US fees on Whatnot, Poshmark and eBay, worked examples of profit per item after shipping and packaging, and the levers that change what you take home.
Updated October 10, 2026
Before you start
US fees on Whatnot, Poshmark and eBay, worked examples of profit per item after shipping and packaging, and the levers that change what you take home.
Screenshots of big monthly sales leave out the cost of stock, fees, packaging and your evenings. Do the math the other way around: start with one sale and follow it to your bank account.
The fees below come from each platform’s US help pages, checked in October 2026. The worked examples use made-up buy prices, so swap in your own numbers. We publish no monthly income figures for sellers, because no reliable source exists.
Kit for this
The products this guide uses, with typical US prices.
Penny sleeves, 1,000 pack
Stops surface scratches before the card goes into a toploader. At this pack size each sleeve costs about a penny.
Typical price$6 to $14
See on Amazon
35pt toploaders, 100 pack
Buyers on Whatnot and eBay expect any card worth more than a few dollars to arrive sleeved and toploaded. A bent card means a refund.
Typical price$10 to $20
See on AmazonRigid card mailers, 6 × 8 in, 100 pack
A sleeved and toploaded card in a rigid mailer stays flat through sorting machines and costs far less to ship than a box.
Typical price$35 to $50
See on AmazonGray poly mailers, 10 × 13 in, 100 pack
Self-seal poly mailers add almost no weight, so one garment usually ships at the lightest Ground Advantage tier. The film is opaque gray, so it hides the contents, and a 4 × 6 label sits flat on it.
Typical price$8 to $15
See on AmazonThe guide
Each step in the order you'll need it.
Whatnot fees for US sellers
Whatnot charges no listing fee. On a sale you pay a commission on the item price plus a payment processing fee on the whole order, and the buyer pays shipping at checkout.
Rates differ by category and by seller, and Whatnot runs time-limited offers, so use the rate shown in your own seller dashboard. Plug that into the math below before you price a show.
Poshmark and eBay fees
Poshmark charges nothing to list. On a sale under $15 it takes a flat $2.95, and from $15 up it takes 20%. The buyer pays for the prepaid shipping label, so your cost per sale is the fee plus packaging.
eBay charges a final value fee on the total of the sale, including shipping and sales tax: 13.6% in most categories and 13.25% for trading cards, plus $0.30 per order of $10 or less and $0.40 above. Some clothing, sneaker and handbag price bands have their own rates, so check eBay’s selling fees page for your category.
Example 1: a $25 card in a Whatnot show
Example, not a typical result. You buy a single card for $10 and it sells for $25 in a live auction. Take your commission and processing rates from the seller dashboard and work both out on the $25.
Packaging per order: a penny sleeve, a toploader, a rigid card mailer and a thermal label come to well under a dollar from bulk packs. What is left after fees and packaging is your margin before your time, and the buyer covers shipping at checkout.
Example 2: a $25 sweater on Poshmark
Example, not a typical result. You pay $5 for a wool sweater at a thrift store and sell it for $25. Poshmark takes 20%, or $5, and the buyer pays for the label. A poly mailer from a 100 pack costs a few cents.
You keep about $14.90. Time eats into that: washing, measuring, photos, a listing, sharing, offers and a drop at the post office or a USPS pickup. If that takes 25 minutes, $14.90 works out at about $36 an hour. If you spent an hour digging through racks to find it, your rate halves.
Kit for this step
Example 3: a $30 toy on eBay
Example, not a typical result. A boxed toy bought for $12 sells for $30 with $6 shipping charged. At 13.6% of $36 plus the $0.40 order fee, eBay takes about $5.30, more if the buyer’s state adds sales tax to the total.
Take off the $12 stock, a label that costs about what the buyer paid for shipping and a small box, and you keep about $12. The fee on the shipping portion is the part most new sellers forget.
Time per order
Sourcing, cleaning, photos, listing, messages, packing and drop-off all count. Time a week of orders with your phone’s stopwatch and divide your profit by the hours. Your hourly rate tells you more than your sales total.
Packing time is the easiest to cut. A thermal printer with 4 × 6 inch labels, a shipping scale and pre-folded mailers within reach cut each package to a few minutes. Schedule a free USPS pickup or make one daily drop instead of three trips.
What moves your earnings
Your buy price moves profit most. Every dollar saved at a yard sale or on a wholesale lot goes straight to profit, while fees take a share of every dollar you add to the sale price.
Average order value comes second. Fixed fees such as Poshmark’s $2.95 and eBay’s $0.30 or $0.40 order fee hurt a $5 sale far more than a $50 one, so bundle low-value items or run a lot. Volume helps only once the margin per item is positive after time: selling twice as many $1 profit items doubles the packing without doubling much else.
Checklist
Run through it before each one goes out.
- 1Note the buy price on every item
- 2Check your Whatnot commission rate in the seller dashboard
- 3Price eBay listings with the fee on shipping too
- 4Cost packaging per package from your bulk pack prices
- 5Time a week of orders
- 6Bundle items under $10
Setups
Complete kits for one kind of seller, costed and laid out.
Questions
Straight answers to what sellers ask about this.
How much does Whatnot take from a sale in the US?
A commission on the item price and a processing fee on the whole order, at the rates shown in your seller dashboard.
How much does Poshmark take?
A flat $2.95 on sales under $15 and 20% from $15 up. The buyer pays for the shipping label.
Does eBay charge fees on shipping?
Yes. The final value fee applies to the whole sale, including the shipping the buyer pays and any sales tax.
Do I pay tax on what I sell?
Profit from buying to resell is taxable income. Platforms send a Form 1099-K above the IRS reporting threshold; read the IRS page on Form 1099-K and keep records either way.
How much do resellers earn a month?
No reliable figure exists, and screenshots online leave out costs. Work out profit per item and hours per order for your own stock instead.
Which platform keeps the most per sale?
It depends on price and category. eBay’s percentage is lower than Poshmark’s 20%, but Whatnot can make up for its fees with faster sales in a busy show, so test with your own stock.