Marketplace fees decide how much of each sale you actually keep β and the headline commission rate almost never tells the whole story. This guide breaks the fees into their real components, compares the major types of platform, and gives you a simple formula to work out your true profit per sale so you never get surprised at payout.
The four fees that eat your margin
Whatever the platform, seller fees come from the same four buckets. Learn these and no fee structure can confuse you:
- Listing fee: charged to put an item up, whether or not it sells. Many platforms have none; some craft marketplaces charge per listing.
- Commission (final-value fee): a percentage of the sale price, taken when the item sells. This is usually the largest fee.
- Payment processing: typically 2β3% plus a small fixed amount, sometimes folded into commission and sometimes charged on top.
- Extras: currency conversion on cross-border sales, promoted-listing/ad fees, and monthly subscription tiers.
The trap
Fee comparison by marketplace type
Exact rates change and vary by category and country, so the table below compares types of platform and the structure to expect, rather than quoting figures that go stale. Verify the current rate on any platform before you list.
| Marketplace type | Listing fee | Commission | Payment | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General marketplaces (broad audience) | Usually free | ~8β15% | ~2β3% + fixed | Biggest reach; commission varies by category |
| Handmade / craft marketplaces | Per-listing fee common | ~6β13% | ~3% + fixed | Listing fees stack up if items don't sell |
| Auction-style platforms | Often free / capped | ~10β13% | Included or ~3% | Final-value fee on item + shipping |
| GeraMarket | Free | Transparent per-sale, shown before listing | Included in stated commission | No monthly fee on standard accounts; local-currency payouts |
How to calculate your true take-home
Before you price anything, run this calculation. It is the difference between a sale that profits and one that quietly loses money:
- Start with the sale price.
- Subtract the commission (sale price Γ commission rate).
- Subtract payment processing (percentage + any fixed fee).
- Subtract any listing or per-order fee.
- Subtract shipping cost if you, not the buyer, pay it.
- Subtract the cost of the item itself.
- What remains is your profit.
Worked example: an item sells for the equivalent of 100 units of currency. A 12% commission is 12, payment processing of ~3% is 3, no listing fee, you absorb 8 in shipping, and the item cost you 50. Profit = 100 β 12 β 3 β 8 β 50 = 27. If you had priced it at 80 to "move it fast," profit would be just 9 β and a small fee rise could wipe it out. The maths is mechanical; doing it before you price is what protects your margin. Our pricing guide builds this into a full pricing method.
Cross-border: the fee most sellers forget
Selling internationally adds currency conversion on top of everything else, and sometimes a higher cross-border commission. The upside is access to far more buyers. GeraMarket displays prices in the buyer's local currency while settling to you, and exposes your listings to buyers in dozens of countries β so the reach can easily outweigh the conversion cost. See our shipping guide for the logistics side.
Lower fees vs. more sales
The cheapest platform is not automatically the most profitable. A marketplace that takes a slightly higher fee but reliably sells your item beats a cheap one where it sits unsold. Judge fees against actual sell-through: track your real take-home and conversion on each platform for a few weeks, then concentrate inventory where each item genuinely performs.
The bottom line
Marketplace fees come down to four buckets β listing, commission, payment, and extras β and the headline rate is never the full cost. Calculate your true take-home before you price, weigh fees against real sell-through, and favour platforms with no listing fee and one transparent commission when you are starting out. On GeraMarket that means no listing fee, no monthly subscription, and a per-sale commission you can see before you list.