eBay vs Etsy fees on a $40 sale
Published August 9, 2026
Quick answer
On a $40 sale with no advertising, Etsy is cheaper: $4.25 in fees against eBay's $5.84, so you keep $35.75 instead of $34.16. That gap reverses completely if the sale comes through Etsy Offsite Ads, which pushes Etsy's total to $10.25, or 25.6% of the sale.
The headline comparison
eBay charges 13.6% in most categories plus a $0.30 per-order fee, which on $40 works out to $5.84 and leaves you $34.16. Etsy's stack is a 6.5% transaction fee, payment processing, and a $0.20 listing fee, totalling $4.25 and leaving $35.75. Etsy wins by $1.59 per sale, or about 4 percentage points.
Offsite Ads is the variable that decides it
Etsy's 15% Offsite Ads fee applies to sales that came through ads Etsy bought on your behalf. When it triggers on a $40 sale, your total fees go from $4.25 to $10.25 and your take drops to $29.75. That is 25.6% of the sale, nearly double what eBay would have charged. Sellers under $10,000 a year cannot opt out. If a meaningful share of your Etsy orders arrive through Offsite Ads, eBay is the cheaper platform despite the higher headline rate.
Category matters more than the platform
eBay's 13.6% is the most-categories rate. Guitars and basses are 6.7%, authenticated sneakers over $150 are 8%, and books, movies and music are 15.3%. If you sell in one of the cheap categories, eBay beats Etsy comfortably before Offsite Ads even enters the picture. Check your own category before treating 13.6% as the number.
The honest answer for most sellers
The fee difference on a single $40 sale is under two dollars. Where you list should be decided by which audience actually finds your product, because a platform that sells three units at 14% beats one that sells one unit at 10%. Use the fee comparison to break a tie, not to make the decision.
Frequently asked questions
Is Etsy cheaper than eBay?
On a $40 sale with no Offsite Ads, yes: $4.25 in Etsy fees against $5.84 on eBay. With Offsite Ads triggered, Etsy costs $10.25 on the same sale and eBay becomes far cheaper.
How much does eBay take from a $40 sale?
$5.84 in most categories, made up of 13.6% plus a $0.30 per-order fee. You keep $34.16.
Can I avoid Etsy Offsite Ads fees?
Only if you make over $10,000 a year on Etsy, at which point you can opt out and the rate also drops to 12%. Below that threshold participation is mandatory.