You pay $18 for a vintage jacket and put it in your Friday night show. Last week a similar jacket closed at $60. You start the bidding at $1 to get the room moving. The chat is quiet, two people bid, and the hammer falls at $14. Whatnot fees then come out of that $14, and you're left with less than you paid.
Live selling is fast and fun, and it hides a math problem. On eBay or Poshmark, you can set a fixed price. On Whatnot, an auction lets the room decide. This guide covers what Whatnot takes from a sale, what you keep, and how to set a starting bid that covers your entered costs under the fee assumptions you use.
How Whatnot fees work for sellers
Whatnot charges sellers commission and payment processing fees on US sales. They apply to different amounts, which is why sellers often get the math wrong.
| Fee | Standard US rate used here | Charged on |
|---|---|---|
| Commission | 8% for Fashion and most other category groups; 4% for Coins | The item's final sale price |
| Payment processing | 2.9% plus $0.30 | The full order total, including buyer-paid shipping and sales tax |
These are standard rates, not every seller's rate. Whatnot's current seller fee policy, checked October 22, 2026, includes sales-volume tiers introduced September 21. Your completed sales across categories over a four-week period determine your tier for the next period. Rates then stay locked for that 28-day period. In the US, Standard covers sales below $15,000 in that qualifying period; the next Fashion tier starts at 7%, with further reductions at higher volumes. Processing fees remain separate.
For live sales, the commission category follows the show; for marketplace listings, it follows the product. Check your category, tier and actual order rate in Seller Hub rather than assuming 8% applies to every sale.
The commission is simple. The processing fee is the one sellers miss. It applies to what the buyer paid in total, so shipping and tax raise your fee even though that money never reaches you.
Buyers usually pay shipping on Whatnot, based on the shipping profile you set for the item. In that arrangement, the buyer-paid label is not your shipping expense, but the shipping amount still counts toward the processing fee. Seller-funded shipping is an extra cost if you offer it.
Whatnot also offers reduced commission on qualifying high-value orders, with 0% on the portion above $1,500 in selected categories and formats. Processing still applies to the full transaction. Promotions and eligibility can change, so check the current terms before you plan around them.
The examples below use the ordinary US Fashion Standard commission of 8%, no promotional or account discount, and an illustrative 8% buyer tax on the item only. Buyer shipping is assumed untaxed in these examples, not everywhere. Fees and buyer tax are rounded half-up to cents for the estimates; confirm actual order deductions. The examples exclude supplies, seller-funded postage, advertising, refunds, income tax and any taxes charged on seller fees. Add those costs where they apply.
How much does Whatnot take from a sale?
For this $60 item at the standard 8% commission, the two fees take about 12% of the item price. Here is the jacket from the opening at the price you hoped for.
You buy the jacket for $18. It sells for $60. The buyer pays $8 shipping and $4.80 in sales tax (an 8% example rate), so the order total is $72.80.
- Commission: 8% of $60 = $4.80
- Processing: 2.9% of $72.80, plus $0.30 = $2.41
- Total Whatnot fees: $7.21
- You keep: $60 − $7.21 = $52.79
- Profit after your $18 cost: $34.79
That's a good sale. Now run the same fees on the auction that closed at $14.
The order total is $14, plus $8 shipping, plus $1.12 tax, for $23.12.
- Commission: 8% of $14 = $1.12
- Processing: 2.9% of $23.12, plus $0.30 = $0.97
- You keep: $14 − $2.09 = $11.91
- Result after your $18 cost: a $6.09 loss
Notice that the fees on the $14 sale are only about $5 less than on the $60 sale. The $0.30 flat charge and the shipping portion of the processing fee don't shrink when the price does. Low closes cost you more as a percentage.
Why a $1 start is a bet, not a strategy
A $1 starting bid works when the room is full and several buyers want the item. Bidding can climb past your target, and everyone has fun. That's the case people share in seller groups.
It fails when the room is thin. Whatnot earns its fee on every sale, whether the price clears your cost or not. A low start helps the platform keep shows lively and helps buyers find deals. Whether it helps you depends on who's watching that night, and that's your risk to manage, not Whatnot's.
You know your starting bids are too low when you can name items you sold for less than you paid. If that list has more than one or two names on it, set a floor.
How to set a starting bid that protects your cost
Your starting bid should be the lowest price at which the sale still covers your entered costs after the modeled fees. That's your break-even price. Anything above it is profit before any costs you left out.
Because the processing fee includes shipping and tax, you can't just add 8% to your cost. For the standard 8% commission and 2.9% processing assumptions above, estimate the required price with this formula. Set Target profit to $0 for break-even:
Required price = (Your cost + Target profit + 0.029 × Shipping + $0.30)
÷ (1 − 0.08 − 0.029 × (1 + Tax rate))
Here, Shipping means the buyer-paid shipping included in the processing base, not postage you pay. Your cost must include your own applicable item costs. The formula assumes buyer tax on the item only and does not automatically handle seller-fee taxes, shipping-tax rules or other commission tiers.
Put the jacket's numbers into the formula. Use the $18 cost, $8 shipping and the 8% example tax rate. The unrounded break-even price is about $20.8534. Round up to $20.86, then check the separately rounded fees: $1.67 commission and $1.19 processing leave $18.00. At $20.85, those fees leave only $17.99.
Start the bid at $21 and you keep $18.13 under these assumptions, or $0.13 above the entered cost. That is not a guarantee against unentered costs, returns or different order charges.
Want a $20 profit floor instead? Put $20 in as the target profit and the starting bid becomes about $43.36. At that price, $3.47 commission and $1.89 processing leave $38.00, or $20.00 after the $18 cost. That's a real number to weigh against the room. A start that high may scare off bidders on a $60 item. In that case, consider a buy-it-now listing instead of an auction.
Your options, in order:
- Run the break-even price first. Do it before the show, not in the moment.
- Auction items where break-even sits well below expected value. These are low-cost, high-demand pieces where a low close may still cover your costs.
- Use buy-it-now for items with thin margins. You keep control of the asking price.
- Pull items that keep closing near break-even. They may sell better on a fixed-price platform.
Whatnot vs eBay vs Poshmark on the same item
Considering another fixed-price marketplace? Compare Mercari fees with the same accepted item price and costs, choosing the shipping arrangement that matches your sale.
Here is the same $60 jacket on three platforms, with the same $18 cost. This compares Whatnot's standard 8% Fashion rate, eBay's ordinary US No Store clothing assumption, and Poshmark's ordinary US commission. Category exceptions, other tiers, ads and extra costs can change the result.
| Platform | Fee rule (simplified) | You keep | Profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whatnot | 8% of item + 2.9% of total + $0.30 | $52.79 | $34.79 |
| eBay | 13.6% of total incl. shipping and tax + $0.40 | $49.70 | $31.70 |
| Poshmark | 20% of price at $15 or more | $48.00 | $30.00 |
The eBay row assumes the buyer paid $8 shipping and $4.80 tax, and you spent $8 on the label. Its $10.30 fee leaves $49.70 after that postage, before acquisition cost. On Poshmark, the buyer pays the label and you offer no shipping discount.
Whatnot looks cheapest under these assumptions. Its auction risk lies elsewhere. A fixed-price listing lets you hold an asking price; a live auction asks you to sell to whoever is in the room. For a full side-by-side of the fixed-price platforms, see eBay vs Poshmark fees. Use Upcyclist's US eBay calculator or US Poshmark calculator to check the corresponding fee and shipping assumptions for your item.
Track the fees that hit after the show
Whatnot pays out after the sale, and your payout reflects fees already taken out. If you only record payouts, you won't see which items carried a heavy fee load. Record the sale price, both fees and your item cost for each sale. The reseller profit calculator works for a quick single-item check: enter your actual total fees and costs. It does not automatically look up Whatnot rates, sales tiers or shipping.
Track this per show, too. A show where 40 items sold can still lose money if a handful closed far below cost.
Whatnot fees FAQ
What percentage does Whatnot take?
For an ordinary US Fashion sale at the standard rate, commission is 8% of the item price, plus 2.9% payment processing and $0.30 on the full order total. Sales-volume tiers, category rules and promotions can reduce commission. On the $60 example above, standard fees are about 12% of the item price; that is not a universal effective rate.
Do Whatnot seller fees apply to shipping?
The commission does not. The processing fee does, because it's charged on the full amount the buyer paid, including shipping and tax.
How much does Whatnot take on a $10 sale?
With $8 buyer-paid shipping, an 8% example tax rate on the item only and the standard 8% commission, Whatnot takes $0.80 commission and $0.85 processing. You keep $8.35, which is about 83.5% of the price, before acquisition and other costs.
Are Whatnot fees lower than eBay fees?
They are lower in the standard-rate example here, not necessarily for every category or seller. The bigger risk on a live auction is a price that closes below your break-even floor, and that has nothing to do with the fee rate.
Upcyclist's Margin Goal turns your unit cost into a suggested listing price (cost ÷ (1 − your margin goal)). It does not deduct marketplace fees or shipping. Use it as a starting point for a buy-it-now price, then check the fee-aware formula above for your auction start. Record each sale in Upcyclist afterward so your profit reflects what Whatnot actually kept and the other costs you entered.
Whatnot fees are only part of what reaches your bank account. When tax season comes around, your payouts and your profit will be very different numbers. Next up, we cover what resellers owe in taxes and which records keep that number honest.
