Whether you’re just starting out on your eCommerce journey, or you’re looking at expanding your business to eBay, knowing how much it costs to sell on eBay, and how to reduce that cost, is vital. And we’re here to help. This guide to eBay seller fees takes you through the essential and optional fees for selling on eBay and what you can do to reduce your costs (increasing your profits).
Why sell on eBay
Before looking at how much it’s going to cost, let’s take a quick look at why you should be selling on eBay.
Once only known for its pre-loved auction sales, eBay has become a hot online marketplace contender, rivalling that of Amazon, Etsy and Wish. Popular among customers and sellers alike, eBay offers:
Sellers
With 25 million sellers and 1.2 billion live listings, you’re in good company on eBay. Part-time traders, small businesses and global brands all use the platform and share their knowledge, tips and tricks in the hugely supportive seller community.
Customer numbers
Visiting those sellers are eBay’s 168 million active buyers. eBay is increasingly being used as a starting point by online shoppers, and those not starting there are certainly heading there later to compare prices, retailers and shipping options.
Countries
eBay also offers you the opportunity to sell internationally, without ever stepping foot on a plane. Active in more than 190 different countries, you can set your listings to appear locally or globally depending on your preferences. Bon voyage.
Seller tools
Making all of this possible is eBay’s colourful suite of seller tools. From increasing listing visibility and improving the customer journey to boosting your sales – eBay’s got your back.
How to sell on eBay
So, you’re clear on why you want to sell on eBay, now let’s jump into how to sell on eBay (luckily, it’s pretty easy).
1. Create a business account
Create a business account with Expandly or here with Ebay and complete the required details.
Source: eBay
2. Link a payment method
Set up an automatic payment method.
3. Confirm your addresses
Enter in the location that your items will be shipped from and where any returns should be sent to.
4. Create an eBay shop
While you can open up a business account and start selling without a shop, creating an eBay shop gives you certain advantages such as tools and discounted fees.
5. Get listing
Once you’ve completed your registration, you’re ready to start listing your eBay items.
How much does it cost to sell on eBay
But, before you start listing your products on eBay, you’re probably wondering how much this is all going to cost. eBay fees can be broken down into:
Monthly fee
This is the fee you’re charged each month just for selling on eBay, and it varies depending on your business account.
| Fees | No shop/starter | Basic shop | Featured shop | Anchor shop |
| Monthly price UK | Free | £25 | £69 | £399 |
| Monthly price US | $7.95 | $27.95 | $74.95 | $349.95 |
Sales fee
Next, you need to pay a fee for listing your items and a fee once you’ve sold your items.
| Fees | No shop/starter | Basic shop | Featured/premium shop | Anchor shop |
| Listing fee – fixed price | 30p
(US: free for first 100 and 30c thereafter) |
Free for first 250, 10p thereafter (US: 250/25c) | Free for first 1,500, 5p thereafter
(US: 1,000/10c) |
Free
(US: 10,000/5c) |
| Listing fee – auction= | 30p
(free for first 100 and 30c thereafter in the US) |
Free for first 50, 15p thereafter
(US: 250/25c) |
Free for first 50, 15p thereafter
(US: 500/15c) |
Free for first 50, 15p thereafter
(US: 1,000/10c |
| Final value fee | From 6%-11%
(US: 2%-12%) |
From 6%-11%
(US: 1.5%-12%) |
From 6%-11%
(US: 1.5%-12%) |
From 6%-11%
(US: 1.5%-12%) |
Listing upgrade fees (optional)
You can also pay to upgrade your listings to make them more visible and buyer-friendly.
| Fees | No shop/starter | Basic shop | Featured shop | Anchor shop |
| Reserve price | 4% of the reserve price | 4% of the reserve price | 4% of the reserve price | 4% of the reserve price |
| Buy it now price | 50p (US: 5c-25c) | 50p (US: 5c-25c) | 50p (US: 5c-25c) | 50p (US: 5c-25c) |
| Subtitle | £2.00 | £2.00 | £2.00 | £2.00<
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| Gallery Plus | £2.50 for certain categories | £2.50 for certain categories | £2.50 for certain categories | £2.50 for certain categories |
| Scheduler | 10p (US: 10c) | 10p (US: 10c) | 10p (US: 10c) | 10p (US: 10c) |
| International visibility | From 4p-25p (US: 50c) | From 4p-25p (US: 50c) | From 4p-25p (US: 50c) (US: 50c) | /50c |
Reducing your eBay fees
As you can see, eBay’s fees soon start to ramp up, ultimately affecting your profits. So, let’s quickly move onto how to reduce eBay’s fees.
Upgrading your shop
The more you sell, the more worthwhile a higher tier of eBay shop becomes. Compare much you’re spending per month in listing and final value fees – if it’s more than the next tier of shop, change to start saving money immediately.
Scheduling eBay listings for free
The eBay scheduler is a brilliant tool for targeting specific end times (for higher bids), bulk listing products, staggering listing times and going on vacation. It’s also a costly tool: schedule 400 listings a month and that’s £40 on top of your existing fees.
Luckily, there’s a little known trick for scheduling your eBay listings for free. Expandly multi-channel management eCommerce software has its own scheduling function – allowing you to schedule your eBay listings for free if you’re already using Expandly. If you’re not already using Expandly, from £40/$55 per month, it will quickly pay for itself, with the added benefit of multi-channel management tools.
Source: Expandly
Testing the results
Choosing your listing upgrades can feel a little like pick n’ mix – you just want them all. But, just because you think that subtitles make your listings look better, do they actually result in more sales? Test the listing upgrades objectively and if they don’t impact on conversions, stop paying for them.
Increasing your eBay ROI
After reducing your eBay fees as much as possible, you want to increase your return on investment from those fees. How?
Increase your search ranking
Improve where you appear in the eBay search results to increase your click-through rate and the chance of a sale. You can do this by optimising your titles and descriptions with relevant keywords, using high-quality images and considering promoted listings – eBay’s cost-per-sale advertising program.
Source: eBay
Increase your conversion rate
The more you sell, the more worthwhile eBay’s fees are. Reduce cart abandonment rates by offering perks such as free shipping, selling on multiple sales channel(s) (to catch those shoppers conducting price comparisons) and keeping your customer reviews high with fast order processing.
Maintain your stock levels
Good inventory management is crucial for maintaining your stock levels to maintain your customers. Out of stock items don’t sell and oversold items result in negative reviews. Keep an accurate and up-to-date overview of your inventory either by using spreadsheets or inventory management software.
Reduce your costs
Finally, look to see where you can reduce other unnecessary costs in your business. For example, are you spending money on multiple pieces of software when you can use a single multi-channel solution? Are you wasting your time and costs completing manual tasks such as sending sales orders to Xero or individually printing shipping labels when software can do this for you (and in bulk)?
Source: Expandly
Enjoying your eBay ROI
By following these steps to reduce your eBay costs and increase your ROI, you’ll find you also have more time to enjoy the benefits (and profits) of your hard work.