Mercari and eBay fees at six prices
The same sale run through both fee schedules, with no shipping charged, so the only variable is price. Fixed per-order charges make the effective rate fall as the price climbs on both sides, which is why a pair that looks close on a cheap item can be far apart on an expensive one.
| Sale price | Mercari fees | eBay fees | Keeps more | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10.00 | $1.00 | $1.66 | Mercari | $0.66 |
| $25.00 | $2.50 | $3.80 | Mercari | $1.30 |
| $50.00 | $5.00 | $7.20 | Mercari | $2.20 |
| $100.00 | $10.00 | $14.00 | Mercari | $4.00 |
| $250.00 | $25.00 | $34.40 | Mercari | $9.40 |
| $500.00 | $50.00 | $68.40 | Mercari | $18.40 |
Mercari charges less at every price shown. The difference is what the other platform's audience, format, or logistics has to be worth to you.
One rate against a category table
Mercari charges a single percentage of the sale, and that is the whole selling fee. eBay charges a rate that depends on the category the item was listed in, plus a per-order amount. For general merchandise Mercari's flat rate sits several points below eBay's general-category rate, and because eBay adds a fixed charge on top, the gap is proportionally largest on cheap items.
The simplicity cuts both ways. A seller whose inventory happens to sit in one of eBay's low-rate categories is comparing that rate — not the headline one — against Mercari's flat percentage, and there the ranking can reverse. Mercari has no equivalent lever: the rate is the rate whatever you sell.
Reading the gap honestly
Both charge on the buyer-paid total including shipping, so a heavy low-value item is expensive on either. What differs is the fixed component: eBay's per-order charge is a meaningful share of a ten-dollar sale and a rounding error on a five-hundred-dollar one, which is why the effective-rate columns converge as price climbs.
The fee is the easy part of this comparison. eBay's search volume for most categories is not close to Mercari's, and a lower fee on a sale that takes four times as long is not a saving. Treat the number here as the per-sale price of eBay's demand, then judge whether your sell-through justifies it.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper on a $100 sale, Mercari or eBay?
Mercari — $10.00 against $14.00, a difference of $4.00 on a $100 item with no shipping charged. Mercari is the cheaper of the two at every price in the table on this page, and the gap widens as the price rises because the percentage dominates once the fixed charges stop mattering.
Does Mercari charge fees on shipping?
Yes, when the buyer pays for it — the percentage applies to the item price plus buyer-paid shipping, the same base eBay uses. Modelling only the item price under-counts the fee on every heavy item, on both platforms.
Is eBay ever cheaper than Mercari?
For items in eBay's lower-rate categories, yes. The comparison above opens on general-category rates; if your inventory sits in one of the published exceptions, run the eBay calculator on that category and compare against the Mercari row here.
Do I have to choose?
No — the same item can be listed on both, which is what most sellers with steady inventory do. The fee gap then decides nothing on its own; whichever sells it first sets what you actually paid.
Where these rates come from
Both schedules are transcribed from each marketplace's own published fee page, with the sentence they were read from, an archived copy of that page, and the date a person last checked it. Nothing here is sourced from a summary.
Rates verified Jul 28, 2026 against the published Mercari fee schedule (effective Jan 6, 2025). Archived evidence. Next review by Dec 1, 2026.
Rates verified Jul 28, 2026 against the published eBay fee schedule (effective Jul 1, 2026). Archived evidence. Next review by Sep 15, 2026.
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Go deeper on either one
This page compares two schedules. The single-platform calculators model one in full — category tiers, promoted-listing rates, and the worked ladder at every price point.