Private sellers: selling is free, the buyer pays
If you sell on eBay as a private seller with a UK registered address, eBay charges you no final value fee and no regulatory operating fee when an item sells. The exception is motors: Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles listings keep their own fees. You get 300 free listings a month; each extra listing costs 35p, and optional upgrades such as a subtitle or Gallery Plus are charged separately.
Instead, the buyer pays a Buyer Protection fee, which eBay builds into the price shown on your listing. It is a flat £0.10 per item plus 7% of the item price up to £20, 4% of the part from £20 to £300 and 2% of the part from £300 to £4,000. Nothing more is added above £4,000. Postage is not included in the calculation.
Example: you list a jacket at £20 with £3.50 postage. The Buyer Protection fee is £0.10 + 7% × £20 = £1.50, so your buyer pays £25.00 in total. You receive the full £23.50 (item plus postage) with no eBay selling fee deducted.
Private sellers: when you do pay a fee
If the delivery address is outside the UK, eBay charges UK private sellers a 3% international fee on the total amount of the sale, which includes the item price, postage and any applicable taxes. On the £23.50 sale above, an overseas buyer means a fee of £0.71, and you receive £22.79.
The other costs are under your control: listings beyond the monthly 300, paid upgrades, and a seller currency conversion charge if you are paid in another currency. Private seller fees on eBay's help page are shown including VAT at 20%.
Business sellers: final value fee and per-order fee
Business sellers pay a final value fee when an item sells: a percentage of the total amount of the sale (item price, postage and any applicable taxes) that depends on the category, plus a per-order fee of £0.30 for orders of £10 or less and £0.40 for orders over £10. A regulatory operating fee of 0.35% of the total is added. eBay shows these business fees excluding VAT.
Without an eBay Shop, the rate is 11.9% in Clothes, Shoes & Accessories, 9.9% in Books, Comics & Magazines and in Video Games & Consoles, 10.9% in Toys & Games, Health & Beauty and Collectables, and 12.9% in Everything Else. Some categories are tiered per item: Women's Bags & Handbags are 12.9% up to £800 and 7% above, Jewellery & Watches 14.9% up to £1,000 and 4% above, and Men's and Women's Trainers drop to 7% when the item price (excluding postage) is £100 or more.
Example: a £30 shirt with £4 postage, sold by a business seller in Clothes, Shoes & Accessories. The total sale is £34. Final value fee: 11.9% × £34 = £4.05, plus £0.40 per order. Regulatory operating fee: 0.35% × £34 = £0.12. That is £4.57 before VAT, £5.48 with 20% VAT, and you receive £28.52 of the £34.
International sales, VAT and eBay Shops
Business sellers with a UK registered address pay an international fee on the total sale when the buyer's delivery address is outside the UK: 1.05% for the Eurozone and Northern Europe, 1.8% for the US and Canada, and 2% for all other countries.
Because eBay lists business fees excluding VAT, the calculator lets you add 20% VAT to them. If you are VAT-registered, you can usually reclaim that VAT, so untick the box to see your net cost.
An eBay Shop subscription (Basic, Featured or Anchor) lowers some final value fee rates and adds free listings, against a monthly fee. This calculator uses the rates for business sellers without a Shop, so treat it as the upper end if you have one.
eBay or Vinted for selling clothes?
For a private seller, the two now work the same way: no selling fee, and a buyer fee added on top of your price. What differs is the buyer fee itself and who comes to each platform. On eBay, a £20 item costs the buyer £1.50 in Buyer Protection; on Vinted the buyer fee for the UK is published as a range, which our Vinted fee calculator shows for the same price.
The fee rarely decides the sale. What sells, at what price and how fast does. That is where sales data helps more than any calculator.
eBay fees UK: frequently asked questions
Does eBay charge private sellers fees in the UK?
No final value fee and no regulatory operating fee for private sellers with a UK registered address, except in Cars, Motorcycles & Vehicles. You still pay 35p per listing beyond 300 a month, optional upgrades, and a 3% international fee if the buyer's delivery address is outside the UK.
How is the eBay Buyer Protection fee calculated?
£0.10 per item, plus 7% of the item price up to £20, 4% of the portion from £20 to £300 and 2% of the portion from £300 to £4,000. A £5 item carries £0.45, a £20 item £1.50, a £50 item £2.70. It applies to items bought from UK private sellers, not from business sellers, and is calculated without postage.
Who pays the Buyer Protection fee, the buyer or the seller?
The buyer. eBay includes it in the price shown while browsing and itemises it at checkout. As a private seller you receive your item price and the postage you charged, minus any international fee.
What are eBay fees for business sellers in the UK?
A final value fee of a category rate (11.9% in most of Clothes, Shoes & Accessories without a Shop) on the total sale including postage, plus £0.30 per order up to £10 or £0.40 above, plus a 0.35% regulatory operating fee. These amounts are excluding VAT.
Is the eBay final value fee charged on postage?
For business sellers, yes: the final value fee and the regulatory operating fee are calculated on the total amount of the sale, which includes postage. The international fee also uses the total. The Buyer Protection fee paid by buyers of private sellers is calculated on the item price only.