Every eBay fee explained
What each eBay seller fee is, from the final value fee to Promoted Listings and shop subscriptions, and where ProfitClerk shows every one on your sales.
eBay charges sellers several kinds of fee. On a typical sale you pay a final value fee and a per-order fee, often a regulatory operating fee, an international fee when the buyer is abroad, and a Promoted Listings fee if the item sold through an ad. Some charges, like a shop subscription, belong to no order. ProfitClerk reads every one from eBay and shows it line by line.
Fees on each order
Open any order and look at eBay fees in its profit breakdown. The main types are always listed, even when they are zero, so you can see what you paid and what you did not.
Final value fee
The main selling fee, charged when an item sells. eBay works it out from the total the buyer pays (item and postage, and on some sites sales tax), at a rate that depends on the site, the category, your seller type and sometimes your seller level. Fees eBay labels as final value fees on postage are included here.
Per-order fee
A fixed amount eBay adds to each order, separate from the final value fee. On some sites the amount depends on the order total. On an order with several items, ProfitClerk shares it over the items by their share of the sale.
Regulatory operating fee
A small fee some eBay sites add to cover the cost of rules and regulation in the seller's country. It is charged as a share of the total sale.
International fee
Charged when the buyer is in another country from the one your account is registered in.
Promoted listing (ad) fee
When an item sells through a Promoted Listings General ad, eBay charges the ad rate you set. ProfitClerk puts it on the order it came from, marked Promoted Listings General fee for this order. Priority (cost per click) and Offsite ads are billed to the listing, not an order; see Promoted Listings and the ads report.
Charity donation
If you gave part of the sale to charity through eBay for Charity, the donation is shown as Charity donation. It is money that left your sale, so it is counted with the fees.
Other eBay fees
Anything on the order that is not one of the types above: for example a fee for below-standard performance, a fee for a high rate of items not as described, or a payment dispute fee.
Not split by type yet
Rarely, an order has fees from eBay that are not yet split into the types above. The total is right; press Refresh finance entries on the order to split them.
Fees that belong to no order
Some eBay charges are not tied to a sale:
- Shop subscription: your monthly or yearly eBay shop fee.
- Insertion and listing fees: for listings beyond your free allowance, and listing upgrades.
- Credits for any of those.
ProfitClerk reads these too. They are not on any order's profit, but they come off your profit for the period. See eBay shop subscription and account fees.
What is not an eBay fee
- eBay Labels postage is your label cost, under Your costs. See How label costs get onto your sales.
- Refunds to the buyer are under Refunds.
- Sales tax or VAT eBay collected from the buyer is not your money and not a fee; it is shown as a memo in your tax figures.
VAT on fees
In the UK, the EU and some other countries, eBay charges VAT or GST on its fees. Whether that is inside the fee or added on top, and whether you can reclaim it, depends on your account. See VAT on eBay fees.
Seeing all your fees together
- Reports › Fee breakdown on the website, or Money › More reports › eBay fees in the app: every fee type by month, in money and as a share of sales. See The eBay fee breakdown report.
- Profit and loss: eBay fees, Promoted Listings and eBay shop and listing fees as separate lines.
- Orders export (CSV): a column for each fee type.
Questions people ask
Does eBay charge fees on postage?
Where a final value fee applies, eBay works it out on the total the buyer pays, which includes postage. So the postage you charge raises the fee too.
Are eBay Labels postage costs counted as fees?
No. ProfitClerk shows eBay Labels postage as your label cost under Your costs, not as an eBay fee, so your fee figures show only selling fees.
Why does ProfitClerk not show eBay's fee percentages?
It does not need to. Every fee on your orders is the real amount eBay charged you, read from eBay's own finance data, so it is right whatever rate applied.
Where do I see my shop subscription?
Charges that belong to no order, such as the shop subscription and listing fees, are under Expenses in the From eBay card, and in your profit and loss as eBay shop and listing fees.
What are Other eBay fees?
Any fee on an order that is not one of the named types, for example a fee for below-standard performance or a dispute fee.
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