Live Selling Fees Compared: What Each Platform Takes
Live selling fees are hard to compare on purpose. Not maliciously, but because every platform describes its own cost in the way that flatters it most, and because two fees quoted as percentages are frequently charged on different numbers. One platform's 8 percent and another's 8 percent can be several dollars apart on the same sale.
This page puts the real rates side by side, states what each one is calculated on, and works the arithmetic on actual sale prices so you can see what leaves your side. Every figure was read from the platform's own published rates on 27 August 2026. Rates change, and several of the ones below are explicitly temporary, so verify anything you are about to make a decision on.
The headline rates
| Platform | Seller commission | Payment processing | Charged to |
|---|---|---|---|
| ShopBidz | 5.9% platform fee | 2.9% on the seller | seller pays 8.8% |
| Whatnot | 8% most categories | 2.9% + $0.30 | seller pays both |
| eBay | 13.6% most categories | included in the final value fee | seller pays both |
| TikTok Shop | about 6% US referral fee | varies | seller, plus creator commission |
Two things in that table do most of the damage in a careless comparison.
First, ShopBidz splits its seller fee into two lines: a 5.9 percent platform fee and 2.9 percent card processing, 8.8 percent in all. The buyer pays a flat 30 cents per charge at checkout.
Second, Whatnot's commission and its processing fee are charged on different bases. The 8 percent is on the final sale price excluding shipping and tax. The 2.9 percent is on the total order value, which includes shipping and tax. So on any sale with shipping attached, the effective rate is higher than adding 8 and 2.9 together suggests.
What each one is actually calculated on
This is the section nobody reads and everybody should.
ShopBidz. The 5.9 percent platform fee and 2.9 percent card processing apply to the sale, 8.8 percent together. Buyers pay 30 cents per charge. On calculated shipping the carrier rate includes a 20 percent shipping and handling component covering packaging and insured, tracked delivery, so if you are comparing shipping economics rather than just commission, factor that in.
Whatnot. Commission on final sale price, excluding shipping and tax. Processing on total order value, including shipping and tax, plus a flat 30 cents per payment. If a buyer wins several lots in one show and each is charged separately, each payment carries its own 30 cents.
eBay. The final value fee is charged on the total amount of the sale, which on eBay means the item price plus shipping and handling plus tax, so it is a broader base than most sellers assume. Most categories are 13.6 percent up to seventy five hundred dollars and 2.35 percent on anything above that. There is also a per order fee of 40 cents on orders over ten dollars, 30 cents at or below. Listing is free up to 250 items a month, then 35 cents per listing.
TikTok Shop. The referral fee is the smaller part of the real cost. The model assumes affiliate creators sell on your behalf, and live commissions to creators commonly run 20 to 30 percent. If you stream yourself and use no affiliates the referral fee is most of what you pay. If you use creators, it is a fraction of it.
The arithmetic on real sale prices
Standard categories, no shipping, what the seller loses:
| Sale price | ShopBidz | Whatnot | eBay |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50 | $4.40 | $5.75 | $7.20 |
| $100 | $8.80 | $11.20 | $14.00 |
| $250 | $22.00 | $27.55 | $34.40 |
| $500 | $44.00 | $54.80 | $68.40 |
| $1,000 | $88.00 | $109.30 | $136.40 |
| $2,500 | $175.00 | $272.80 | $340.40 |
Expressed as a rate rather than a dollar figure, ShopBidz is 8.8 percent, Whatnot lands at roughly 11.2 percent on a hundred dollar sale and edges toward 10.9 percent as the sale price rises and the flat 30 cents matters less, and eBay sits near 13.6 percent.
Across a year, a seller turning over two thousand dollars a month keeps about six hundred dollars more at 8.8 percent than at Whatnot's effective rate, and about twelve hundred more than at eBay's.
The exceptions that flip the answer
Every platform has categories where its rate is nothing like the headline, and if you sell in one of them the comparison above does not apply to you.
| Category | Whatnot rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Coins & money | 4% | plus standard processing |
| Pallets, wholesale | 4% | limited time rate |
| Comics, TCG, sports singles, toys | 8% up to $1,500, 0% above | limited time |
| UK and EU, all categories | 6.67% + VAT | different processing rates |
The pallets line matters most. If you sell wholesale pallets, Whatnot's 4 percent is cheaper than ShopBidz's 8.8 percent, and cheaper than eBay by a wide margin. On eBay's side the range is even wider, from 2.5 percent in some categories to 15.3 percent in others, so a seller in a low-fee eBay category can find eBay is the cheapest of the three.
The honest instruction is the same in every case. Look up your own category before you believe any comparison, including this one.
What a fee comparison cannot tell you
A lower rate on a platform where nobody sees your items is not a saving. It is a smaller percentage of a smaller number, and sellers who move purely on fees discover this in about a month.
The number worth optimizing is what you net per item sold, multiplied by how many you actually sell. A platform charging 11 percent that sells four items an hour beats a platform charging 8.8 percent that sells one, and it is not close. Fees only become the deciding factor once two platforms are moving comparable volume for you, which is exactly why running both in parallel for a few weeks beats reasoning about it from a table.
Two other costs rarely appear in fee comparisons and both are real. Shipping economics, meaning who sets the rate, whether handling is added, and who carries a lost parcel. And payout timing, because a platform that holds your money for two weeks is charging you something that does not appear as a percentage anywhere.
Bottom line
On seller fees in standard categories the order is consistent: ShopBidz at 8.8 percent, Whatnot at about 11.2 percent, eBay at about 13.6 percent. ShopBidz's figure includes its card processing, so it compares like for like with Whatnot's commission plus processing.
Check your specific category, because coins, pallets and several collectibles categories carry rates that reverse the ranking. Then judge on net per item multiplied by volume, not on the percentage alone.