How Much Does Whatnot Take From a Sale?
Whatnot takes about 11.2 percent of a straightforward hundred dollar sale, not the 8 percent most people quote. The 8 percent is the commission. There is a second fee underneath it that is charged on a bigger number, and together they are what actually leaves your side.
Here is the whole thing, worked out properly, read from Whatnot's own published rates on 27 August 2026.
The two fees
Commission. Eight percent in most categories, charged on the final sale price, excluding shipping and tax.
Payment processing. Two point nine percent plus 30 cents, charged on the total order value, which means the amount the buyer actually paid including shipping and any tax.
The bases are different, and that is the detail that makes casual arithmetic wrong. Your commission is charged on a smaller number than your processing fee is.
| Sale price | Commission 8% | Processing 2.9% + $0.30 | Total | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $25 | $2.00 | $1.02 | $3.02 | 12.1% |
| $50 | $4.00 | $1.75 | $5.75 | 11.5% |
| $100 | $8.00 | $3.20 | $11.20 | 11.2% |
| $250 | $20.00 | $7.55 | $27.55 | 11.0% |
| $500 | $40.00 | $14.80 | $54.80 | 11.0% |
| $1,000 | $80.00 | $29.30 | $109.30 | 10.9% |
The effective rate falls slightly as the sale price rises, because the flat 30 cents matters less. On cheap items it matters a lot, which is why a ten dollar sale is proportionally the most expensive thing you can sell.
What shipping does to the number
Because processing is charged on the total order value, shipping increases the fee even though commission excludes it.
A hundred dollar item with fifteen dollars of shipping is assessed at 8 percent on a hundred and 2.9 percent on a hundred and fifteen. So the fee rises to eleven dollars sixty four rather than eleven twenty. Not enormous on one sale, and worth knowing when you are comparing against a platform whose fee excludes shipping entirely.
Also, the 30 cents applies once per payment. If a buyer wins four lots in your show and each is charged separately, that is four lots of 30 cents rather than one.
The categories where it is much less
Whatnot has cut rates in several places, currently described as limited time, and if you sell in one of these the arithmetic above does not apply to you.
| Category | Commission |
|---|---|
| Coins and money | 4% |
| Pallets, wholesale category | 4% |
| Comics, TCG, sports singles, toys and hobbies | 8% up to $1,500, 0% above |
| UK and EU, all categories | 6.67% + VAT |
Standard processing still applies on top in each case. The collectibles tier is genuinely significant on high-value single cards, since a three thousand dollar sale pays commission on only the first fifteen hundred.
How it compares
| Platform | Seller pays on $100 |
|---|---|
| ShopBidz | $8.80, 5.9% + 2.9% card processing |
| Mercari | $10.00, flat 10% |
| Whatnot | $11.20 |
| eBay | $14.00, 13.6% + $0.40, charged on shipping too |
| Poshmark | $20.00, flat 20% over $15 |
Whatnot sits in the middle, cheaper than eBay and much cheaper than Poshmark, dearer than Mercari and ShopBidz. All rates read from each platform's own published schedule on 27 August 2026.
What the fee is buying
It is worth being fair about this rather than treating a rate as a straight loss. Whatnot's 11 percent buys an audience that already exists, buyer protection, a dispute process, integrated payment, shipping labels, and moderation. Building any one of those yourself is expensive and building all of them is a business in itself.
The question is not whether 11 percent is a lot. It is whether you need what it buys. A seller with no audience is getting a bargain. A seller who brings their own buyers from Instagram is paying an audience price for a checkout, and a lower-rate platform would keep more of their money for the same work.
Bottom line
Whatnot takes about 11.2 percent of a simple hundred dollar sale, made up of 8 percent commission plus 2.9 percent and 30 cents processing charged on a wider base. The effective rate is a little higher on cheap items and a little lower on expensive ones.
Check your own category before treating that as your number, since coins, pallets and several collectibles categories currently sit at 4 percent or drop to zero above fifteen hundred dollars. And judge the rate against what it is actually buying you, which for most new sellers is an audience they could not otherwise reach.