About the Marketplace Seller Profit Comparator
Every selling platform advertises one fee percentage, and none of them charges only that. eBay takes its cut from the shipping and the sales tax too. Etsy stacks a listing fee, a transaction fee and a payment fee, then adds 15% on any order its Offsite Ads touched. Amazon’s referral fee is the small part of an FBA sale; the fulfilment fee depends on your box’s size tier, its weight, the price band and, since April 2026, a 3.5% surcharge.
Price your item once and this comparator runs it through all six checkouts — Etsy, eBay, Amazon fulfilled by Amazon, Amazon fulfilled by you, Shopify and Poshmark — showing every fee line, what lands in your account, what is left after shipping and your item cost, and the lowest price that breaks even on each. Where a fee depends on a category or a size tier, the card names the assumption it used rather than averaging it away.
Everything runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere. The fee table is bundled into the page and was checked line by line against each platform’s own fee pages. Platforms are shown by name and colour only — this site is not affiliated with any of them.
No choices: $2.95 flat under $15, 20% at $15 and up. The buyer pays the $6.49 prepaid label, so your shipping inputs do not apply.
Not modelled anywhere: promoted listings and Etsy Ads, Amazon storage, inbound placement, returns processing and low-inventory fees, currency conversion, international sales, eBay below-standard surcharges, and Poshmark’s Texas seller fee tax. If you use any of them, your real take-home is lower than shown.
Same shipping, item cost and assumptions, re-priced from $5 to $500. The leader changes as percentage fees overtake fixed ones and as Amazon’s FBA price bands and Poshmark’s $15 line kick in.
One product per line: name, price, shipping_charged, your_shipping_cost, item_cost,
optionally followed by length, width, height, weight_lb for FBA. A header row is fine. Every other
assumption comes from the settings above.
How to Use the Marketplace Seller Profit Comparator
Enter the price the buyer pays for the item, then the three numbers most fee calculators leave out: the shipping you charge, what shipping really costs you, and what the item cost to make or buy. Set the fee assumptions that genuinely differ by seller — the eBay and Amazon category, your Amazon plan, whether an Etsy order came through Offsite Ads, your Shopify plan and the packed size of the item for FBA. Every card then shows each fee line, the payout that reaches your account, the profit left after shipping and the item cost, and the lowest price at which that platform stops losing you money.
Why the Headline Percentage Is Never the Real Fee
Platforms quote the rate; your statement charges the base. The base is where the differences hide:
- eBay applies its 13.6% final value fee (most categories) to the total amount of the sale, which includes the shipping you charge and the sales tax the buyer pays, then adds $0.40 per order ($0.30 at $10 or less). On a $35 item with $5.99 shipping and 7% tax, the fee base is $43.86, not $35.
- Etsy charges 6.5% on the item plus shipping, then 3% plus $0.25 on the full total including tax, plus the $0.20 listing fee that renews on every sale.
- Amazon charges its referral fee on the item plus any shipping you charge, but excludes the tax Amazon calculates. Most categories are 15%; clothing jumps from 5% to 10% to 17% at $15 and $20.
FBA Is a Shipping Bill, Priced by the Box
The Amazon FBA fulfilment fee is set by the size tier of the packed unit, its shipping weight (the greater of actual weight or length × width × height ÷ 139, except small standard items) and the price band — under $10, $10 to $50, or over $50. A box a quarter-inch too thick for small standard (0.75 in) moves into large standard. Since April 17, 2026 Amazon adds a 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge to every fulfilment fee, and from October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027 the holiday peak rate card applies. The comparator derives the tier from your dimensions and says which one it used, so you can see exactly where a slimmer package would pay off.
Offsite Ads, the $15 Line and the Fees You Choose
Etsy’s Offsite Ads fee is 15% of an attributed order for shops under $10,000 a year, which can opt out, and a mandatory 12% for life once a shop crosses $10,000, capped at $100 per order. Toggle it on a card to see what one attributed sale costs. Poshmark is the simplest schedule of all — $2.95 flat under $15 and 20% from $15 up — which makes a $14 sale cheaper to make than a $15 one. The buyer pays Poshmark’s $6.49 label, so your shipping cost only matters there if a bundle goes over 5 pounds.
Shopify Wins on Fees and Loses on Buyers
On a per-sale basis a Shopify store is almost always cheapest: 2.9% plus 30 cents on Basic, falling to 2.5% on Advanced, plus the plan fee spread over your monthly orders. What it does not include is a single shopper. Marketplaces charge more because they supply demand; your own store makes you pay for demand through advertising, email and content. A fair reading of the Shopify card is “this is my margin before I buy the traffic”, and the gap to the best marketplace is roughly what you can afford to spend acquiring each buyer.
Reading the Break-Even Price
The break-even on each card is the lowest price, to the cent, at which that sale covers every modelled fee, your shipping cost and the item cost, with your shipping charge and tax rate held constant. Because several schedules have cliffs — Poshmark at $15, eBay’s per-order fee at $10, Amazon clothing at $15 and $20, FBA price bands at $10 and $50 — break-even is found by searching the actual fee functions rather than dividing by a single rate.
Related tools: the Margin Calculator for markup versus margin on a single price, the Break-Even Calculator for fixed costs against unit contribution, and the Quarterly Tax Calculator for the tax on what you keep. Browse every Freelance & Business tool for more.
Estimates from each platform’s published US fee schedule, verified on 2026-09-27. Platforms change fees often and apply exceptions this page does not model. Etsy, eBay, Amazon, Shopify and Poshmark are trademarks of their owners; EvvyTools is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Not tax or accounting advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which marketplace has the lowest fees for sellers?
Per sale, a Shopify store on the Basic plan is usually cheapest at 2.9% plus 30 cents in card processing, but you pay a monthly plan fee and have to bring every buyer yourself. Among marketplaces that supply the buyers, Etsy typically takes around 10 to 11% of a small order before Offsite Ads, eBay about 13.6% plus 40 cents in most categories, Amazon 15% in most categories before fulfilment, and Poshmark a flat 20% at $15 and up. The ranking changes with price, shipping and category, which is why this tool computes every platform on your numbers.
Do eBay and Etsy charge fees on shipping and sales tax?
Yes, in part. eBay charges its final value fee on the total amount of the sale, which includes shipping and the sales tax the buyer pays. Etsy charges its 6.5% transaction fee on the item price plus shipping (not US sales tax), and its 3% plus 25 cent payment processing fee on the full total including tax. Amazon charges its referral fee on the item price plus shipping but excludes the tax Amazon calculates. That is why a flat fee percentage understates what you really pay.
How much does Amazon FBA cost per item in 2026?
The FBA fulfilment fee depends on size tier, shipping weight and price band. For a large standard item weighing 1 to 1.25 pounds and priced between $10 and $50, the 2026 non-peak fee is $5.04, plus the 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge Amazon added on April 17, 2026. From October 15, 2026 to January 14, 2027 higher holiday peak rates apply. The referral fee, storage and inbound placement fees are charged separately.
What is Etsy Offsite Ads and can I turn it off?
Offsite Ads is Etsy advertising your listings on other sites; if a buyer clicks one of those ads and buys within 30 days, you pay 15% of the order, or 12% once your shop has made $10,000 in the prior 365 days, capped at $100 per order. Shops under $10,000 can opt out. Once a shop crosses $10,000 it must participate at 12% for the lifetime of the shop.
Is this calculator accurate for my exact listing?
It uses each platform's published fee schedule as verified on September 27, 2026, applied to the numbers and assumptions you enter. It does not include promoted listings, Etsy Ads, Amazon storage, inbound placement or returns fees, currency conversion, international fees, or seller-performance surcharges, and platforms change fees regularly. Check the platform's own fee preview before relying on a figure for pricing decisions.
