Etsy Fee Calculator Amazon FBA Calculator TikTok Shop Calculator eBay Fee Calculator Poshmark Fee Calculator Shopify Profit Calculator
The real cost of selling online
Every platform markets itself as the "easiest" or "most profitable" place to sell. But the truth is in the fine print. A platform with a massive audience might charge 15% per sale, while a smaller platform might charge a flat fee but require a $39/month subscription. To find your true net profit, you must calculate the total fee stack: listing fees, transaction percentages, payment processing, and the fees that never appear on the marketing page.
Below is a direct, apples-to-apples comparison of the six most popular selling platforms for 2026. Use this guide to choose the right platform, and click any platform name to calculate your exact profit with our free tools.
Platform fee comparison table
Estimated costs for a typical $50.00 sale, excluding product cost and shipping. Figures are approximate as of October 2026 and change periodically — always verify current rates directly with each platform.
| Platform | Listing Fee | Transaction / Referral | Payment Processing | Est. Total on $50 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etsy | $0.20 | 6.5% | 3% + $0.25 | ~$5.20 (10.4%) |
| Poshmark | $0.00 | 20% (or $2.95 flat under $15) | Included | $10.00 (20%) |
| eBay | $0.00 | ~13.25% + $0.30/order | Included in final value fee | ~$7.00 (14%) |
| TikTok Shop | $0.00 | 6% (US referral) | Included / ~$0.30 | ~$3.30 (6.6%) + creator fees if used |
| Amazon FBA | $0.00 | ~15% referral | FBA fulfillment $3–$6/unit, storage monthly | ~$11.00 – $18.00 (22–36%) |
| Shopify | $0.00 | 0% platform fee | 2.9% + $0.30 | ~$1.75 + monthly plan + apps |
Note on eBay: eBay's final value fee includes payment processing as of eBay Managed Payments. There is no separate card processing charge on top. Older guides sometimes list both — that double-counts the fee.
Note on Amazon FBA: The 15% referral is only one line. FBA fulfillment fees (typically $3–$6 per standard-size unit) and monthly storage fees add materially to the total. Amazon's take on a $50 physical product is often 22–36% before advertising.
Worked example: the same $30 product across all six
A $30 sale is closer to the median e-commerce order value than $50 — so it's a better reference point for most sellers. Here is what lands in your account after the platform fee stack, before product cost, shipping, or ads:
Etsy: $0.20 + $1.95 + $1.15 = ~$26.70 (11% in fees)
TikTok Shop: $1.80 + small processing = ~$27.90 (7%) — plus 10–20% if an affiliate drove the sale
eBay: $3.98 + $0.30 = ~$25.72 (14.3%)
Poshmark: $6.00 flat = ~$24.00 (20%)
Amazon FBA: $4.50 referral + ~$4.50 fulfillment + storage = ~$20.70 (31%)
Shopify: $0.87 + $0.30 = ~$28.83 (4%) — minus your $39/month plan and any apps
The percentage spread is enormous. On a $30 item, TikTok and Shopify take a fraction of what Amazon and Poshmark do. But each platform offers a different trade-off in traffic, logistics, and audience.
Which platform is right for you?
Etsy
Best for: Handmade goods, vintage items, and digital downloads. Etsy provides a built-in audience actively searching for unique items. The base fee stack (listing + transaction + processing) is moderate, and multi-item orders dilute the fixed costs.
Watch out for: Etsy Offsite Ads. When a shopper finds your listing through a Google or Facebook ad Etsy ran on your behalf, Etsy takes an additional 12% (optional participation) or 15% (mandatory for sellers who earned over $10,000 on Etsy in the past 365 days). On a $50 order routed through an Offsite Ad, that adds $6.00–$7.50 on top of the base fee stack. Sellers under the threshold can opt out; sellers over it cannot.
Use the Etsy Fee Calculator to see the effect of Offsite Ads on your specific price point.
Poshmark
Best for: Clothing, shoes, and accessories. Poshmark has the simplest fee structure: a flat $2.95 for sales under $15, and 20% for sales $15 and over. Buyers pay a flat $7.97 shipping fee on most orders, which is separate from your seller fee.
Watch out for: The 20% cut is significant on lower-priced items. A $20 sale nets you $16 before product cost. Price strategically — bundling multiple items into one order spreads the 20% across more revenue without adding a second fee.
Model your net profit with the Poshmark Fee Calculator.
eBay
Best for: Resellers, flippers, collectibles, and used goods. eBay's final value fee is charged on the total sale amount including shipping charged to the buyer — a detail that occasionally surprises sellers who subsidize shipping.
Watch out for: Promoted Listings. Optional but increasingly necessary for visibility. Standard promoted listings run 2–10% of sale price depending on the ad rate you set. Factor that into your margin if you plan to use it.
Calculate your exact net profit using the eBay Fee Calculator.
TikTok Shop
Best for: Viral products, impulse buys, and creators with engaged audiences. TikTok's base referral fee in the US is among the lowest of any marketplace — currently 6%.
Watch out for: Creator commissions. If an affiliate drives the sale, you pay them 10–20% on top of TikTok's referral fee. That can push total platform-related cost above what you'd pay on Etsy. The upside is scale — a viral video can drive more sales in a day than Etsy drives in a month.
Check your true take-home with the TikTok Shop Calculator.
Amazon FBA
Best for: High-volume sellers, private-label brands, and arbitrage. Amazon offers unmatched traffic and handles all logistics, storage, shipping, returns, and customer service — but the fee stack is the steepest in the industry.
Watch out for: Prep fees. If your items arrive at Amazon's warehouse without proper poly bagging, suffocation warnings, or labeling, Amazon charges per-unit prep fees on top of everything else. Sellers who skip prep end up paying $0.50–$2.00 extra per unit.
Verify your margins with the Amazon FBA Calculator. Since prep compliance is critical to keeping FBA costs down, if you plan to sell at volume, invest early in FBA-compliant poly bags and a thermal label printer. Both pay for themselves in avoided prep fees within the first shipment.
Shopify
Best for: Established brands wanting full control. Shopify takes 0% of your sales, but you pay a monthly subscription ($39+ on Basic), plus payment processing, plus apps.
Watch out for: App costs. Most live Shopify stores run 5–10 apps — reviews, email, subscriptions, bundles, upsells, accounting integrations. Real-world app spend for a small store is typically $30–$100 per month. Add that to your plan and processing to see the true cost of running DTC.
Model your full cost structure with the Shopify Profit Calculator. For high-volume stores, a thermal label printer is a standard upgrade once order volume justifies it.
The costs that don't show up in the table
Every platform comparison stops at the platform fees. But the real cost of selling includes five more categories that silently reduce your margin:
1. Returns
Return rates vary wildly by category. Apparel runs 20–30%. Electronics 10–15%. Most other physical goods sit around 3–8%. Each return costs you the original shipping, the return shipping (often), and either a restock or a write-off. Budget 5% of revenue as a loss allowance regardless of category.
2. Chargebacks
When a buyer disputes a charge through their bank rather than your return policy, you pay a chargeback fee — typically $15–$25 per event — plus the reversed transaction, often plus the lost product. Even a 0.5% chargeback rate on $50k of revenue is $250–$400 in direct costs plus the product.
3. Currency conversion
If you sell cross-border, both your platform and your payment processor may charge a currency conversion fee (typically 1–3%). On a $50 international sale, that's another $0.50–$1.50 off your margin. Some platforms hide this inside the payout rate.
4. Packaging and shipping supplies
Boxes, mailers, tape, labels, void fill, packing slips — real cost per order is usually $0.50–$1.50 for standard items, more for fragile or bulky goods. Most margin calculators forget this. Your actual take-home is lower than the platform fee math suggests.
5. Advertising beyond platform ads
Paid traffic from Google, Meta, TikTok, and Pinterest is often the largest cost outside the platform itself. Customer acquisition costs vary enormously by category — $5–$50 per new customer is a common range. On a $30 product, a $15 CAC means you need roughly 50% margin just to break even on the ad.
Which platform wins at which stage
Fee percentages alone don't tell you where to sell. What matters is the trade-off between fee structure, traffic source, and logistics.
Under $2,000/month, handmade or niche
Etsy. The traffic is built in, the fee stack is manageable at low volume, and multi-item orders dilute fixed costs. Offsite Ads are a real consideration if you scale past $10k/year, but they're avoidable below that threshold.
$2,000–$5,000/month, reselling or thrifting
Poshmark or eBay. Poshmark's 20% is steep but the buyer base is engaged and the app does most of the marketing. eBay's audience is broader and its fee structure is more flexible for collectibles and harder-to-move items.
$2,000–$10,000/month, creator-led products
TikTok Shop. If you have a video presence and a product that demos well on camera, TikTok's 6% base fee is the best take-home in the industry. Creator commission eats into the advantage, but the upside from viral reach often outweighs it.
$5,000+/month, established brand
Shopify. The 0% platform fee, full customer data ownership, and control over the entire experience justify the monthly plan and app stack. The catch is that you bring all your own traffic — DTC is a marketing business, not a logistics one.
$10,000+/month, physical products at scale
Amazon FBA. The fee stack is the highest, but FBA handles storage, shipping, returns, and customer service — freeing you to focus on sourcing and marketing. Profitability requires strict unit economics and category selection.
Etsy Fee Calculator Amazon FBA Calculator TikTok Shop Calculator eBay Fee Calculator Poshmark Fee Calculator Shopify Profit Calculator Marketplace Fee Comparator