What Does It Cost You to Sell on eBay?

eBay For Seniors For Dummies

It's tempting to ignore your eBay costs as you list items for sale. As a seller, you can fall into the habit of listing and relisting without reevaluating the profitability of your final sales. But as a person in business for yourself, you must always take into account money going out costs as well as profits coming in. The cost of your initial listing is just the beginning of your outlay for that item; you have to factor in the cost of all the options and features you use as well.

If you use a credit card payment service such as PayPal, that service also charges you a fee.

Insertion (listing) fees

Your insertion fee is based on the higher dollar amount of your minimum opening bid or your reserve price. If you start your auction at $0.99 and have no reserve, the listing fee is free (for the first 100 items per month), if you don't have an eBay Store. (If you start your listing at $1.00, your fee is $0.50.) But if you start your auction at $0.99 and set an undisclosed reserve price of $50.00, your auction costs $2.00 to post. When you place a reserve on your item, you're charged an insertion fee based on the amount of the reserve, plus the reserve price charge.

Fixed-price listing fees are pretty clear-cut. If your Buy It Now price is $0.99 or higher, you pay eBay $0.50 per listing.

Here's a summary of eBay insertion fees.

eBay Auction Listing Fees
Opening Bid or Reserve Price	Insertion Fee	Basic Store Subscriber Insertion Fee
$0.01 to $0.99	Free*	$0.10
$1.00 to $9.99	$0.25	$0.25
$10.00 to $24.99	$0.50	$0.50
$25.00 to $49.99	$0.75	$0.75
$50.00 to $199.99	$1.00	$1.00
$200.00 or more	$2.00	$2.00

* If you do not have an eBay Store, you may list up to 100 auction listings in a month for free as long as your starting price is between $0.01 and $0.99, and you have no reserve price. If you exceed 100 listings with this starting price per month, you will be charged a $0.10 fee per listing.

What if it doesn't sell?

If your item doesn't sell, don't think you can get your insertion fees back. They aren't refundable. You do have the option of relisting your unsuccessful item without being charged a second listing fee, but only if your item sells with the second listing. If it doesn't sell the second time, the charge for the second listing will stand. Writing a better title, starting with a lower opening bid, and adding a snappier description can help in selling the item. Consider changing the category, too.

eBay listing options are recapped here:

Listing Option Fees
Option	Fee: Auction or Fixed Price 3, 5, 7, 10 days	Fee: Fixed Price 30 days
Subtitle	$0.50	$1.50
Bold	$2.00	$4.00
Listing Designer	$0.10	$0.30
Gallery Plus	$0.35	$1.00
Scheduled listing	$0.10	$0.10
List in two categories	Double fees	Double fees
Additional pictures	$0.15	$0.15
Picture Pack 1–6 pictures	$0.75	$0.75
Picture Pack 7–12 pictures	$1.00	$1.00
eBay Final Value fees

What if it does?

eBay gets a cut when your auction sells. After your auction or fixed-price listing ends, eBay charges the Final Value fee to your account in a matter of minutes.

Final Value fees on auctions are pretty easy to figure out. If your item sells, you pay eBay 9% of the selling price to a maximum of $50.00.

Even a rocket scientist would have trouble figuring out exactly how much eBay receives at the end of fixed-price listings. Its Final Value fees are based on the category you listed your item in, as well as how much the item sold for. To help you calculate Final Value fees, see the following table:

Fixed-Price Final Value Fees by Category
If Your Item Sells for	Electronics*	Clothing, Shoes & Accessories; Motors, Parts & Accessories	Books, DVDs & Movies, Music, Video Games	All Other Categories
Item not sold	No fee	No fee	No fee	No fee
$0.99 – $50.00	8% of the final sale price	12% of the final sale price	15% of the final sale price	12% of the final sale price
$50.01 – $1,000.00	8% of the initial $50.00, plus 5% of the remaining final sale price balance ($50.01 to $1,000.00)	12% of the initial $50.00, plus 9% of the remaining final sale price balance ($50.01 to $1,000.00)	15% of the initial $50.00, plus 5% of the remaining final sale price balance ($50.01 to $1,000.00)	12% of the initial $50.00, plus 6% of the remaining final sale price balance ($50.01 to $1,000.00)
$1000.01 or more	8% of the initial $50.00, plus 5% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final sale price balance ($1,000.01 to final sale price)	12% of the initial $50.00, plus 9% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final sale price balance ($1,000.01 to final sale price)	15% of the initial $50.00, plus 5% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final sale price balance ($1,000.01 to final sale price)	12% of the initial $50.00, plus 6% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final sale price balance ($1,000.01 to final sale price)

The Final Value fees for eBay Store subscribers are different when it comes to auctions. The fees are based on the final selling price:

Auction Final Value Fees for eBay Store Subscribers
Selling Price	Final Value Fees
Item not sold	No fee
$0.01 to $50.00	8.75% of the final selling price
$50.01 to $1,000.00	8.75% of the initial $50.00, plus 4% of the remaining final selling price ($50.01 to $1,000.00)
Equal to or over $1,000.01	8.75% of the initial $50.00, plus 4% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final selling price ($1,000.01 to final price)

To avoid draining your brain, use an eBay fee calculator to check your fees before you set prices.

About This Article

About the book author:

Marsha Collier is a renowned social media strategist and bestselling author. She authored all editions of eBay For Dummies and co-hosts Computer and Technology Radio. Marsha even made headlines in 2014 when her husband proposed to her over Twitter—the first social media engagement on record!