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eBay fees your shipping charge too — and the $0.30 bites cheap items hardest.
A $45 item with $8 shipping pays $7.51 in final value fees before your costs — 13.6% of the $53 total plus $0.30. This calculator stacks fees against item and postage costs so your net per sale is known before the listing goes live.
Sellers use it before buying inventory: 13.6% of the $53 total plus $0.30 is $7.51 — a $20 item needs a $45 sale price to keep 40% margin.
For most categories: 13.6% of the total order amount — item price plus shipping plus sales tax — up to $7,500 per order, plus a flat $0.30 per order. On a $53 order that is $7.51, or 14.2% effective. Category exceptions matter: books, DVDs, and music run 15.3%; sneakers $150+ run 8%; guitars 6.35%; trading cards 13.25%. Sellers above the free 250-listing allotment pay $0.35 insertion per listing, and Promoted Listings adds 2–10%+ when the sale comes through an ad. The $0.30 flat fee is regressive: on a $10 sale it is 3% by itself — cheap items carry the heaviest effective rate.
For used, rare, and one-off items, yes — eBay's audience for secondhand and collectible inventory is still the deepest, and 13.9% all-in beats most consignment. For new commodity goods, the math is tighter because you compete with Amazon sellers and retail arbitrage on price. The businesses that profit on eBay share a pattern: sourced cost under 50% of sale price, shipping bought through eBay labels at commercial rates (never retail USPS counter prices), and Promoted Listings used surgically at 2–4% on slow movers rather than blanket rates. Run every sourcing decision through the fee math before buying: an item at $20 cost needs a $45+ sale price to keep 40% margin after fees and postage.
Five honest levers. One: buy postage through eBay labels — commercial pricing cuts the shipping COST that eats margin alongside the fee. Two: an eBay Store subscription ($21.95/mo Basic) discounts final value fees in several categories and adds free listings — it pencils out around $1,000–$2,000/month in sales. Three: skip Promoted Listings on items that sell organically; check your traffic report and only promote what stalls. Four: price shipping accurately instead of inflating it — eBay fees it either way, and inflated shipping repels buyers. Five: list in the right category — the fee schedule rewards correct categorization, and mis-categorized listings can pay the higher rate of whatever category they land in.