table, and the full net profit formula.

Whether a product is profitable becomes clear once you take what eBay keeps and your own cost out of the sale price. The rates below come from eBay's US selling fee table, read on October 2, 2026; if the table changes, so do the figures.

Three fees

• Final value fee: in most categories, 13.6% of the total up to $7,500 and 2.35% above that.
• Per-order fee: $0.30 if the total is $10 or less, $0.40 above that.
• Insertion fee: $0.35 per listing once your 250 free listings a month are used up.

An important detail: eBay takes the final value fee not just from the item price but from the total the buyer pays, which includes shipping and sales tax. The tax goes to the state but counts in the fee. Some categories have a different rate; read the exact rate from your category's row.

Example 1: a $24.90 item, free shipping

The final value fee is $3.39 and the per-order fee $0.40; fees come to $3.79 and you keep $21.11. If the item costs you $12.40 and your shipping $4.50, your net profit is $4.21.

Example 2: the same item, $5 shipping and 8% tax

The buyer pays $24.90 + $5.00, plus $2.39 tax; the total is $32.29. The final value fee on that total is $4.39 and the per-order fee $0.40, so fees are $4.79. eBay passes the tax on to the state; once fees and tax are out, you keep $25.11. With the same costs, net profit is $8.21.

Example 3: a small $8.99 item

Since the total is under $10, the per-order fee is $0.30. With the $1.22 final value fee, fees come to $1.52 and you keep $7.47. On small amounts the fixed fee weighs more, so the rate looks high.

The full net profit formula

• The total the buyer pays (item + shipping + tax)
• minus sales tax (it goes to the state)
• minus eBay's fees (final value fee + per-order fee, plus any insertion fee)
• minus the ad fee (if you use Promoted Listings)
• minus the item's cost and the shipping you pay
• minus what you set aside for returns and damage

The last line is the one most calculations forget. Return rates differ by category; rather than writing down a number you haven't measured, look at your own past sales. If you have none yet, set aside a small share and replace it with your real rate in the first months.

Advertising: Promoted Listings

With general (cost per sale) ads, the rate you set is taken from the total only on sales that come through the ad. Like the final value fee, it applies to the total including shipping and tax. Ads can speed up sales, but on a thin-margin product they can wipe out the profit on their own; pick the rate together with your net profit.

Three habits that protect profit

• Price from the real prices in sold listings, not from your cost; then check whether profit is left.
• If you offer free shipping, build the shipping into the price; the fee is taken from the total anyway.
• On small items, count the fixed fee's share; selling a few-dollar item as a two- or three-pack can fix the ratio.

This doesn't include international fees or the extra fees for below-standard sellers. Try your own numbers in the fee calculator; it runs the same code as the examples in this post.

Tags:#eBay fees#Profit