"Is eBay expensive?" depends on what you sell and for how much. Here's roughly where the money goes so you can price to actually make a profit.
The main fees
- Insertion (listing) fee — most sellers get a batch of free listings each month; beyond that it's a small per-listing fee.
- Final value fee — the big one: a percentage of the total sale (item + shipping), typically around ~13% for many categories, charged when it sells.
- Payment processing — a small percentage + a fixed amount per order, usually rolled into the final value fee on managed-payments eBay.
- Optional extras — listing upgrades, store subscriptions, promoted-listing ad fees.
Work out your real profit
Fees stack up, so the sticker price isn't your take-home. Subtract fees, shipping and your item cost:
Profit = sale price − eBay fees − payment fees − shipping − what the item cost you
Rather than do it by hand, drop your numbers into the fee calculator — it shows your true profit and margin after Amazon, eBay and Etsy fees, with editable rates.
Fees vary by category, region and account. Always confirm the current rates in eBay's fee schedule.