This eBay profit calculator takes what you paid for an item, the shipping label and packaging you pay for, and eBay’s published US fees, and answers three questions: what you make at a given price, the lowest price that breaks even or hits your target margin, and the most you can pay for an item and still hit that target. Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.
eBay Profit Calculator
US eBay.com rates for sellers without a Store subscription, read from eBay's Selling fees page on 2026-10-02. One item per order. A Promoted Listings rate is counted as if the item sold within 30 days of a click on the ad. Margin is profit as a share of the item price plus the shipping the buyer pays, before sales tax. Income tax is not included.
Forvendo · every other Friday
One operating decision, worked through with numbers
The same approach this calculator takes: the sources named, the assumptions shown, and the arithmetic left where you can check it.
No spam, unsubscribe any time. The calculators and every download stay free whether you subscribe or not.
How the eBay profit calculator works out profit
Profit on one sale is the item price, plus the shipping the buyer pays you, minus eBay’s fees, the shipping label, your packaging, and what you paid for the item. eBay’s fees come from the same published fee schedule as the eBay Fee Calculator: the final value fee for the category plus the per-order fee, charged on the total amount of the sale. That total includes shipping and the buyer’s sales tax, so both raise your fee even though neither is the item price.
Sales tax is not part of your profit, but eBay’s fee is charged on it. In eBay’s own example on its fee page, a $400 item with 6% sales tax is a $424 sale, and the seller keeps $341.59: the $400 price less $58.41 of fees, which include a $0.35 insertion fee for a listing past the free allowance. The $24 of tax is in the fee base and not in the payout.
If a listing offers one-day or international shipping alongside a cheaper domestic option, eBay charges the fee on the cheapest domestic option. The calculator charges the fee on the shipping you enter, so when a buyer picks the faster option, enter what that buyer paid. The fee shown is then slightly high, and the profit slightly low, by the fee on the difference.
| Result | How it is calculated | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Profit | Item price + shipping charged − eBay fees − label − packaging − item cost | The dollars one sale adds |
| Margin | Profit ÷ (item price + shipping charged), before sales tax | How much of what the buyer pays you is yours |
| ROI | Profit ÷ what you paid for the item | How hard your sourcing money worked |
| Break-even price | The lowest item price where profit is $0.00 or more | The price floor for this item |
| Price for a target | The lowest item price that reaches your target margin or dollar profit | The price to ask |
| Most you can pay | What is left at your price after fees, label, packaging and the target | Your ceiling when you buy inventory |
Worked example: an $8 thrift find
You paid $8 for an item in a standard category and list it at $45 with $6 shipping. The buyer pays 7% sales tax on both, the label costs you $5.20, and the mailer and tape cost $0.60.
- Fee base. $45 + $6 = $51, plus 7% sales tax = $54.57.
- eBay fees. 13.6% of $54.57 is $7.42, plus the $0.40 per-order fee = $7.82.
- Left after fees, label and packaging. $51.00 − $7.82 − $5.20 − $0.60 = $37.38.
- Profit. $37.38 − $8.00 = $29.38. That is a 57.6% margin on the $51 the buyer paid you, and a 367% ROI on the $8 you paid.
Leave the price blank and add targets, and the same item gives a break-even price of $10.62, a price of $19.62 for a 30% margin, and $28.17 for $15 of profit, each with the $6 shipping charge on top.
Why adding 13.6% to your costs underprices the item
The fee is charged on more than the item price, and the label is a cost that does not shrink when the price does. With free shipping, the same $8 item has to sell for $16.62 just to break even, not $8.00 plus 13.6%.
For most categories, for an order total over $10 and under the $7,500 line, with free shipping and sales tax on the item, the break-even price works out to:
price = (item cost + label + packaging + 0.40) / (1 - 0.136 x (1 + tax rate))
(8.00 + 5.20 + 0.60 + 0.40) / (1 - 0.136 x 1.07) = 14.20 / 0.85448 = 16.62For a target margin, subtract the margin in the denominator as well: 14.20 / (0.85448 − 0.30) = 25.61, and the calculator shows $25.62 because eBay rounds each fee to the cent. A Promoted Listings General rate is also charged on the total with tax included, so a 5% ad rate takes another 5% x 1.07 out of the denominator and moves the 30% margin price to $28.35. The formula breaks down once shipping is charged separately, a sale crosses a category line, or a surcharge applies. The calculator handles all of those.
Margin or ROI: which number to price by
The $8 thrift find above shows the gap: a 57.6% margin and a 367% ROI on the same $29.38. ROI looks large whenever the item was cheap to buy, which says little about whether the sale was worth the time. Margin and dollar profit say how much of each sale you keep after eBay and the post office.
Forvendo decision rule: set a dollar floor per sale as well as a margin. Every sale takes about the same listing, packing and drop-off time, so a 50% margin on a $12 sale is $6 for the same work that earns $30 on a $60 sale. Enter both targets. If the price the calculator gives for your dollar target is above what the same item has recently sold for on eBay, pass on it or bundle it with other items.
At the sourcing table: the most you can pay
Before you buy, enter the price you expect to get and your target, and leave “What you paid” blank. The calculator returns the most you can pay for the item. For a $45 item with $6 shipping, a $5.20 label, $0.60 of packaging and 7% sales tax, you can pay up to $22.08 and keep a 30% margin, or up to $22.38 and keep $15 of profit.
Where a higher price can earn more
In a few categories the whole sale switches to a lower rate at a line. Athletic shoes are the clearest case: at $150 or more, tax and shipping included, eBay charges 8% with no per-order fee instead of 13.6% plus $0.40. A pair that cost you $95, with free shipping, a $12 label and $1 of packaging, needs $150.00 for a 20% margin when no sales tax applies. In a standard category the same costs need $163.25. With 7% sales tax the shoes need $151.18, because eBay’s fee is also charged on the tax.
The calculator searches for the lowest price that meets your target, including these jumps, so it does not stop at a higher price when a lower one past a line would do. The lines are $150 for athletic shoes, $2,000 for women’s bags and handbags, $5,000 for jewelry and $7,500 for bullion, each tested against the total with shipping and sales tax. The eBay Fee Calculator page walks through each one.
What the calculator does not cover
- Orders with more than one item. The per-order fee is charged once per order, so a multi-item order earns slightly more per item than this shows.
- Whether the ad fee applies. eBay charges the Promoted Listings General fee when the item sells within 30 days of a click on the ad. The calculator counts it whenever you enter a rate. When it does not apply, your profit is higher.
- eBay Store subscriptions. Store subscribers have their own fee schedule, which this calculator does not use. See eBay’s Store selling fees page.
- Returns, listing upgrades and currency conversion. Return shipping, refunds and upgrades such as bold or subtitle come out of profit too. When eBay converts funds, it charges US-registered sellers a currency conversion fee: 3.25% from October 14, 2026, up from 3%.
- Disputes. A $20 fee applies when eBay finds you responsible for a payment dispute.
- Income tax. Profit here is before income tax and self-employment tax. The self-employed estimated tax calculator covers the quarterly payments.
Fee rates are eBay.com’s US rates for sellers without a Store subscription, read from eBay’s Selling fees help page on 2026-10-02. The fee arithmetic is the same code as the eBay Fee Calculator, which reproduces both of eBay’s own worked examples to the cent.
Related
- eBay Fee Calculator — every fee line on one order, with the category table and surcharges
- Shopify Profit Margin Calculator — the same profit question for your own store
- Etsy Fee Calculator — listing, transaction and processing fees on an Etsy order
- Whatnot Fee Calculator — tiered commission and processing for live selling
- Free spreadsheets and templates — including a 1099-K reconciliation sheet with an eBay mapping tab
- All free calculators
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate profit on eBay?
Add the item price and the shipping the buyer pays, then subtract eBay’s fees, the shipping label, packaging and what you paid for the item. eBay’s fee in most categories is 13.6% of the total amount of the sale, shipping and sales tax included, up to $7,500 and 2.35% above it, plus $0.40 per order ($0.30 when the order total is $10.00 or less).
What is a good profit margin on eBay?
eBay does not publish a benchmark, and the right number depends on the item price. A high margin on a cheap item can still be only a few dollars, so set a minimum dollar profit per sale as well and enter both targets.
How do I find the price I need to charge on eBay?
Enter what you paid, the label, packaging and a target margin or profit, and leave the item price blank. The calculator returns the lowest price that reaches the target with eBay’s fees on the full sale, including shipping and sales tax.
What is the difference between margin and ROI?
Margin is profit divided by what the buyer paid you. ROI is profit divided by what you paid for the item. A $29.38 profit on an $8 item sold for $51 is a 57.6% margin and a 367% ROI.
Does free shipping lower my eBay profit?
Only if you do not raise the price. eBay charges its fee on shipping too, so adding the shipping cost to the item price leaves the fee about the same. Offering free shipping at the old price costs you the shipping charge less eBay’s fee on it: $5.13 on the $6 shipping in the example above, with 7% sales tax. Run the calculator both ways to compare.
Are my numbers saved anywhere?
Nothing is sent anywhere. The number fields are remembered in this browser only, so the figures are still there next visit.