Marketplace Fee Comparison Calculator
This marketplace fee comparison calculator puts your product on four channels at once. Enter one price, one buyer-shipping figure, and your costs, and it computes net profit and margin on Etsy, Amazon (merchant-fulfilled), eBay, and Shopify using October 2026 headline fee rates. The channels differ enormously — a product can be a winner on Shopify and a loser on Amazon — so this side-by-side view is the fastest way to decide where each product belongs.
Same list price assumed on every channel.
Buyer-paid shipping; marketplaces charge fees on it.
Landed cost per unit.
What you actually pay the carrier.
Best net profit — Shopify
26.9
- Etsy net profitFee $4.73 ($0.20 + 6.5% + (3% + $0.25), no ads); margin 52.8%.
- 23.77
- Amazon net profitFee $7.74 (15% referral + $0.99 (FBM Individual)); margin 46.1%.
- 20.76
- eBay net profitFee $6.52 (13.6% + $0.40 per order); margin 48.8%.
- 21.98
- Shopify net profitFee $1.61 (Basic 2.9% + $0.30 (no commission)); margin 59.8%.
- 26.9
How it was calculated
- Etsy: $45.00 − $4.73 fees − $16.50 costs = $23.77 profit.
- Amazon: $45.00 − $7.74 fees − $16.50 costs = $20.76 profit.
- eBay: $45.00 − $6.52 fees − $16.50 costs = $21.98 profit.
- Shopify: $45.00 − $1.61 fees − $16.50 costs = $26.90 profit.
How it works
Each channel: net profit = (price + buyer shipping) − channel fees − product cost − your shipping cost.
Etsy: $0.20 + 6.5% × total + (3% × total + $0.25). Amazon FBM: 15% × total + $0.99. eBay: 13.6% × total + $0.40. Shopify Basic: 2.9% × total + $0.30.
The headline is the highest net profit of the four — usually Shopify, because it charges no marketplace commission.
Margin per channel = its net profit ÷ buyer total × 100, shown in each row’s hint for apples-to-apples comparison.
Worked examples
$40 product with $5 shipping
Buyer total $45, costs $16.50. Etsy: $45 − $4.73 − $16.50 = $23.78. Amazon FBM: $45 − $7.74 − $16.50 = $20.76. eBay: $45 − $6.52 − $16.50 = $21.98. Shopify: $45 − $1.61 − $16.50 = $26.90 — best by $3.12 over Etsy.
$15 low-ticket item
Buyer total $15, costs $7.50. Etsy: $15 − $1.88 − $7.50 = $5.63. Amazon: $15 − $3.24 − $7.50 = $4.26. eBay: $15 − $2.44 − $7.50 = $5.06. Shopify: $15 − $0.74 − $7.50 = $6.77. Fixed per-order fees ($0.99 Amazon, $0.40 eBay) punish low prices hardest.
How to measure
- Use identical inputs for a fair fight — the point is the fee structures, not optimistic per-channel tweaks.
- Remember traffic: marketplaces charge more because buyers are already there; add your CAC to Shopify’s side mentally.
- Re-run at your promotional price — discounts compress the fixed-fee channels’ margins fastest.
- Category matters: apparel’s 17% Amazon referral or media’s 15.3% eBay FVF can flip the ranking.
- Use the winner for hero products and keep long-tail items where their audience already shops.
Assumptions & limitations
Planning estimate
- Fee rates as published October 2026 — verify current rates before pricing decisions.
- Headline rates only: Etsy without Offsite Ads, Amazon FBM at 15% referral on Individual, eBay standard 13.6% domestic, Shopify Basic via Shopify Payments.
- Shopify’s $39/mo plan fee, app costs, and customer-acquisition spend are excluded — add them before choosing “own store” as the winner.
- FBA fulfillment/storage, eBay Promoted Listings, and sales tax effects are not modeled here.
- Results are a planning estimate only, not tax or financial advice.
Frequently asked questions
On pure fees, your own Shopify store (2.9% + $0.30, no commission) beats every marketplace. Among marketplaces, Etsy’s ~9.5% + $0.45 base is lowest, then eBay at 13.6% + $0.40, then Amazon FBA which typically totals 30–35%. But fees are not profit — this calculator shows net profit per channel, which is the number that actually ranks them.
Often yes: different audiences buy different products, and the fee ranking changes with price point. Use this comparison per product — list where its margin is healthy, and avoid channels where fixed per-order fees (Amazon’s $0.99, eBay’s $0.40) eat low-ticket items alive. Multichannel also diversifies platform risk.
Exactly the right question: Shopify wins the fee math because there is no marketplace commission, but you must buy your own traffic through ads, SEO, or social. If your customer acquisition cost exceeds ~$3–5 per order (the typical marketplace fee gap), the “expensive” marketplace is actually cheaper. Add CAC to Shopify’s profit before declaring victory.
Yes. Fixed fees ($0.99 Amazon Individual, $0.40 eBay, $0.30 Shopify, $0.45 Etsy) weigh heaviest on cheap items, while percentage rates dominate expensive ones. A $15 item’s ranking can differ completely from a $150 item’s — re-run the comparison at each price tier instead of assuming one winner.