How much does eBay take from a sale in the UK?

Sell on eBay UK as a private individual and eBay takes nothing from most sales. Sell as a business and eBay takes 12.9% of the total up to £800, 7% of anything above that, and £0.30 per order.

That is the whole answer in two sentences. The rest of this page is what those sentences mean for your money, because most fee advice online predates the 2024 change and quietly overstates what you will pay. If you want your own numbers rather than examples, the eBay fee calculator works either case out in a few seconds.

Private sellers: nothing, since 2024

eBay removed selling fees for UK private sellers in 2024 on most categories. No listing fee, no final value fee, no percentage of the sale. If you last sold in 2022 and remember losing 12.8% plus 30p, that world is gone.

What "nothing" actually means in practice:

• You keep the sale price. Your take is what the buyer paid for the item, minus whatever the postage costs you to send it. eBay takes no cut.
• The buyer pays more than your price. eBay moved the cost to the buyer as a Buyer Protection fee added at checkout. You never see it and it never touches your money, but the buyer's total is higher than your listed price, so you are competing on their total, not your number.
• "Most categories" covers the usual ones. The no-fee rule applies across the categories nearly all private sellers use, so for ordinary items the answer really is zero.
• Private means private. If you are buying stock to sell, eBay expects a business account, and the business fees below are the honest ones to plan with.

Business sellers: the tiered maths

A business seller pays a final value fee with two bands, plus a fixed order charge:

• 12.9% on the first £800 of the total
• 7% on the portion above £800
• £0.30 per order, flat

Two examples make it concrete.

A £50 sale. The whole amount sits in the first band. 12.9% of £50 is £6.45, plus the £0.30 order charge: £6.75 in total. You keep £43.25, and the overall rate is 13.5%.

A £900 sale. The first £800 is charged at 12.9%, which is £103.20. The remaining £100 is charged at 7%, which is £7.00. Add the £0.30 order charge and the total fee is £110.50. You keep £789.50, and the overall rate is about 12.3%. The lower band only applies to the slice above £800, never the whole sale, so a large sale is not punished for crossing the line.

The fee is charged on the total, postage included

The percentage applies to the full amount the buyer pays, and that includes what you charged for postage.

Sell an item at £45 with £4 postage and the buyer pays £49, so a business seller's fee is 12.9% of £49, which is £6.32, not 12.9% of £45. Charging high postage to keep the item price low does not dodge the fee; it just moves the number the percentage bites on.

For private sellers this does not matter, since there is no fee either way.

What does not come out of your money

The Buyer Protection fee. The buyer pays it at checkout, on top of your price, and it never reduces your take. Plenty of fee calculators on the first page of Google subtract it from the seller's side anyway, which understates your profit on every sale. If a calculator shows a private seller losing money to eBay in 2026, it is wrong.

Promoted listings, the optional extra

Promoted listings are the one genuinely optional fee. You choose an ad rate, and eBay charges it only when the listing sells through the ad. It sits on top of the business fees above, or on top of nothing for a private seller.

eBay suggests a rate, and the suggestion is optimised for eBay's revenue rather than your margin, so start well below it if you use promotion at all. Whether it is worth using is covered in the full eBay selling guide.

Common questions

How much does eBay take from a sale in the UK?

Nothing on most categories if you sell as a private individual. Business sellers pay 12.9% of the total up to £800, 7% on anything above that, and £0.30 per order. The percentage is calculated on the full amount the buyer pays, including postage.

Do private sellers pay eBay fees?

No. eBay removed selling fees for UK private sellers in 2024 on most categories. There is no listing fee and no final value fee; the buyer pays a Buyer Protection fee at checkout instead. Your take is your sale price minus whatever postage costs you.

Does eBay charge fees on postage?

For business sellers, yes. The final value fee is calculated on the total the buyer pays, which includes what you charged for postage. Charging £4 postage on a £40 item means the percentage applies to £44, not £40. Private sellers pay no fee either way.

What percentage do eBay take?

Zero from private sellers on most categories. From business sellers, 12.9% up to £800 and 7% on the portion above, plus £0.30 an order. On a £900 sale that works out at £110.50, which is about 12.3% overall.

Where this fits

Fees are one line of a bigger sum. Selling on eBay UK covers the rest: listings, pricing from sold data and the private-versus-business decision. If your items are mid-value or bought as gifts, Vinted often nets more, because it also charges sellers nothing. And for any specific sale, the eBay fee calculator gives you the exact figure in seconds.