The fees you can't avoid vs the ones you can
Every marketplace fee falls into one of two buckets. The core commission — Etsy's 6.5%, eBay's ~13.6%, Amazon's 8–15% referral — is essentially fixed; you can't negotiate it. But a meaningful share of what you pay is discretionary:
- • Advertising — Etsy Offsite Ads (12–15%), Depop Boost (8%), Amazon PPC. Optional, and only worth it when it pays for itself.
- • Plans & subscriptions — eBay Stores and Amazon's Professional plan ($39.99/mo) lower per-sale costs if your volume justifies them.
- • Fulfillment — Amazon FBA tiers and StockX shipping labels swing with size, weight and how you pack.
- • Category & price — fee rates differ by category, and some (Amazon, StockX, eBay) step down above a threshold or with volume.
- • Your payout — the currency-conversion cost of getting paid, which most sellers never count at all.
Know your real number first. You can't cut what you haven't measured. Run your typical sale through the relevant calculator to see your true effective rate before you start optimising.
Platform-by-platform tactics
Etsy
Stay under $10,000/year and opt out of Offsite Ads — at higher revenue it's mandatory at 12%, but below that the 15% on attributed orders is optional. Remember the 6.5% transaction and 3% payment fees both hit shipping, so price it in deliberately.
eBay
A Store subscription cuts most category final-value fees by about a percentage point — if you sell steadily, the monthly cost is usually less than the saving. Sell in the right category (rates range from 6.7% to 15.3%) and keep your account in good standing for fee discounts.
Amazon
Right-size your packaging to drop an FBA size tier — the single biggest lever on Amazon margin for small items. Match the Individual ($0.99/item) vs Professional ($39.99/mo) plan to your volume, and check whether your category drops to a lower referral rate above a price threshold.
Depop & StockX
On Depop (US), the selling fee is already gone — just use Boost selectively. On StockX, climb seller levels by selling consistently to drop the transaction fee from 9.5% toward 8%, and price the flat ~$5 shipping label into low-value pairs.
Poshmark
Avoid lots of tiny sub-$15 sales where the flat $2.95 can be 30–60% of the price. Use bundles to lift orders over the $15 threshold into the cleaner 20% tier.
The fee everyone forgets: your payout
Here's the one almost no seller calculates. After the marketplace takes its cut, it pays you out to a bank account — and if your sale currency differs from your bank's, a 2–4% exchange-rate markup is quietly applied on the way. On international sales that can exceed the per-order fee you worked so hard to trim.
The fix is the same one we recommend for every cross-border payment: take the payout through a mid-market-rate service rather than letting your bank or the platform convert at a marked-up rate. See exactly what your payout costs with the Wise, Payoneer and PayPal calculators — and the hidden FX cost with the exchange-rate markup calculator.
The savings checklist
- Measure your real effective rate per platform before optimising.
- Turn off advertising (Offsite Ads, Boost) unless it clearly pays for itself.
- Match store/seller plans to your actual volume.
- Right-size packaging and climb fee tiers (Amazon FBA, StockX levels).
- List in the right category and price above fee thresholds where it helps.
- Take your payout at the mid-market rate, not a marked-up conversion.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you actually lower marketplace seller fees?
Partly. The core commission (Etsy 6.5%, eBay ~13.6%, Amazon 8–15%) is largely fixed, but a surprising amount is controllable: advertising fees, store/plan subscriptions, fulfillment tiers, your category and price point, and — the one most sellers ignore — the currency-conversion cost when your payout reaches your bank.
Which marketplace has the lowest seller fees?
For US fashion resellers, Depop is currently the cheapest at about 3.3% + $0.45 after it dropped its selling fee. Etsy is around 9–11% before ads, eBay about 13.9% all-in, Poshmark a flat $2.95 under $15 or 20% above, and Amazon is usually the most expensive once FBA is included. The cheapest for you depends on what and how you sell.
Do marketplace fees apply to shipping?
Often yes. Etsy and eBay charge their percentage on the shipping you collect, and Amazon's referral applies to the total price. That means “free shipping” baked into the item is still charged the full fee — so price it deliberately.
What fee do most sellers forget?
The payout. Every marketplace pays you to a bank account, and if your sale currency differs from your bank's, a 2–4% exchange-rate markup is applied on the way — often more than the per-order fee. Using a mid-market payout (Wise, Payoneer) instead of a marked-up bank conversion can save more than any platform tweak.