On fees alone, Whatnot keeps less of your money than eBay. Sell a $50 card with no shipping or tax added and Whatnot takes $5.75, so $44.25 reaches you. eBay takes $7.03 at the trading card rate and sends you $42.98. That's the Whatnot vs eBay fee gap at its simplest: about 11.5% against about 14% on a typical card.
Type your own price into the calculator above. Add what you paid for the card and your postage cost if you cover it, and it shows profit on both, plus what the buyer pays at checkout.
Whatnot fees vs eBay fees, side by side
- Whatnot: commission of 8% of the item price at the Standard tier, which is where every new seller starts. Since 21 September 2026 the rate drops as your 28-day sales grow. On top of that, payment processing is 2.9% of everything the buyer pays (item, shipping and tax) plus $0.30 per order.
- eBay: a final value fee of 13.25% on trading cards, or 13.6% in most other categories, charged on the full order total including shipping and sales tax. Then $0.40 per order, or $0.30 when the order is $10 or less. There's no separate processing fee.
- The base is the big difference. Whatnot's commission ignores shipping and tax. eBay's percentage includes both.
Here's what each one pays you at common card prices, with free shipping and no tax:
| Sale price | Whatnot fee | Whatnot pays you | eBay fee | eBay pays you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $5.00 | $0.85 | $4.16 | $0.96 | $4.04 |
| $10.00 | $1.39 | $8.61 | $1.63 | $8.38 |
| $20.00 | $2.48 | $17.52 | $3.05 | $16.95 |
| $50.00 | $5.75 | $44.25 | $7.03 | $42.98 |
| $100.00 | $11.20 | $88.80 | $13.65 | $86.35 |
| $250.00 | $27.55 | $222.45 | $33.53 | $216.48 |
| $500.00 | $54.80 | $445.20 | $66.65 | $433.35 |
Standard settings, free shipping to the buyer, no sales tax.
Even on a $5 card Whatnot comes out a little ahead: $0.84 in fees against $0.96 on eBay. The gap grows with the price, because eBay's percentage is higher and both fixed parts are about the same size.
How shipping and sales tax change the comparison
Real orders have shipping and tax, and that's where eBay's fee base hurts. Take a $50 card with $5 buyer-paid shipping and 8% sales tax. Whatnot's commission stays at 8% of $50, and processing covers the full order, so fees come to $6.02 and you get $43.98. Whatnot's buyer-paid shipping goes to the label it gives you. On eBay the 13.25% runs on the item, shipping and tax together, so fees are $8.27. eBay pays you $46.73, but that includes the $5 shipping, and once you buy the label you're left with $41.73.
So on a like-for-like order, selling on Whatnot vs eBay leaves you roughly $2 more per $50 card on Whatnot. Put your own shipping and postage numbers in the calculator above to see your version.
Whatnot's 2026 tiers and the $1,500 rule
The 8% figure is only the starting point. Whatnot now sets your rate from your sales over the previous 28 days, and card categories get their own column. A trading card seller in Tier 2, with $35,000 to $50,000 of sales in 28 days, pays 7.5%. That makes a $100 card cost $10.70 in fees instead of $11.20. Coins and money start at 4%.
For high-value singles, Whatnot also charges no commission on the part of an order above $1,500 in eligible categories, including trading card games and sports singles. On a $2,000 card that means $178.30 in total fees on Whatnot, against $265.40 on eBay. eBay's own break comes much later: its rate drops to 2.35% only above $7,500 per item.
The Whatnot fee calculator has every tier and category if you want your exact rate.
eBay vs Whatnot: is Whatnot better?
For fees, yes, on almost every card and collectible. But the cheaper platform isn't always the one that pays you more, because the price you get matters more than a few percent.
Whatnot suits sellers who can run live shows. Buyers bid in real time, so a good stream can push prices up, and it's built for moving a lot of cards, packs and breaks quickly. The catch is time: someone has to be on camera, and quiet shows can sell cards below what they'd fetch in a fixed-price listing.
eBay suits listing and waiting. You list once and the card sits in front of a huge pool of buyers until it sells. Sold listings give you clear price history, and for graded or rare cards that reach is often worth the higher fee.
eBay also runs its own live shopping, eBay Live. This page compares standard eBay listings, so if you're weighing eBay Live vs Whatnot, check eBay's current terms for live sales before you choose.
A quick way to decide
- Check recent sold prices for the card on eBay, and watch what similar cards go for in Whatnot shows.
- Run both prices through the calculator above, with your card cost and postage.
- If the profits are close, pick the one that fits how you like to sell: live and fast, or listed and patient.
Many card sellers use both. They run shows on Whatnot for volume and list their better cards on eBay. If you sell outside cards, the eBay fee calculator covers every category, and the eBay trading card fee calculator goes deeper on card fees.
Common questions
Are Whatnot fees lower than eBay fees?
Yes for most sellers. On a $100 card with no shipping or tax, Whatnot takes $11.20 and eBay takes $13.65, so Whatnot pays you $88.80 against eBay's $86.35.
Does Whatnot charge fees on shipping like eBay?
Whatnot's commission doesn't include shipping or tax, but its 2.9% processing fee does. eBay charges its full percentage on shipping and tax.
What about non-card items?
Most other categories follow the same pattern. A $50 fashion item costs $5.75 on Whatnot at Standard and $7.20 on eBay at 13.6%.
Which is better for new sellers, Whatnot or eBay?
eBay is easier to start with, since you only need to list. Whatnot pays more per sale, but live selling takes practice and a steady schedule to build an audience.
Sources
Fees last checked against these official pages: Whatnot (US) on 2026-10-12; eBay trading cards (US) on 2026-10-14. We re-check every source daily and update the calculators when a platform changes its fees.
- Whatnot Help: Seller fees
- Whatnot Help: Reduced commission on high-value orders
- Whatnot Help: Reduced commission on Coins & Money
- Whatnot Help: Taxes on commissions and fees
- eBay Help: Selling fees