How much does eBay take from a $500 sale?

Short answer: $68.40 — that is 13.7% of the sale. You keep $431.60 before your product cost and shipping.

Fee-by-fee on a $500 eBay sale

FeeAmount
Final value fee (13.6%)$68.00
Per-order fee$0.40
Total eBay fees$68.40
You receive$431.60

Assumes the standard 13.6% final value fee category and no eBay Store subscription. The per-order fee is $0.40 on orders of $10 or more and $0.30 below that. Store subscribers pay roughly 1.3 points less.

What you actually make, after your product cost

$431.60 is not profit — it is what lands in your account before you pay for the item itself. Here is the real number at four common cost levels on a $500 sale:

Your unit costNet profitMargin
$100.00$331.6066.3%
$150.00$281.6056.3%
$200.00$231.6046.3%
$250.00$181.6036.3%

Margin is net profit divided by the $500 sale price. It excludes inbound shipping, storage, returns and ad spend — all of which come out of the profit column above.

The break-even price

If your unit cost is $200.00, you need to charge at least $231.94 on eBay just to break even, and $301.81 to clear a 20% margin. Anything under $231.94 loses money on every single order — which is exactly the kind of SKU that hides in a big catalog.

Change the price and cost in the calculator →

Questions sellers ask about this

Is $68.40 the whole cost of selling at $500?
No. It is the whole of eBay's fees. Your own costs — the unit cost, inbound freight, packaging, returns, and any advertising — come out of the $431.60 you receive.

Does the buyer's shipping charge change the fees?
Yes on all three marketplaces. eBay charges its percentage fee on the total the buyer pays, shipping included, so a $500 item with $6 shipping is charged fees on $506, not $500.

How do I check this against my own catalog?
Paste your SKUs, prices and costs into the free calculator, or send a CSV for the $9 bulk audit and get every SKU's fees, margin and break-even price back within 24 hours.

Run your own price & cost →