What eBay charges on a trading card sale
Last updated 21 September 2026.
eBay's final value fee on a trading card sale is 12.35% of the total amount of the sale with a Basic Store or above, and 13.25% with no Store or a Starter Store. Both add a per-order fee: $0.30 when the order total is $10.00 or less, $0.40 when it is more.
The percentage is charged on the shipping the buyer paid and on the sales tax, not only on the item price.
Which rate you pay
The rate follows your eBay Store subscription rather than which card you sold. Three category rows cover trading cards, and all three carry the same rate as each other: Sports Trading Cards, Non-Sport Trading Cards and Collectible Card Games. Graded items sell under those same rows and have no separate rate.
| Store subscription | Final value fee | Above that |
|---|---|---|
| None, or Starter | 13.25% | 2.35% over $7,500 |
| Basic, Premium, Anchor, Enterprise | 12.35% | 2.35% over $2,500 |
Both thresholds are calculated per item, and the per-order fee is the same under both. The lower rate also drops to 2.35% earlier, so on an item over $2,500 the gap between the two is wider than nine tenths of a point.
What counts as the total amount of the sale
This is the part that catches people out. eBay's percentage is not taken from the item price. It is taken from everything the buyer paid:
- the item price
- any handling charge
- any shipping the buyer paid
- sales tax, which eBay collects and remits and you never receive
- any other applicable fees
The per-order fee is charged once per order, not once per item. A buyer who takes four singles in one order pays it once.
Two worked examples
A $4.00 single
The buyer pays $4.00 for the card, $1.01 shipping and $0.28 sales tax. The total amount of the sale is $5.29. Of that, $5.01 reaches you before fees; the tax goes to eBay to remit.
| No Store or Starter | Basic Store or above | |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | 13.25% | 12.35% |
| Percentage of $5.29 | −$0.70 | −$0.65 |
| Per-order fee | −$0.30 | −$0.30 |
| eBay takes | $1.00 | $0.95 |
| You are paid | $4.01 | $4.06 |
The $0.28 of tax never reaches you, and the percentage is charged on it anyway — $0.04 of the $1.00, $0.03 of the $0.95.
A $19.99 hundred-card lot
The buyer pays $19.99 for the lot, $1.01 shipping and $1.40 sales tax. The total amount of the sale is $22.40, and $21.00 reaches you before fees.
| No Store or Starter | Basic Store or above | |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | 13.25% | 12.35% |
| Percentage of $22.40 | −$2.97 | −$2.77 |
| Per-order fee | −$0.40 | −$0.40 |
| eBay takes | $3.37 | $3.17 |
| You are paid | $17.63 | $17.83 |
What can make your rate higher than either number
The two rates above are the base. Each of these is charged on top, and an account can carry more than one at a time:
- International fee — 1.65% of the total amount of the sale. Charged when the delivery address or the buyer's registered address is outside the United States, unless the item ships with eBay International Shipping. This one is a true addition to the percentage.
- Below Standard seller — an additional 6% of the final value fees, rising to 7% after four or more consecutive months at that rating.
- A Very High rate of "item not as described" returns — an additional 5% of the final value fees in the affected categories, rising to 6% after four or more consecutive months.
Those last two are a percentage of the fee, not points added to the rate. An extra 6% on a 13.25% fee makes the effective rate 14.05%, not 19.25%.
Promoted Listings, if you use it, is charged separately and on top of everything above.
What this does not include
The figures above are what eBay charges. Three costs are yours and are not eBay fees, and none of them appears on an eBay invoice:
- Postage. What the label actually costs, which is rarely what the buyer paid for shipping.
- Packaging. The envelope, the sleeve, the toploader, the tape.
- What the item cost you. Nothing eBay reports knows this, which is the whole reason a ledger exists.
Why it is worth being exact
On the $4.00 single, eBay takes $1.00 without a Store and $0.95 with one. Against the item price those are 25% and 24%, not 13.25% and 12.35%, because the percentage is charged on shipping and tax as well and the per-order fee is a fixed cost that a small sale cannot spread. On the $19.99 lot the same arithmetic gives 17% and 16%. The smaller the sale, the further the real rate sits from the published one, which is what decides whether a bulk lot is worth listing at all. The minimum price for a single card takes the same arithmetic on through postage, packaging and what the card cost.
Where these numbers come from
These are eBay's published rates, read on the date at the top of this page. Rates change, and they differ by category and by Store subscription. Check your own against eBay's own pages, which are the authority and which this page restates: the standard selling fees for sellers without a Store, and the Store selling fees for subscribers.
Stowdesk takes the fee eBay actually charged from your transaction report rather than estimating it, and reports the margin against what the item cost you. It reads eBay, and the only thing it writes back is a tracking number for a parcel you posted yourself. See what it costs.