Etsy vs eBay: which takes less of your sale?
Enter one item as you would list it on both sites. You get each platform's fees line by line, what you keep after your costs, and the difference over a month of orders. Every rate is editable.
Edit fee rates
| Per order | Etsy | eBay |
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Get the Seller Profit Sheet, $14 one-time. Launch price: 50% off with FIRST10, first 10 buyers.
US rates as of October 2026. Etsy: 6.5% transaction fee on item + shipping, 3% + $0.25 processing on the total including tax, $0.20 listing fee per item sold. eBay: 13.6% final value fee for most categories (some categories are higher or lower) on the total the buyer pays including shipping and sales tax, plus $0.40 per order ($0.30 on orders of $10 or less). Offsite Ads are averaged over the share of orders entered. Sales tax is collected and paid by both marketplaces, so it is not counted as income.
That's one product. Which of yours lose money?
The Seller Profit Sheet does this math for every product at once. Paste your Etsy or Shopify sales export (or type in Amazon and eBay sales) and it shows net profit per product after fees, labels, discounts, returns and ad spend, with a red LOSING MONEY flag on anything underwater. Excel and Google Sheets, one-time $14, no subscription.
Get the Seller Profit SheetPrices sorted? The next fix is getting found: I rewrite Etsy titles, 13 tags and descriptions on Fiverr, from $5. See the offer on Fiverr
How the two fee models differ
Etsy splits its cut into small pieces: a 6.5% transaction fee on the item and shipping, 3% + $0.25 for payment processing and $0.20 every time an item sells (the listing renews). Together that is about 9.5% plus $0.45 on a typical one-item order. Offsite Ads add 15% (or 12%) on orders that come through Etsy's ads on other sites.
eBay charges one larger final value fee, 13.6% in most categories, plus $0.40 per order. The difference that catches sellers out: eBay calculates it on the whole amount the buyer pays, including sales tax. Etsy's 6.5% transaction fee leaves tax out (only its 3% processing fee includes it).
Etsy = 6.5% x (item + shipping) + 3% x (item + shipping + tax) + $0.25 + $0.20
eBay = 13.6% x (item + shipping + tax) + $0.40
A worked example
A $30 item with $6 shipping, no tax. Etsy takes $3.87 and eBay takes $5.30, so Etsy leaves you $1.43 more. After a $10 item cost and a $6 label you keep $16.13 on Etsy and $14.70 on eBay. Over 20 orders a month that is $77.40 in Etsy fees against $105.92 on eBay, a $28.52 gap.
Add a 7% sales tax and eBay's fee rises to $5.64 while Etsy's only goes to $3.95. A Top Rated Plus discount brings eBay down to $4.81 on the untaxed order, still above Etsy. Etsy only loses on fees when a large share of your orders come through Offsite Ads: at half your orders, Etsy's average fee is $6.57 and eBay is $1.27 cheaper.
What the fees don't tell you
Who is shopping. Etsy buyers are looking for handmade, vintage and craft supplies, and often search by style or occasion. eBay buyers often search for a specific thing: a part, a model number, a collectible, a used item at a good price. Auctions and Best Offer let the market set the price, which suits resale and rare items more than made-to-order work.
Listing costs. Every Etsy listing costs $0.20 up front and lasts four months. eBay gives a monthly allowance of free listings and charges an insertion fee beyond it, so a large catalog of slow-moving items can cost less to keep listed on eBay.
Subscriptions are optional on both. An eBay Store adds a monthly fee and more free listings; Etsy Plus is $10 a month. Neither is needed to sell. If you add one, put it in the store box above (or count Etsy Plus as overhead) and check it is paid back.
Many sellers list on both. Fees are only half of it: compare the price each audience will actually pay for the same item.
Questions
Is eBay or Etsy cheaper to sell on?
On fees, Etsy is usually cheaper. On a $30 item with $6 shipping Etsy takes $3.87 and eBay takes $5.30. eBay only comes out ahead when many of your Etsy orders come through Offsite Ads.
Does eBay charge fees on sales tax?
Yes. eBay's final value fee is a percentage of the total the buyer pays, including shipping and sales tax. With 7% tax on a $36 order, eBay's fee goes from $5.30 to $5.64.
Does Top Rated Plus make eBay cheaper than Etsy?
It helps but usually not enough. The 10% discount on the final value fee cuts eBay's fee on a $36 order to $4.81, still above Etsy's $3.87.
Do I need an eBay Store to sell on eBay?
No. A store subscription is optional. It mainly pays off if you list more items than the free monthly allowance covers, since stores come with more free listings. Enter its monthly price above to see what it does to your monthly total.