Marketplace Fee Comparison Calculator
Marketplace Fee Comparison Calculator PRO
Compare expected seller profit across marketplaces using editable fees, taxes, returns, advertising, subscriptions and fulfilment costs.
Planning estimate only. Marketplace rules and fees can change.
No marketplace fee preset should be treated as current official pricing. Verify every fee on the marketplace website or seller agreement.
Example values only — replace them with the current terms for your marketplaces.
The selected currency formats results only. No live exchange rate is applied.
Order economics
Sales tax / VAT
Tax treatment varies by country, product and marketplace-facilitator rules.
Returns and refunds
Returns are modelled as expected values and cannot predict actual customer behaviour.
Target calculation
The target-price solver changes only the selling price and keeps all other assumptions fixed.
Marketplace scenarios
Enter current official fee terms for each category and seller programme.
Expected profit = expected seller revenue − product and fulfilment costs − marketplace fees − expected return costs − seller-remitted tax.
Results
A marketplace fee comparison calculator shows how the same product can produce different profit on different platforms after commissions, payment fees, advertising, subscriptions, fulfilment, tax and returns.
Comparing only the headline commission rate can be misleading. A marketplace may charge on the item price, on the item plus shipping, or on the full customer payment. Other costs may include listing fees, payment processing, fulfilment, advertising, regulatory charges, payout fees, currency conversion and tax on marketplace services.
What the calculator compares
- profit at the entered selling price;
- minimum price for a target profit per order;
- minimum price for a target net margin;
- successful-order profit;
- returned-order profit;
- expected profit after the return rate;
- commission and payment processing;
- listing, fulfilment, payout and fixed order fees;
- monthly subscription allocated to each order;
- expected advertising cost;
- currency conversion and regulatory fees;
- tax or VAT on marketplace services;
- seller-remitted sales tax or VAT;
- monthly profit, revenue and break-even order volume;
- up to eight marketplace scenarios in one comparison.
Why marketplace fees are difficult to compare
Official fee pages show why a single percentage rarely tells the whole story. Amazon states that referral fees depend on product category and that fulfilment charges depend on the fulfilment method. eBay explains that business selling fees depend on what is sold and the amount of the sale, while listing fees and shop subscriptions can also matter. Etsy’s fee policy separates listing, transaction, payment processing, advertising and currency-conversion charges.
Record each fee separately. One guessed percentage hides which cost changes with price, shipping, advertising or volume.
Start with order economics
Enter the values that remain the same across all marketplaces:
- item selling price;
- shipping charged to the buyer;
- seller-funded discount;
- product cost;
- outbound shipping;
- packaging;
- other variable cost;
- expected monthly orders;
- other monthly fixed overhead.
The calculator applies every marketplace’s rules to the same commercial assumptions, creating a fairer comparison.
Seller-funded discounts
A discount reduces the item price used in the calculation. A percentage discount is:
Discount = listed item price × discount rate.
A fixed discount subtracts a currency amount but cannot reduce the item price below zero. The fee effect depends on the marketplace’s commission base. Some fees may follow the discounted transaction amount, while separate promotion fees may still apply under the seller agreement.
Commission fee and commission base
The general formula is:
Commission fee = selected fee base × commission rate.
The calculator supports three common bases:
| Base | Amount included |
|---|---|
| Discounted item price | Item price after seller-funded discount |
| Item price plus shipping | Discounted item price and buyer-paid shipping |
| Customer total including tax | Item, shipping and tax collected at checkout |
Use the basis stated on the current fee page. For example, Etsy’s official policy says its transaction fee applies to the displayed listing price plus amounts charged for shipping and gift wrapping. Other platforms and categories may use different definitions.
Payment processing fees
Payment processing often combines a percentage and a fixed amount:
Processing fee = payment base × processing rate + fixed processing fee.
A fixed charge affects low-priced orders more strongly. Check whether the payment base includes tax, shipping or other buyer charges.
Listing and fixed order fees
Listing fees may apply when an item is published, renewed or sold. eBay’s business seller guidance notes that listing fees can depend on the shop subscription and that some listing charges are non-refundable even when the item does not sell.
The calculator expresses listing fees per completed order. When listings do not all convert into sales, divide the total listing cost for the period by completed orders to estimate a realistic per-order amount.
Monthly subscription allocation
A marketplace subscription is a fixed monthly cost. The calculator allocates it with:
Subscription per order = monthly subscription ÷ expected monthly orders.
One plan may suit a high-volume seller but not a small shop, so use a realistic order volume.
Advertising as an expected cost
Offsite or promoted-listing fees may apply only to attributed orders. The calculator uses:
Expected advertising fee = advertising base × advertising rate × share of orders charged the fee.
If the fee is 12% but only 25% of orders are attributed to advertising, the expected rate across all orders is 3% of the selected advertising base. This expected-value approach improves planning, but actual attribution can vary each month.
Fulfilment, payout and operating charges
Enter fulfilment fees separately from shipping paid directly by the seller. Fulfilment programmes may charge according to size, weight, storage, destination and service level. Amazon’s official pricing material separates referral fees from fulfilment fees for this reason.
Additional fields cover payout, operating, fixed-order and currency-conversion charges. Review several statements to identify recurring costs.
Tax or VAT on marketplace fees
Marketplace services may themselves carry VAT or another indirect tax. The calculator applies:
Fee tax = marketplace fee subtotal × fee tax rate.
Recovery depends on registration, invoice quality and local rules. The calculator treats the tax as a cash cost.
Sales tax and VAT treatment
The tax section separates four planning cases:
- no sales-tax or VAT estimate;
- tax included in the entered price;
- tax added at checkout and remitted by the seller;
- tax added and remitted by the marketplace.
For tax included in the price, the tax element is:
Included tax = taxable gross amount × tax rate ÷ (1 + tax rate).
EU rules can treat a marketplace as a deemed supplier in certain transactions, and the EU’s VAT e-commerce guidance explains OSS and IOSS arrangements. UK HMRC guidance also identifies cases where the marketplace becomes liable for VAT on marketplace sales. Liability depends on seller location, goods location, customer type and consignment value, so the calculator cannot decide the correct legal treatment automatically.
Returns change the real profit
A platform can look profitable before returns and unattractive after them. The calculator first calculates a successful order and a returned order separately.
For a successful order:
Profit = seller revenue − seller-remitted tax − product and fulfilment costs − marketplace fees.
For a returned order, the model includes the shipping refund, outbound shipping already spent, reverse shipping, unrecoverable product cost, retained marketplace fees and a return administration fee.
The expected result is:
Expected profit = successful profit × (1 − return rate) + returned-order profit × return rate.
Consumer return rules matter
EU distance-selling rules generally provide a 14-day withdrawal period for many online purchases, subject to exceptions. Legal return rights remain separate from a marketplace’s refund of seller fees.
Use historical business data for return rate, shipping refund rate and recoverable item value. Fashion, electronics, personalised products and spare parts can have very different return economics.
Expected revenue, margin and ROI
Expected seller revenue combines successful and returned outcomes. Net margin follows:
Net margin = expected profit ÷ expected seller revenue.
ROI in the calculator compares expected profit with expected variable outlay:
ROI = expected profit ÷ expected variable costs.
Margin measures profit from revenue; ROI measures profit against variable outlay. Neither replaces cash-flow planning.
Monthly profit and break-even orders
Monthly profit is:
Expected monthly profit = expected profit per order × monthly orders − other monthly overhead.
The break-even order estimate compares fixed monthly costs with contribution from each order. It becomes unavailable when the variable profit per order is zero or negative.
Run several order-volume scenarios because subscriptions behave differently in busy and quiet months.
Find the price for a target profit
The target-profit mode searches for the lowest selling price that reaches the required expected profit for each marketplace. It retains all fee, return, tax, shipping and cost assumptions.
Increasing price can also increase commission, payment, tax and advertising costs, so a simple cost-plus calculation may understate the required price.
Find the price for a target margin
The target-margin mode solves:
Expected profit ÷ expected seller revenue = target margin.
A high margin may be mathematically impossible if percentage fees and expected returns consume too much revenue. The calculator searches numerically and reports when it cannot find a result within its allowed range.
How to collect reliable inputs
- Open the current official fee page for the seller’s country and category.
- Check the seller plan, subscription and fulfilment programme.
- Confirm the commission and payment-processing bases.
- Review invoices for VAT or tax on marketplace services.
- Measure advertising attribution from actual statements.
- Calculate return rate from completed orders, not shipped units alone.
- Estimate listing cost per completed sale.
- Recheck fees whenever the marketplace announces changes.
Common mistakes
- comparing only headline commission rates;
- forgetting fixed payment fees;
- using listing cost per listing as cost per sale;
- ignoring buyer-paid shipping in the fee base;
- treating marketplace-remitted VAT as seller revenue;
- assuming all fees are refunded after a return;
- using one return rate for every product category;
- forgetting VAT or tax on marketplace services;
- using the reporting currency as though it were a live conversion;
- treating expected profit as a guaranteed result.
Frequently asked questions
Which marketplace has the lowest fees?
There is no universal answer. The result depends on category, country, seller plan, price, shipping, advertising, fulfilment and returns.
Should shipping be included in the commission base?
Only when the marketplace’s official fee terms include shipping in that fee base.
How is a monthly subscription compared fairly?
Divide it by realistic monthly completed orders, then include the full subscription again when reviewing monthly fixed costs.
Why calculate returned-order profit separately?
A return may preserve some shipping revenue while creating reverse-shipping, product-loss and retained-fee costs.
Does the calculator determine VAT liability?
No. It models selected treatments, but legal liability depends on the transaction and current tax rules.
Are the example marketplace fees current official rates?
No. They are editable demonstration values and must be replaced with current official terms.
Official sources
- Amazon UK: selling plans, referral fees and fulfilment pricing
- eBay UK: fees for business sellers
- Etsy: Fees and Payments Policy
- European Commission: VAT e-commerce, OSS and IOSS
- HMRC: VAT and goods sold through online marketplaces
- Your Europe: B2C e-commerce and distance selling
- Your Europe: returns and right of withdrawal
Sources reviewed: 21 June 2026.
