Which has lower fees, Etsy or eBay?

Short answer: Etsy usually has lower fees than eBay on a typical sale — roughly 10% of the order on Etsy versus roughly 14% on eBay, once you count everything. But "usually" hides a lot of detail, because the two platforms charge in completely different ways, and the cheaper one depends on what you sell, your order size, and whether ads get involved.

This matters because fees are the silent partner in every sale. Two sellers can sell the same $50 item and keep meaningfully different amounts depending on the platform. Let's break down what each one actually charges, then compare them on identical orders so you can see the real difference.

What Etsy charges, piece by piece

Etsy's fees come in layers, which is why sellers so often underestimate them. The headline "6.5% transaction fee" is only part of the story.

First, there's a $0.20 listing fee for every listing — charged when you create it, when it renews (listings last four months), and again each time a multi-quantity listing sells. Second, the 6.5% transaction fee applies to the total sale amount, including the shipping you charge the buyer. Third, payment processing through Etsy Payments costs 3% plus $0.25 per order for US sellers (rates vary by country, generally around 4% plus a fixed amount in the UK and EU).

Add those three together on a typical sale and the effective rate lands around 10 to 11% — higher on small orders, because the $0.20 and $0.25 fixed fees don't shrink. On a $100 item with free shipping, standard US fees total about $9.95. On a $10 item, they total about $1.40, which is 14% of the order.

Then there are the optional-but-sneaky costs. If Etsy attributes your sale to an offsite ad (Google, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok), you'll pay an additional 12% if your shop earned over $10,000 in the past year, or 15% if under — and shops above that threshold can't opt out. That can push a single sale's total fee take past 20%. Etsy Ads (the on-site pay-per-click kind) are entirely your choice and your budget.

What eBay charges, piece by piece

eBay's structure looks simpler at first glance because the main fee bundles payment processing inside it. The core charge is the final value fee: for most categories, around 13.25% of the total sale amount including buyer-paid shipping (some current guides report 13.6% as rates have been adjusted — check your category, since books and media run higher and a few categories run lower). On top of that, eBay charges a per-order fee of $0.40 for orders over $10, or $0.30 for orders of $10 or less.

Because payment processing is included in that percentage, there's no separate processor fee stacking on top — that's the main structural difference from Etsy. On a $50 sale, you'd pay roughly $7 in final value fees plus $0.40, for an effective rate around 14 to 15%.

eBay also gives most sellers 250 free listings per month, with a $0.35 insertion fee beyond that — a minor cost unless you run a huge catalog. Optional costs include Promoted Listings (you set the ad rate, typically a few percent of the sale) and an international fee of about 1.65% on cross-border sales.

Head-to-head on the same orders

Let's put the two side by side on identical sales, using standard US rates and no ads on either platform.

On a $30 order: Etsy takes about $3.30 (11%), eBay takes about $4.38 (14.6%). Etsy wins by a little over a dollar.

On a $50 order: Etsy takes about $5.20 (10.4%), eBay takes about $7.03 (14.1%). Etsy wins by roughly $1.80.

On a $100 order: Etsy takes about $9.95 (10%), eBay takes about $13.65 (13.7%). Etsy wins by about $3.70.

The pattern is consistent: on ordinary sales without advertising, Etsy costs roughly 3 to 4 percentage points less than eBay. On higher-value items the dollar gap grows, though both platforms' effective rates fall as the order gets bigger (fixed fees matter less).

The comparison flips in one scenario: offsite ads. If Etsy attributes a $100 sale to an offsite ad at 15%, that's an extra $15 on top of the ~$10 in standard fees — suddenly you're paying around 25% on Etsy versus 14% on eBay. Sellers under the $10,000 threshold can opt out of offsite ads; sellers above it cannot. If a large share of your Etsy sales comes through offsite ads, eBay may actually be cheaper for you in practice.

Fees aren't the whole equation

Here's where the honest answer gets more nuanced: the platform with lower fees isn't automatically the better place to sell. What matters is profit per unit of effort, and that includes things fees don't capture.

Etsy's audience is hunting for handmade, vintage, and distinctive items, and they often pay premium prices for them. eBay's audience is enormous and comparison-driven, which is great for reselling, collectibles, and used goods, but price competition can be fierce. A product might earn a higher price on Etsy even after fees, or sell ten times faster on eBay. The fee gap of a few percent is easily overwhelmed by differences in selling price and sell-through rate.

Consider your product type first. Handmade goods, craft supplies, and vintage items belong on Etsy almost by definition — that's where the buyers are. Used electronics, sneakers, trading cards, and general resale inventory usually do better on eBay's auction-friendly, search-heavy marketplace. Many sellers list on both and let the numbers decide over time.

Also factor in your time. Etsy's listing fees reward careful, curated shops; eBay's free listings reward volume. If your strategy is listing hundreds of items, eBay's structure suits you. If it's a tight catalog of higher-margin pieces, Etsy's does.

How to keep fees from eating your margin

Whichever platform you choose — or if you use both — a few habits protect your profit.

First, build fees into your pricing from day one. Decide your target margin, add the platform's effective fee rate on top, and price to that number. Sellers who price first and subtract fees later almost always discover they're earning less than they thought.

Second, watch the fixed fees on small orders. Both platforms punish tiny transactions: Etsy's $0.20 listing plus $0.25 processing, and eBay's $0.30–$0.40 per-order fee, take a bigger percentage bite out of a $10 sale than a $100 one. If you sell low-priced items, bundle them or set order minimums so the fixed fees spread across more revenue.

Third, audit your ad spend regularly. On Etsy, check what share of sales is being attributed to offsite ads and what it's costing you. On eBay, review your Promoted Listings rates against actual lift. Ads can be worth it, but only if you've done the math — a fee you chose is still a fee.

Etsy generally takes less per sale than eBay — around 10% versus around 14% on a typical order — but the real answer for your business depends on your products, your prices, and your ad exposure. Run your own numbers on a few realistic orders, pick the platform where your specific items earn the most after fees, and revisit the comparison once a year. Fee schedules change, and so do businesses.

When eBay's higher fees are worth paying

There are plenty of situations where paying eBay's higher percentage is the right call. Speed is the biggest one. eBay's massive buyer base and auction format can move inventory fast — dead stock sitting in your garage costs you storage, attention, and morale, and a quick sale at a slightly higher fee often beats a slow sale at a lower one. For resellers turning over thrifted or liquidated goods, velocity matters more than a few percentage points.

eBay also wins for categories where its audience simply spends more. Sneakers, trading cards, collectibles, and used tech have deep, knowledgeable buyer pools on eBay that bid prices up. A 14% fee on a strong sale price beats a 10% fee on a weak one. If your items consistently fetch 20% more on eBay than they would on Etsy, the fee difference is irrelevant — you're ahead by a wide margin.

Then there's the matter of effort. If you already have an eBay workflow — listing templates, shipping routines, a feedback score that boosts buyer confidence — switching platforms to save 3% means rebuilding all of that. Your time has value too. The cheapest fee on paper isn't the cheapest fee in practice if it costs you ten extra hours a month.

Don't forget the fees you can't see on the schedule

Both platforms have costs beyond the published percentages, and honest accounting includes them. Returns are the big one: on either platform, a return means refunding the buyer while some fees are non-refundable, plus your return shipping. A category with a 10% return rate effectively costs more than its fee schedule suggests.

Shipping is the other hidden lever. Both platforms charge their percentage fees on the shipping amount you collect from the buyer, so inflated shipping charges get taxed twice — once by the fee, once by buyer resistance. Price shipping honestly, use the platforms' discounted labels, and treat shipping as a cost center to minimize rather than a profit center to optimize.

Finally, remember that fee schedules are not permanent. Both Etsy and eBay have raised fees multiple times over the years, and they'll do it again. Build your pricing with enough margin that a one- or two-point increase doesn't break your business. If your entire profit depends on fees staying exactly where they are today, your margins were too thin to begin with. A healthy business survives the next fee hike; a fragile one doesn't.