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The minimum price for a single card on eBay after fees, postage and cost
The lowest price a single card can sell for on eBay is the price where what the buyer pays covers eBay's fee, the label, the packaging and what the card cost you. eBay's percentage is charged on shipping and sales tax as well as the card, so the formula is: add up your fixed costs, divide by one minus the fee rate on the whole order, and take off the shipping you charge. With the example costs below, that is $1.10, and a card at $0.99 loses $0.09 every time it sells.
Step 1: List what one sale costs you
Four costs come out of every single-card sale, whatever the price:
- eBay's per-order fee: $0.30 when the order total is $10.00 or less, $0.40 above that.
- The label: what you actually pay for postage, not what you charge the buyer.
- Packaging: sleeve, toploader, envelope, tape.
- What the card cost you: its share of the lot or box it came out of.
The example in this guide uses a $0.80 label, $0.20 of packaging and a card that cost $0.50. That is $1.80 of fixed cost with the $0.30 per-order fee. Put your own numbers in; the method does not change.
If you bought the card in a lot, its cost is a share of what you paid for the lot. How to split a bulk lot's cost by value works that share out.
Step 2: Find your fee rate on the whole order
eBay's final value fee on trading cards is 13.25% with no Store or a Starter Store, and 12.35% with a Basic Store or above. It is charged on the total amount of the sale: the card, the shipping the buyer paid and the sales tax. You do not receive the tax, and the fee is charged on it anyway.
So the rate that matters is the fee rate times one plus the buyer's sales tax rate. Tax rates differ by state. With 7% tax and no Store, 13.25% × 1.07 is 14.18% of what the buyer pays you for the card and shipping. The full breakdown is on what eBay charges on a trading card sale.
Step 3: Work out the minimum price
Divide your fixed costs by what is left after the fee, then take off the shipping you charge:
Minimum price = fixed costs ÷ (1 − fee rate × (1 + tax rate)) − shipping charged
With the example numbers and $1.00 charged for shipping:
$1.80 ÷ (1 − 0.1325 × 1.07) − $1.00 = $1.80 ÷ 0.858 − $1.00 = $1.10
At $1.10 the sale pays for itself and keeps nothing. Anything under that loses money on every sale.
Three prices, worked through
The same card at three prices, with $1.00 shipping charged, 7% sales tax and no Store:
| $0.99 | $1.99 | $2.99 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card plus shipping | $1.99 | $2.99 | $3.99 |
| Total with tax | $2.13 | $3.20 | $4.27 |
| 13.25% of the total | −$0.28 | −$0.42 | −$0.57 |
| Per-order fee | −$0.30 | −$0.30 | −$0.30 |
| Label and packaging | −$1.00 | −$1.00 | −$1.00 |
| What the card cost | −$0.50 | −$0.50 | −$0.50 |
| You keep | −$0.09 | $0.77 | $1.62 |
The percentage is taken from the total with tax. You receive the card and shipping, not the tax, which is why the rows start from card plus shipping.
With a Basic Store the fee is 12.35% and the three results are −$0.07, $0.79 and $1.66. The Store moves the minimum from $1.10 to $1.08. At these prices the per-order fee and the label matter more than the rate.
Step 4: Set a floor that keeps something
Breaking even is not the goal. Add what you want each sale to keep to the fixed costs and run the same formula. To keep $1.00 a card:
($1.80 + $1.00) ÷ 0.858 − $1.00 = $2.263, so $2.27 once you round up to the cent.
That is the number to hold your lowest listings to. Below it, a sale still pays for itself but not for the time it took to scan, list, pull and pack.
Free shipping does not change the math
A card at $1.99 with free shipping and a card at $0.99 with $1.00 shipping both have a total of $1.99 before tax. eBay charges the same fee on both, and you pay the same label. Both keep −$0.09. Moving shipping into the price changes how the price reads to a buyer, not what the sale keeps.
Where a cheap card can still pay
The per-order fee and the label are charged once per order, not once per card. Three $0.99 cards in one order with $1.00 shipping pay one $0.30 fee and one label:
| One $0.99 card | Three in one order | |
|---|---|---|
| Cards plus shipping | $1.99 | $3.97 |
| eBay's fee, with the per-order fee | −$0.58 | −$0.86 |
| Label and packaging | −$1.00 | −$1.00 |
| What the cards cost | −$0.50 | −$1.50 |
| You keep | −$0.09 | $0.61 |
So a $0.99 card can earn its place when buyers take several together, through combined shipping or a volume discount. It loses money when it sells alone, and you do not choose which way each order goes.
Where Stowdesk fits
The formula tells you what a sale should keep. Stowdesk tells you what each one did. It reads the fee eBay actually charged from your transaction report instead of estimating it, takes the label and the envelope off, and sets that against what the item cost you, including its share of the lot it came from. Each sale shows what it kept, so you can see which ones came in under your floor instead of finding out at the end of the month.
The free plan holds 250 items, takes no payment details and does not expire. See the plans.
Questions
Is it worth listing a card under $1.99?
Only if it sells with other cards in the same order. With the example costs, a $0.99 card loses $0.09 when it sells alone and adds to the order when it sells with two others. Run your own label, packaging and card cost through the formula before deciding.
Does the sales tax really count against me?
Yes. eBay collects the tax and passes it on, so it does not reach you, but the final value fee is charged on the total including tax. At 7% tax and 13.25%, that adds $0.02 to $0.04 to the fee on each of the three sales in the table above.
What about promoted listings and international sales?
Both are charged on top. Promoted Listings adds the ad rate you chose, and an order to an address outside the United States adds 1.65% unless it ships with eBay International Shipping. Add either to the fee rate in the formula when it applies.