For sellers
Selling fees, side by side
Put in your own numbers and see what each place would take from the same orders. It compares fees, not sales: a marketplace brings its own shoppers, and a shop of your own brings the people you reach yourself.
20 orders a month of $36.00 ($720.00 in sales)
| Where you sell | Plan | Fees per order | Fees a month | Share of sales | Who brings the buyers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pete's Marketplace Maker, paid by card through Stripe | $19 a month, no commission | $1.34 | $45.80 | 6.4% | You bring them: the people you meet at markets, your followers, your email list, the people who already buy from you. |
| Pete's Marketplace Maker, paid through PayPal | $19 a month, no commission | $1.75 | $54.00 | 7.5% | You bring them: the people you meet at markets, your followers, your email list, the people who already buy from you. |
| Etsy | No monthly fee | $3.87 | $77.40 | 10.8% | Etsy's own shoppers find you through its search, beside other sellers. |
| Etsy, orders through your own Share & Save links | No monthly fee | $2.43 | $48.60 | 6.8% | You bring them, through links you share on your own pages and emails. |
| eBay (no Store subscription) | No monthly fee; 250 listings a month without an insertion fee | $5.30 | $106.00 | 14.7% | eBay's own shoppers find you through its search, beside other sellers. |
| Facebook Marketplace (shipped orders) | No monthly fee | $3.60 | $72.00 | 10.0% | Facebook's own shoppers, mostly nearby; shipped orders pay this fee. |
| Square Online, Free plan | No monthly fee | $1.49 | $29.80 | 4.1% | You bring them: the people you meet at markets, your followers, your email list, the people who already buy from you. |
| Big Cartel Platinum, paid monthly | $15 a month ($12 a month paid yearly) | $1.34 | $41.80 | 5.8% | You bring them: the people you meet at markets, your followers, your email list, the people who already buy from you. |
| Shopify Basic, paid monthly | $39 a month ($29 a month paid yearly) | $1.34 | $65.80 | 9.1% | You bring them: the people you meet at markets, your followers, your email list, the people who already buy from you. |
At these numbers the lowest fees are at Square Online, Free plan: $29.80 a month.
At $36.00 an order, a Maker shop at $19 a month, paid through Stripe, keeps about $2.53 more per order than an Etsy sale that did not come through an ad, so it costs less in fees from about 8 orders a month. Below that, Etsy's fees are lower.
Fees are only half of it. If most of your buyers find you through Etsy's or eBay's own search, they are worth what those platforms charge. A shop of your own pays off when you already have people to send to it: the people you meet at markets, the ones who follow you, and the ones who buy again. Plenty of sellers run both.
A Pete's Marketplace shop
Your own Stripe account at Stripe's standard US rate for a domestic card, 2.9% + 30¢. International cards, manually entered cards and disputes cost more; Stripe's page has the rest.
With PayPal instead, PayPal's own account charges 3.49% + 49¢ for PayPal checkout and Venmo.
You are responsible for sales tax where you owe it: the shop can add a rate at checkout, but it does not file or pay tax for you.
Etsy
6.5% transaction fee and 3% + $0.25 payment processing on the order total including shipping, and $0.20 for the listing, which renews when it sells. New listings cost $0.20 each and renew every four months.
An order that came through one of Etsy's Offsite Ads adds 15% (12% once a shop has made $10,000 in a year, when taking part is no longer optional), capped at $100 an order.
Etsy collects and pays the sales tax on your orders in most states.
Etsy's rules do not allow sending buyers who found you on Etsy to your own website, or offering them anything to buy elsewhere (its Off-Platform Transactions Policy, updated 5 October 2026). A shop of your own is for the buyers you reach yourself.
Etsy, orders through your own Share & Save links
When a buyer comes through a Share & Save link you posted on your own social pages, website or emails and buys within 30 days, Etsy refunds 4% of the order from your fees. It does not apply to links in Etsy messages or listings, or to orders whose last click was an Offsite Ad.
eBay (no Store subscription)
13.6% final value fee in most categories, on the order total including shipping; plus $0.30 an order of $10 or less, $0.40 above. Some categories differ, and sellers below eBay's standard pay more. eBay collects sales tax in most states.
Facebook Marketplace (shipped orders)
10% of each shipped order, at least $0.80. Payouts start after the item is marked shipped and can take up to 20 days.
Square Online, Free plan
Square's Free plan rate for online payments, with a basic online store. Square Plus ($49 a month) charges 2.9% + 30¢ online. If you already take cards at a market with Square, its online store shares your item list.
Big Cartel Platinum, paid monthly
With Stripe at its standard rate. Big Cartel's free Gold plan allows 5 products. Big Cartel says it calculates, collects and pays US sales tax for shops selling in dollars.
Shopify Basic, paid monthly
With Shopify Payments, a standard domestic card. Using another payment provider adds 2% on Basic. Apps and themes can add their own monthly costs.
Questions people ask
Does a lower fee mean I will make more?
Not by itself. This compares fees on the same orders. Etsy, eBay and Facebook bring buyers who are already shopping there; a shop of your own brings the buyers you reach yourself, at markets, through your followers and your email list. Many sellers keep both.
Can I send my Etsy buyers to my own shop?
No. Etsy's Off-Platform Transactions Policy (updated 5 October 2026) does not allow directing Etsy members to buy through a personal website, or offering them anything to buy elsewhere. A shop of your own is for the buyers you reach yourself.
Who handles sales tax?
Etsy, eBay and Facebook collect and pay sales tax for you in most states, and Big Cartel says it does for its shops. On a Pete's Marketplace shop you are responsible for it where you owe it: the shop can add a rate at checkout, but it does not file or pay tax for you. The figures here leave tax out, because which fees apply to it differs by platform.
Where do the other platforms' figures come from?
Each company's own fee pages, linked below with the date they were read. Fees are theirs to set and change, so check the current pages before you decide.
What does Pete's Marketplace charge?
A flat monthly plan ($19 a month for Maker, $39 a month for Workshop) and no commission. Your buyers pay your own Stripe or PayPal account, which charges its normal processing fee.
Where the figures come from
Other companies' fees are theirs to set and change. Each was read on the date beside it; "via a search index" means the company's page refused automated reading and its figures were taken from a search engine's copy, then compared with other sources.
- Stripe pricing (US) (read directly, 11 October 2026)
- PayPal merchant fees (US) (read directly, 11 October 2026)
- Etsy fees and payments policy (read directly, 11 October 2026)
- How Etsy Offsite Ads work (read via search index, 26 September 2026)
- Etsy's Off-Platform Transactions Policy (read directly, 11 October 2026)
- Etsy Share & Save (read directly, 11 October 2026)
- eBay selling fees (read directly, 11 October 2026)
- Facebook Marketplace selling fees (read directly, 11 October 2026)
- Square fees (US) (read directly, 11 October 2026)
- Big Cartel pricing (read directly, 11 October 2026)
- Shopify pricing (read directly, 11 October 2026)