Whatnot 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 | Whatnot fees | eBay fees | Keeps more | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $10.00 | $1.39 | $1.66 | Whatnot | $0.27 |
| $25.00 | $3.03 | $3.80 | Whatnot | $0.77 |
| $50.00 | $5.75 | $7.20 | Whatnot | $1.45 |
| $100.00 | $11.20 | $14.00 | Whatnot | $2.80 |
| $250.00 | $27.55 | $34.40 | Whatnot | $6.85 |
| $500.00 | $54.80 | $68.40 | Whatnot | $13.60 |
Whatnot charges less at every price shown. The difference is what the other platform's audience, format, or logistics has to be worth to you.
Why the two schedules differ
Whatnot splits its charge in two: an item commission and a separate order-processing percentage with a small fixed amount on top. eBay charges one final value fee whose rate is set by the category the item was listed in, plus its own per-order amount. Because Whatnot's commission sits below eBay's general-category rate, most ordinary sales come out ahead on Whatnot on fees alone.
The exceptions are categorical rather than marginal. eBay publishes rates well below its headline for a handful of categories, and where an item falls into one of those the gap narrows or reverses outright. Whatnot moves in the other direction for its own reasons: its commission stops applying above a threshold in several collectible categories, so a single high-value sale can carry a far lower blended rate there than the headline percentage implies.
What the fee gap does not tell you
Whatnot is a live-selling venue. Its fee advantage is real, and it is bought with an hour of scheduled, performed selling per session — a cost that never appears in a fee calculation but dominates it in practice. A seller who lists two hundred items and walks away is not doing the same job as one who runs a two-hour show, and the payout difference on a single sale is small next to that.
eBay's counterweight is standing demand. A listing sits there and is searched against for as long as it is up. The honest way to use the number this page produces is as the price of that difference: it tells you what the audience you already reach on eBay costs you per sale relative to the audience you would have to perform for.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper on a $100 sale, Whatnot or eBay?
Whatnot — $11.20 against $14.00, a difference of $2.80 on a $100 item with no shipping charged. Whatnot 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 Whatnot really take less than eBay?
On the general-category rates each publishes, yes, for most ordinary sales — the table on this page shows the exact gap at six prices. It is not universal: eBay charges materially less than its headline rate in several categories, and where an item falls into one of those the comparison can reverse.
Do both charge fees on the shipping the buyer pays?
Yes. Both compute their percentage from the buyer-paid total rather than the item price, which is why the calculator above asks for shipping charged separately. Pricing shipping into the item or charging it on top changes almost nothing about the fee, and sellers who model only the item price under-count on every heavy item.
Which should I list on?
Fees are one input. If your inventory suits a live format and you can commit to running shows, Whatnot pays more per sale. If you need listings to work while you are not present, eBay's standing demand is what the fee difference is buying you.
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 Whatnot fee schedule (effective Jul 13, 2026). Archived evidence. Next review by Oct 15, 2026.
Rates verified Jul 28, 2026 against the published eBay fee schedule (effective Jul 1, 2026). Archived evidence. Next review by Sep 15, 2026.
Fee change alerts
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.