How It Works

The market price is the recent eBay sold price for the card — not the listed price, but actual completed sales. Check eBay’s “Sold Items” filter or use TCGPlayer’s market price. All calculations below use a $100 market price as the example.

The market price represents what a buyer would pay before taxes and shipping, and what a seller would receive before fees — the neutral starting point both sides agree on.

When a buyer purchases a card on eBay, they pay more than the market price. eBay automatically collects sales tax based on the buyer’s state, and most sellers charge shipping separately.

This is the buyer’s ceiling — the maximum a fair cash price should ever be. Any higher, and the buyer would be better off buying on eBay.

eBay’s Final Value Fee is 13.25% of the total transaction — including the card price, shipping, and any sales tax collected. Plus a $0.40 fixed fee per transaction.

This is the seller’s floor — the minimum a fair cash price should be. Below this, the seller would be better off listing on eBay.

Any cash price between the seller’s floor and buyer’s ceiling is better for both parties than eBay. The question is just how that eBay “savings” gets split between them.

The even splitis the midpoint — the price where the seller saves the same dollar amount vs. eBay that the buyer saves. It’s the most objectively fair price, though any price in range is mutually beneficial.

When you enter a proposed price, the calculator shows exactly where it falls in the fair range and what each party saves vs. eBay.

This is why “85% of market” — while often presented as the seller’s break-even — actually favors the buyer quite heavily. The seller nets just $0.17 above their eBay floor, while the buyer saves $27.25.

The calculator starts from the buyer’s all-in total — the full amount they pay at checkout, including any buyer’s premium. For an auction where a buyer pays $120 (hammer $100 + 20% premium), you enter $120.

This is the most reliable input because it’s what the buyer actually commits to — and it’s the same number across every platform comparison.

For auction platforms, your payout is based on the hammer price, not the buyer’s total. The calculator derives it automatically:

The buyer’s premium is paid by the buyer, not by you. But a higher premium can suppress competitive bidding and lead to a lower hammer — so it’s still a meaningful factor.

Each platform has a different fee model. The calculator handles all of them:

Platforms that charge no seller commission (Fanatics, Goldin, Alt) earn their revenue from the buyer’s premium instead. You receive 100% of the hammer — plus any tier bonus — but buyers pay more at checkout.

All 11 platforms are ranked from highest to lowest seller payout for the buyer price you entered. The #1 row is highlighted — that’s the platform that keeps the most in your pocket.

Expand any row to see the step-by-step fee breakdown: how the buyer’s total maps to the hammer, what the platform deducts, and the exact net you receive.

For Heritage and Alt, inline dropdowns let you model different commission rates or seller tier bonuses without re-entering the buyer price.

eBay direct (listed and shipped by you) typically appears near the top of the rankings for mid-range cards — especially if you’re an established seller with a low fee rate. But the comparison isn’t purely about payout:

Consignment trades margin for convenience — photography, listing, customer service, and shipping are all handled by the platform. For high-value cards where the fee delta is small, that tradeoff is often worth it.