In this article, we cover everything you need to know about eBay Store fees.

Running an eBay store is the same as running and normal business, you have investments to make and bills to pay. However with eBay the fees are not all “upfront” like they can be with a “traditional” business.

Instead with eBay you have a range of fees from fees for inserting listings, to running your store, to final value fees when you sell an item. Don't worry if these terms sound scary to you, we’ll cover them in detail in this article to help you.

Table of Contents

• The Different Basic Fees Related To Your Own eBay Store
• Subscription Fee
• Insertion Fee
• Final Value Fee
• Starter eBay Store Subscription
• Basic, Premium, Anchor, And Enterprise Store Subscription
• Final Value Fee - Shipping
• Listing Upgrade Fees - Optional
• Auction Listings for Duration Of One, Three, Five, Seven, And Ten Days
• Additional Final Value Fee
• Handling Transactions Outside Of eBay
• Auction Style Listing
• Fixed Price Listing
• Failure To Meet The Performance Expected
• Not Meeting The Seller Minimum Performance Standard
• Item Not As Described
• Other eBay Store Fees
• Payment Processing Fee
• Fee Calculation Samples
• Auction Style Listing Fee Calculation Sample
• Good ‘Til Cancelled Listing Fee Calculation Sample
• eBay Store Fees In Countries Outside Of USA
• Additional Guidelines

The Different Basic Fees Related To Your Own eBay Store

Before actually starting your own eBay store, it is a good idea to learn about the cost implications of doing so. This is the best way to determine if you are ready to take the next step. The following are the main fees that you cannot do without when setting up an eBay store.

Note; Keep in mind that starting and running an eBay store is one of the cheapest options out there. Think of your monthly store fees as being similar to the rent a store keeper would pay in a shopping mall, although considerably less, but for more people walking past the store!

Store Subscription Fee

Opening your own eBay store requires a monthly store subscription. The amount depends on the package that you take. And keep in mind you can increase or decrease the store subscription levels as needed over time too.

Below is the list of store packages and their corresponding fees. You can see that there are two options for subscription renewal, which are monthly and annually. Like in any other packages, you save more when opting for a longer subscription.

The subscription fee is charged on a monthly basis, and this is done automatically while your subscription is active. The amount appears in your normal eBay billing page. 

Insertion Fee

Whenever you get an item listed for sale on eBay, you are charged the Insertion Fee. 

This is calculated based on the item’s starting price as well as the category you chose to list it under. The starting price is the price indicated in your listing before other costs such as fees, handling, shipping, taxes, etc. are added. It is referred to as Starting Price in Auction-Style listings and Buy It Now Price in Fixed Price Listings.  

Note: Auction style listings are where you start at one price then one or ideally more buyers “bid” up the price of the item for sale. This is the “traditional” auction style, probably what you know eBay best for you.

The “Buy It Now” or “Fixed Price” format is actually the most popular format on eBay. This is where a buyer can buy an item straight away and there is no delay for bidding. Something like 70% or more of the transactions on eBay are made using this listing format.

For just being registered on eBay, you automatically get 50 free listings per month, which means you do not pay any insertion fee for them. On your 51st listing though, you will be charged the insertion fee (although this can vary from site to site, we’re referring to eBay.com here)

The fee is also limited to per listing and per category. If you list the same item in a different category, it will be charged separately. The same thing happens if you relist the same item. The fee is credited back to your account if your listing in auction-style results to an actual sale and if your store subscription type is either Basic, Premium, Anchor or Enterprise.

eBay sellers who have a store subscription have considerably more zero insertion fee listings each month than regular sellers. The number of free listings you get as a store subscriber depends on the package that you have. 

Also you should be aware that there is a selling limit set for each seller, this is reviewed and adjusted on a monthly basis. This is affected by your store’s volume of sales and the quality of feedback your buyers have given your store (it’s important to note that generally speaking, this “limit” will vary from one business to the next and eBay will work with you as your business grows).

Additionally, there are categories where the zero listing offer is not allowed. These are Real Estate, certain Motor Categories (Boats, Cars & Trucks, Motorcycles, Other Vehicles & Trailers, and Powersports) and certain Business & Industrial Categories (Heavy Equipment in Heavy Equipment, Parts & Attachments, Food Carts, Trailers & Trucks in Restaurant & Food Service, and Commercial Printing Presses in Printing & Graphic Arts.   

Below is the number of “free” insertion fee listings allocated to sellers and the insertion fee per listing after using up the free allocation based on the type of store subscription.

Enterprise Store Subscribers have the additional privilege of being able to buy an add-on bundle of zero insertion fee listings for Fixed Price Listings. This must be utilized fully within the calendar month when it is purchased. There are two options; $250 for 10,000 zero insertion fee listings, and $1,000 for 50,000 zero insertion fee listings.

Final Value Fee

A Final Value Fee is charged to you when your product is sold and the amount is a percentage of the total amount paid by the buyer for your product. 

This includes all the costs including the handling, shipping and other fees but except the sales tax. However, there is a cap on the amount based on the item’s listing category and your store subscription.

Below is the list of Final Value Fees percentage for different categories as per the store subscription package you choose.

Starter eBay Store Subscription

Basic, Premium, Anchor, And Enterprise Store Subscription

The Final Value Fee is  credited back to you in case, for one reason or another, the buyer ends up not paying for it. All you have to do is cancel the transaction or submit a report for an unpaid item.

An item’s Selling Price is its sale price, which excludes the handling, shipping and any other fees.

Final Value Fee - Shipping

A fee is also charged for shipping. It is based on your buyer’s chosen shipping service. Should you be offering international or one-day shipping together with more inexpensive or even cost-free options such as domestic shipping, your final value fee is computed based on the cost of the least expensive domestic selection that you are offering. If you are not offering any cheaper options, the fee is calculated based on your buyer’s preferred service.

For the following countries, the final value fee for shipping always uses your buyer’s preferred shipping service as the basis if the item’s location is outside of the USA.

• China, including Hongkong
• Indonesia
• Israel
• Japan
• Macau
• Malaysia
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Listing Upgrade Fees - Optional

There are additional features that you can purchase to make your listings stand out in the huge crowd that is the eBay marketplace. These are considered upgrades, and their corresponding fees depend on the price of the item as well as the duration and format of the listing.

Auction Listings for Duration of One, Three, Five, Seven And Ten Days

Automatic relisting utilizing the Selling Manager automation rules or in eBay’s business  tool will result in insertion fee and optional listing upgrade fee charges for every instance you relist the item. 

You should also take note that some optional listing upgrades might not be available in certain listing tools and displayed in all applications, services, sites or tools.

Additional Final Value Fee

There are cases where an additional final value fee is charged to you for certain reasons. The following are two of them.

Handling Transactions Outside Of eBay

Should you disclose your contact information in any way or take that of your buyer’s for the purpose of taking the transaction outside of eBay, a final value fee will be charged to you. This is calculated as per the total sale amount even if the item does not get sold. 

Auction Style Listing

The total sale amount is the highest amount between the Auction Start Price, the Buy It Now Price, the Reserve Price and the Price discussed between you and your buyer.

Fixed Price Listing

The total sale price  is the higher amount between the Fixed  Price and the Price discussed between you and your buyer.

Failure To Meet The Performance Expected

The additional final value fee charged due to the failure in meeting the expected performance do not have a cap. This fee is a percentage of the total sale amount, which includes the shipping and other fees.

If both requirements are fulfilled during a sale, the additional final value fee that will be charged is for not meeting the seller’s minimum performance standards only.

Not Meeting The Seller Minimum Performance Standard

Your account’s Seller Dashboard  shows your current level as a seller. If it indicates that your account is not in the same level as required when your item is sold, an additional 5% of the standard final value fee at that time will be charged to you. This is not applicable to eBay’s Above Standard and Top-Rated Sellers though.

Item Not As Described

If you have a rating of Very High on the “Item Not As Described” category in the Return Requests for your items, an additional 5% of the standard final value fee will be charged to you. This is evaluated in the Service Metrics, which you can access on the Seller Hub’s Service Metrics Dashboard.  

Other eBay Store Fees

Besides the previous fees there is one that most people forget about.

Payment Processing Fee

Sellers have the option to let the eBay Payment Entities accept the payments for the items you are selling on eBay from the buyer and release them to you. This is referred to as Managed Payments. 

Sellers who are using the Managed Payments feature are charged the payments processing fee for every transaction. This is indicated in the seller invoice. 

Those who are not using this feature are receiving their buyers’ payments through their PayPal accounts. PayPal charges a payment processing fee for every transaction. 

Note: eBay are in process of moving from PayPal to "managed payments". This is being rolled out slowly across each of the sites. To stay up to date with the latest information on this visit eSellerCafe.com.

Fee Calculation Samples

Auction Style Listing Fee Calculation Sample

With a Basic Store subscription, you are selling a guitar for 10 days at a price  of $400 with a Buy It Now price at $600 and free shipping. Your account’s performance is as expected, and the items you have listed for the current month is less than 250. If  the item gets sold at the Buy It Now price, you will be charged the following fees:

From your sale of $600, you have to pay $21.25 to eBay, so you make $578.75, which is 96.45% of the sale price. You have to spend for the shipping though since you have offered that to your buyer for free.

Good ‘Til Cancelled Listing Fee Calculation Sample

Using your Anchor Store subscription, you list an antique figurine at a price of $400 and shipping at $20. You opted for the Bold and Subtitle add-ons to make your listing stick out. You still have credits to use in your zero insertion fee allocation for the month, and your account’s performance is as per standard expectations. You accepted the Best Offer at $380 from a buyer resulting in the total sale amount of $400. The total fees charged to you by eBay will be as follows:

From your sale of $400, you have to pay $48.6 to eBay, so you make $351.4, which is 87.85% of the total amount of the sale.

eBay Store Fees In Countries Outside Of USA

The eBay Store fees in the US are different from the fees in other countries.

You can follow the below links to the country (outside of US) of your preference.

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• Malaysia
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Singapore
• Spain
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• United Kingdom

Additional Guidelines

You should not be paying for something you are not aware of. Therefore, it is a must to understand all the details of the charges that come with an eBay store. The following are some additional points that you should be aware of.

• All the fees are in US dollars.
• In case you decide to end your auction style listing earlier than the duration initially indicated, you may be charged certain fees
• The above fees are for eBay.com listings only. They are not applicable for items listed in other eBay sites such as eBay.co.uk and eBay.com.au. A separate set of fees applicable to those sites can be found in those sites only.
• eBay has reserved the right to put a limit or temporarily/permanently suspend the services provided to you by eBay in case you fail to make your payment or your account remains past due.
• The eBay web pages are not purchased through your seller fees. eBay can add third-party advertisements, links and references as well as listings of other sellers on any pages on eBay. It does not have any responsibility to acquire consent from or provide payment to the sellers for such actions.
• Value Added Tax or VAT, Goods and Services Tax or GST, or any other consumption tax may be added to your eBay fees depending on the tax-related laws in the country where you are residing.
• There are some features, item categories, and upgrades that are unavailable for Managed Payment sellers.
• Supplemental services like the purchase or printing of shipping labels as well as participation in eBay advertising programs come with additional terms and costs. They are indicated in the invoice that is sent to you every month and will be charged through the payment method that has been set up on your seller account.