Where Items Under $20 Net the Most

Why cheap items lose a bigger share

Most platforms mix a percentage with something fixed. The percentage scales down with the price; the fixed part doesn’t. As of October 5, 2026:

• Poshmark charges a flat $2.95 on orders under $15 and 20% from $15 up, on the order price only (Fee Policy). The buyer pays the shipping label separately.
• eBay adds a per-order fee of $0.30 when the order total, shipping and tax included, is $10.00 or less and $0.40 above that, on top of 13.6% for most categories with no Store (eBay selling fees). eBay’s March 2024 update describes the $10 line as the order total including shipping and tax, and that is how our calculators measure it.
• Depop has no selling fee for U.S. sellers, but its payment processing is 3.3% + $0.45 on item, shipping and sales tax (Depop Help).
• Facebook Marketplace takes 10%, with a $0.80 minimum per order, on item, shipping and taxes for shipped orders (Meta help; more in Facebook Marketplace fees).
• Mercari takes 10% of the item price plus buyer-paid shipping for listings created or updated since January 6, 2025, with no seller processing fee (Mercari help).
• Amazon charges clothing referral fees on the total sales price, which its Seller Central fee page defines as item plus delivery charges, excluding tax: 5% up to $15.00, 10% above $15.00 up to $20.00, 17% above $20.00, with a $0.30 minimum (Amazon pricing). A Professional plan costs $39.99 a month; the Individual plan adds $0.99 per item sold.

Net payout at $5, $10, $15 and $20

Every row below uses the same sale: $5 shipping charged to the buyer, a $5 label where you buy the label (eBay, Facebook, Amazon), and an 8% example sales tax on item plus shipping. The 8% is an example rate; the marketplace charges the rate for the buyer’s address. On Poshmark the buyer pays the $6.49 platform label, and on Mercari and Depop the buyer’s shipping pays the platform label, so you receive the item price only. Net payout means what lands in your platform balance after platform fees and any label you pay, before transfer fees.

Two things stand out. Poshmark keeps 59.0% of a $5 sale but only 20.0% of a $20 one. Amazon goes from first at $5 and $10 to last at $20, because a $20 item plus $5 shipping crosses its 17% band. The Amazon row leaves out the $39.99 monthly plan; on the Individual plan the $0.99 per-item fee cuts the $12 example below from $10.30 to $9.31.

Worked example: a $12 shirt with $5 shipping

The buyer pays $12.00 + $5.00 shipping + $1.36 tax (8% example) = $18.36. Each platform’s fee line, rounded to the cent and then added, as our calculators do (platforms may round differently by a cent):

The spread between best and worst is $1.89 on a $12 item, or 15.8% of the price.

Where the cutoffs and minimums bite

Some fee rules jump at a line, so a slightly higher price can leave you with less. With the same $5 shipping, $5 label and 8% tax:

• Poshmark $15 line. At $14.99 you keep $12.04; at $15.00 you keep $12.00. You need $15.06 ($12.05) to beat $14.99.
• Amazon clothing bands. Every price from $10.01 to $10.82 nets less than $10.00 does ($9.25), and every price from $15.01 to $16.68 nets less than $15.00 does ($13.00). At $15.01 the whole $20.01 total moves to 17%.
• eBay’s $10 order line. A $4.26 item makes a $10.00 order total and pays $0.30; at $4.27 the total is $10.01 and the order fee becomes $0.40. Prices from $4.27 to $4.37 net less than $4.26.
• Facebook’s $0.80 minimum only applies when 10% of the order total is under $0.80, that is, when item + shipping + tax is under $8.00. A $6 item shipped free to a buyer in a no-sales-tax state would owe $0.60 at 10% and pays $0.80 instead.

Break-even prices for a $2 find

Say the item cost $2.00 and the mailer, tape and label paper cost $0.85, so you need $2.85 back just to break even. The table shows the lowest list price that covers that, and the lowest price that leaves $10.00 in your balance, with the same shipping and tax as above:

The break-even price is the lowest offer worth accepting before your time counts. For the full profit picture with sourcing tax and mileage, see how to calculate real profit per item.

Bundling beats switching platforms

Fixed fees are charged per order, and shipping enters a percentage base once per order, so three cheap items in one order pay those parts once. Three $8 items sold separately versus one $24 bundle, same $5 buyer shipping and 8% tax:

• Poshmark: three orders under $15 pay $2.95 each and net $5.05 each, $15.15 in total. One $24 bundle pays 20% ($4.80) and nets $19.20, which is $4.05 more. Poshmark’s $6.49 label covers packages up to 5 lb, so the buyer pays one label instead of three.
• Depop: three orders net $7.09 each ($21.27); the bundle pays one $0.45 fixed fee and nets $22.52, $1.25 more.
• Mercari: three orders net $6.70 each ($20.10); the bundle nets $21.10, assuming the buyer still pays $5 for one heavier label.

On eBay, a buyer who checks out several of your items together with the same shipping method makes one order, so the $0.40 order fee is charged once.

The pattern is the same everywhere: under about $15, the platform choice moves your payout by a dollar or two, while bundling, a higher price that clears a cutoff, or skipping items below break-even moves it more. For the same comparison at any price, see seller fees compared.

Next step

Open the price to list calculator, enter your item cost and shipping, and it returns the break-even price and the price for your target payout on every platform at once, with the dead zones flagged. To compare one price across platforms, use the comparison tool.