TL;DR: A head-to-head ecommerce marketplace fees comparison shows massive differences in what each platform takes per sale. Amazon and eBay typically cost sellers 14-22% and 13-14% respectively. Etsy runs 10-12%. Shopify drops to 3-5% when you own your traffic. TikTok Shop currently charges just 2-8% with no monthly subscription. Running these numbers before you list is one of the fastest ways to protect your margins.
Why an Ecommerce Marketplace Fees Comparison Should Shape Your Platform Strategy
An ecommerce marketplace fees comparison is not just a spreadsheet exercise. It is a direct map to your take-home pay on every single order. Sell a $50 item on Amazon and you might keep $38 to $43. Sell the same product on Shopify with your own traffic and you might keep $47 or more. Over hundreds or thousands of orders, that gap becomes the difference between a thriving business and one that barely breaks even.
Most sellers pick a platform based on where they have heard success stories, and that is understandable. But fees compound fast. Lose 15% to a referral fee, another 3% to payment processing, and split a monthly subscription across fewer sales than expected, and you have a real ceiling on which products can actually be profitable. Running the numbers before you commit eliminates bad-fit platforms before you invest time building a presence on them.
Marketplace fees generally fall into five categories: subscription or membership fees, listing or insertion fees, referral or commission fees, payment processing fees, and fulfillment or shipping fees. Not every platform charges all five. The mix, and the total, varies widely. A platform with a low referral fee may offset it with a steep subscription. One with no listing fees may apply payment processing to the full order value including any shipping you charge the buyer.
Amazon Seller Fees: The Biggest Marketplace With Some of the Highest Costs
Amazon’s reach is unmatched, but that audience comes at a price. On the Individual plan, you pay $0.99 per item sold plus a referral fee. On the Professional plan, you pay $39.99 per month with no per-item fee. Referral fees run from about 6% to 15% depending on category. Most general merchandise sits near 15%. Electronics often land around 6-8%. Clothing and accessories can hit 17%.
If you use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), costs stack further. FBA adds per-unit fulfillment fees based on weight and size, typically $3 to $6 per standard item, plus monthly storage fees that spike in Q4. For any product with thin margins, FBA math can break profitability fast. Sellers doing their own shipping (Fulfilled by Merchant) avoid FBA fees but still pay the referral fee and any per-item charges on the Individual plan.
Total Amazon fees on a $50 order usually run $7 to $11, or roughly 14-22% of the sale price depending on category, fulfillment method, and plan. Amazon’s traffic volume justifies those fees for many sellers, particularly for fast-moving products in competitive categories. But the cost structure rewards high-margin products and punishes low-margin ones. Know your margin ceiling before you list.
eBay, Etsy, and Walmart: A Direct Ecommerce Marketplace Fees Comparison
eBay keeps its structure relatively clean. You get up to 250 free listings per month. Beyond that, a $0.35 insertion fee applies per listing. The core cost is the final value fee, which runs approximately 13 to 13.25% of the total sale price plus $0.30 to $0.40 per order. Optional store subscriptions start at around $4.95 per month and provide additional free listings and modest discounts. On a $50 sale, expect to pay around $6.90 to $7.20 total, or roughly 14%.
Etsy charges a $0.20 listing fee per item, a 6.5% transaction fee on the sale price plus any shipping charged to the buyer, and approximately 3% plus a fixed payment processing fee through Etsy Payments. On a $50 sale, total fees typically come to about $5.20, making the effective rate around 10-12%. Etsy’s fee stack is competitive, though the platform is best suited for handmade, vintage, and craft supply niches rather than mass-market goods.
Walmart Marketplace stands apart from both. It charges no monthly subscription, no listing fee, and no separate payment processing fee. Sellers pay only a referral fee that ranges from 6% to 15% by category. On a $50 sale in a 15% category, your total fee is $7.50 with nothing layered on top. Walmart does not accept every seller who applies, but those who get approved get one of the most transparent fee structures among major platforms.
Shopify, TikTok Shop, and the Platforms Shifting the Fee Landscape
Shopify is not a marketplace in the traditional sense. It is a storefront platform where you build your own store and bring your own customers. Because of that, there is no referral or commission fee charged on your sales. The Basic plan runs $39 per month. Payment processing through Shopify Payments costs 2.4-2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. For stores doing moderate monthly volume, the effective per-sale fee typically lands in the 3-5% range, which is far below any major marketplace.
The real cost with Shopify is traffic. There is no built-in buyer pool the way Amazon or eBay has. You pay for ads, invest in SEO, or build an audience through social content. Those costs are real and should factor into your comparison. But for sellers with an existing customer base, a strong social following, or a product with solid organic demand, Shopify’s economics are hard to match.
TikTok Shop is the standout low-fee option among active marketplaces right now. Commission rates during the platform’s growth phase run 2-8% with no monthly subscription fee. Sellers who already produce TikTok content get built-in product discovery at minimal cost. Those rates will likely rise as the platform scales, so sellers who move now lock in the best economics on a channel that is actively growing its buyer base.
Pro Tip: Always calculate fees on your total order value, not just the item price. Many platforms, including eBay and Etsy, apply their percentage to the full amount collected, including any shipping you charge the buyer. On a $42 item with $8 shipping, you pay fees on $50. Ignoring this makes your effective fee rate look lower than it really is when you run end-of-month numbers.
Poshmark, Depop, and Facebook Marketplace: Niche Platform Fees
Poshmark takes a flat 20% commission on any item priced above $15. On a $50 sale, you keep $40. Below $15, the fee drops to a flat $2.95 regardless of the sale price. That 20% rate is among the highest in resale, but Poshmark provides an engaged fashion buyer community, built-in social sharing features, and prepaid shipping labels. Sellers with low-cost inventory sourcing can make the math work. Sellers with margins under 30% will find the cut unsustainable.
Depop operates differently in the US market. Rather than a separate marketplace commission, Depop charges primarily payment processing fees of around 3% plus a small fixed charge per transaction. Total fees on a $50 sale typically come to $2 to $2.50. That makes Depop one of the cheaper options for fashion resellers, especially those who can drive buyers through social channels or tap into Depop’s community organically. The tradeoff is a smaller active buyer base compared to Poshmark at this stage.
Facebook Marketplace charges nothing for local, in-person sales, making it genuinely free for items you hand off directly to the buyer. For shipped items sold through Facebook’s checkout system, the fee is around 10% of the sale price, or a minimum charge for low-value orders. For bulky, local, or high-value items where you meet the buyer directly, Facebook is a no-cost channel. For shipped products, it competes with eBay on fees but lacks eBay’s buyer protection infrastructure and seller analytics tools.
How to Build Your Own Ecommerce Marketplace Fees Comparison
The most practical method is to pick two or three common order values from your own catalog, perhaps $25, $50, and $100, and calculate total fees on each across every platform you are considering. Include the monthly subscription cost divided by your expected monthly order volume, then add listing fees, the referral percentage, and payment processing. That produces the true cost per sale, not the advertised headline rate. The U.S. Small Business Administration’s business cost guidance is a solid starting point for thinking about how platform fees fit into your overall operating costs.
Always pull fee numbers directly from each platform’s official seller documentation, since rates change without much notice. Amazon’s Seller Central pricing page and eBay’s selling fees guide are updated regularly. Building a simple spreadsheet you revisit quarterly keeps your cost assumptions current and catches fee changes before they quietly erode your margins.
Once the numbers are in place, layer in your traffic reality. A platform with fees 4 percentage points lower than a competitor means nothing if it cannot connect you with buyers for your specific product. The goal is the lowest sustainable fee on the platform where your audience already shops and trusts. When you find that combination, you have a platform worth scaling on.
Quick Takeaways
- Amazon fees on a $50 order typically total 14-22%, depending on category, plan type, and whether you use FBA for fulfillment.
- eBay’s final value fee runs about 13-13.25% plus $0.30-0.40 per order. Etsy’s all-in rate is roughly 10-12% on a typical sale including payment processing.
- Walmart Marketplace charges only a 6-15% referral fee with no subscription, no listing fee, and no separate payment processing charge layered on top.
- Shopify’s effective per-sale cost lands at 3-5% for stores with existing traffic. TikTok Shop currently charges 2-8% commission with no monthly subscription fee.
- Poshmark takes a flat 20% on items above $15. Depop charges mostly payment processing at around 3% plus a small fixed amount, making it one of the cheaper resale options.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Which ecommerce marketplace has the lowest seller fees right now?
- TikTok Shop currently offers some of the lowest rates among active marketplaces, with commission fees running 2-8% and no monthly subscription required. Depop also keeps costs low for fashion resellers by charging primarily payment processing fees of around 3% plus a small fixed charge, rather than a separate marketplace commission. Facebook Marketplace charges no fee at all for local, in-person sales where no platform checkout is involved.
- How much does it cost to sell on Amazon compared to Etsy?
- Amazon typically costs sellers 14-22% of a $50 order when you combine the referral fee, the Professional plan subscription spread across sales volume, and FBA fees if you use Amazon’s fulfillment service. Etsy’s all-in cost on the same $50 order runs about 10-12%, made up of a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee, and roughly 3% plus a fixed amount for payment processing through Etsy Payments.
- Does Walmart Marketplace charge a monthly subscription fee?
- No, Walmart Marketplace does not charge a monthly subscription fee, a listing fee, or a separate payment processing fee. Sellers pay only a referral fee that ranges from 6% to 15% depending on the product category. This makes Walmart’s cost structure one of the most straightforward among major marketplace platforms, though the marketplace does not accept every seller who applies and has an approval process.
- Is selling on Shopify cheaper than selling on a marketplace?
- Shopify’s effective per-sale fee is typically 3-5%, which is lower than most major marketplaces, because Shopify does not charge a referral or commission fee on your sales. The Basic plan costs $39 per month and Shopify Payments charges 2.4-2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. The key trade-off is that Shopify provides no built-in buyer traffic, so sellers must factor in their own marketing and advertising costs when comparing the true total cost of selling.
- What percentage does Poshmark take from each sale?
- Poshmark takes a flat 20% commission on any item priced above $15, which is among the highest rates in the resale category. For items priced at $15 or below, the fee is a flat $2.95 regardless of sale price. Poshmark provides an engaged buyer community, built-in social sharing features, and prepaid shipping labels, which can offset the high commission for sellers who source inventory at low cost and maintain strong margins.
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