Etsy vs eBay Fees in 2026, Measured Across Seven Markets

Etsy advertises a 6.5% transaction fee. eBay's standard US final value fee is 13.60%. That comparison is wrong, and the reason is that eBay's rate already includes payment processing while Etsy's does not.

Once you add Etsy's processing charge, the gap narrows sharply and in one market it reverses entirely. Below is what each platform takes on a 100-unit sale in all seven markets, calculated from both companies' own published rates. If you want the eBay side for your own numbers, the calculator handles all seven.

Contents

• What each platform actually charges
• The seven-market comparison
• France is the exception
• The private seller rule that changes everything
• Costs that only exist on one side
• Which one fits which seller
• Conclusion

What each platform actually charges

The two fee structures are built differently, which is why headline rates mislead.

eBay charges one final value fee that covers the sale and the payment handling together, plus a small per-order fee. Some markets add a regulatory operating fee, and several add VAT on top of the fees themselves.

Etsy splits the same job into three charges: a $0.20 listing fee per item, a 6.5% transaction fee on the display price plus shipping and gift wrapping, and a separate payment processing fee that varies by the country of your bank account.

That third row is the whole argument. Comparing 6.5% to 13.60% compares a commission to a commission-plus-processing bundle.

The seven-market comparison

Both columns below use each company's published business rates on a 100-unit sale with no shipping charged, before VAT on fees. eBay figures come from our fee dataset on data version 24 July 2026. Etsy figures come from its Fees and Payments Policy and its payment processing table, both verified on 12 August 2026.

The Etsy column shows the listing fee separately because Etsy bills it in US dollars regardless of your shop currency.

Read the last two rows together. Italy is close, at under a euro of difference on a €100 sale. France goes the other way outright.

Selling the same item into more than one of these markets? Compare the eBay side properly.

France is the exception

eBay's French business rate is 9.00%, the lowest of the seven markets by a clear margin. The next lowest is Italy at 11.00%, and the United States and Canada sit at 13.60%.

At 9.00% plus a 0.35% regulatory operating fee and a €0.35 per-order fee, a €100 sale costs €9.70 on eBay. The same sale on Etsy costs €6.50 in transaction fee plus €4.30 in processing, which is €10.80 before the listing fee.

France is also the only one of the seven markets with no not-as-described surcharge on eBay. For a French business seller the fee case for Etsy is weak, and it gets weaker on higher-value items where the percentage difference compounds.

The private seller rule that changes everything

Every figure above is a business-seller rate. Two markets have a separate private-seller schedule that no fee comparison should ignore.

UK private sellers pay no eBay fees on domestic sales. Not a reduced rate: zero. German private sellers are the same on domestic sales within the EEA. On a £100 or €100 domestic sale, eBay takes nothing and Etsy still takes its full stack.

No amount of Etsy rate-cutting closes a gap against zero. If you are a UK or German private seller shifting personal items rather than running a business, the fee question is settled before you start comparing. The UK calculator shows how far apart the two seller types are.

France and Italy also have private schedules, but theirs are not free. French private sellers pay a domestic rate, and Italian private sellers pay a different one again, so the France finding above holds for business sellers specifically.

Costs that only exist on one side

The headline table covers a clean sale. Both platforms have charges that appear under particular conditions, and they do not mirror each other.

Etsy only. The $0.20 listing fee applies whether or not the item sells, and listings expire after four months, so slow-moving stock is charged repeatedly. Offsite Ads cost 15% of the order, dropping to 12% once your shop passes $10,000 USD in sales over the prior 365 days. Below that threshold you may opt out. Once you cross it, participation becomes mandatory for the lifetime of the shop, even if your sales later fall back below the line. The Offsite Ads charge is capped at $100 USD per attributed order and the attribution window runs 30 days from the click. A 2.5% currency conversion fee applies if you list in a currency other than your payment account currency. Etsy Plus is $10 USD per month and includes 15 listing credits and $5 in Etsy Ads credits, neither of which roll over.

eBay only. A per-order fee applies to every transaction, from $0.30 to $0.45 depending on market and order value. The United Kingdom, France and Italy add a 0.35% regulatory operating fee. Four markets apply VAT to the fees themselves rather than only to the sale, at 19% in Germany, 20% in the United Kingdom and France, and 22% in Italy.

That VAT row matters more than it looks. A German business seller paying €14.45 in eBay fees pays 19% on top of that figure, not on top of the sale price.

Both. Etsy states that all service fees, including prepaid fees, are non-refundable. eBay's structure differs by market and by what went wrong with the sale, which is why the same item ending badly costs different amounts in different places.

Want the eBay number for a specific sale price? Run it for the US.

Which one fits which seller

Fees decide less here than the tables suggest, because the two marketplaces are not selling to the same buyer.

Etsy applies category restrictions that eBay does not, so for a large share of stock the comparison never starts at all. Check Etsy's seller policy against your own catalogue before treating the fee gap as the deciding factor.

The listing fee shapes behaviour differently on each side. On Etsy every listing costs $0.20 up front and again every four months, which penalises large catalogues of slow sellers. On eBay a standard listing carries no such charge, so listing broadly and waiting is cheaper.

Volume changes the arithmetic again. A shop with 200 active listings pays $40 in Etsy listing fees every four months before a single sale, or $120 a year. On a shop turning over $10,000 a year that is a little over one percent of revenue spent on shelf space. The same 200 listings cost nothing to keep on eBay.

The $10,000 line matters for a second reason. Crossing it makes Offsite Ads mandatory for the lifetime of the shop, so the moment a growing Etsy shop stops being small is the moment its worst-case fee rate becomes permanent.

If you are weighing Etsy against several options rather than eBay alone, we run the same fee comparison for Poshmark versus eBay.

Conclusion

The 6.5% versus 13.60% comparison is the wrong comparison, and correcting it changes the answer in one market out of seven.

• Etsy is cheaper on a straight business-rate sale in six of seven markets, by about $4.25 per $100 in the United States.
• France reverses it: eBay's 9.00% rate makes it about €1.10 cheaper on a €100 sale.
• UK and German private sellers pay nothing on eBay domestic sales, which no Etsy rate can beat.
• Etsy's $0.20 listing fee is charged whether the item sells or not, and again every four months.

Run your own price through both structures before you move a catalogue. The gap on a $100 item is small enough that shipping, category fit and buyer demand will usually matter more.

Etsy figures were verified on 12 August 2026 against Etsy's Fees and Payments Policy, last updated 13 February 2026, and its published payment processing fee table. eBay figures come from the seven official eBay fee pages on data version 24 July 2026 and are maintained in our published fee dataset. All comparisons use business-seller rates on a 100-unit sale with no shipping charged, before VAT on fees.