Marketplace transaction fees are the charges a marketplace takes on each sale or booking it handles. Most of the big names run on a commission business model: Etsy, eBay, Airbnb, Fiverr and Poshmark all take a cut when a deal goes through. This guide explains the types of transaction fees, who pays them, what the leading marketplaces charge, when a commission based business model works and when it doesn't, and how to evaluate marketplace fees before you set your own, with a short checklist at the end.
If you are still choosing how your marketplace will make money, start with the overview of marketplace business models, then come back here for the details of fees and commissions.
Part of the guide Making money from your marketplace
What Are Marketplace Transaction Fees?
A transaction fee is a charge applied to each transaction the marketplace facilitates. A commission is the most common form: a percentage of the sale value. The marketplace earns only when buyers and sellers actually do business, so revenue grows with activity on the platform.
Why transaction fees matter
- Revenue that follows usage. Unlike a subscription, fees grow in proportion to the marketplace's activity. They pay for operations, marketing and improvements to the platform.
- Low risk for sellers. Sellers only pay fees on actual sales, so trying your marketplace costs them nothing up front.
- Trust. When the fee is tied to a payment made through the platform, buyers and sellers get a record of the deal and a place to go if something goes wrong.
Types of transaction fees
- Flat fee: a fixed amount per transaction, whatever its size. Best when transaction values are similar, for example bookings of a standard service.
- Percentage fee (commission): a share of the transaction value. Best when transaction sizes vary a lot, as in most product marketplaces.
- Percentage plus a fixed fee: a commission with a small fixed charge or a minimum, so that cheap orders still cover payment processing.
- Tiered fee: the rate changes with transaction size, sales volume or user type. Useful when the user base is mixed, for example on B2B platforms.
| Fee type | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|
| Flat fee | Predictable revenue, simple for users | Too high on small sales, too low on large ones |
| Percentage | Scales with transaction value, feels fair | Can discourage high-value transactions |
| Percentage plus fixed fee | Covers processing costs on small orders | Slightly harder to explain |
| Tiered | Rewards high-volume sellers, fits mixed users | More complex to set up and communicate |
Who pays: seller, buyer or both
The fee can sit on the supply side, the demand side or both. eBay and Etsy charge sellers. Fiverr charges both sides. Airbnb used to split its fee between hosts and guests and is now moving it entirely onto hosts. Who pays matters as much as how much, because it decides which side feels the cost at the moment of the deal.
Why Choose a Commission Business Model?
A commission business model lets the marketplace grow without owning what is sold. Airbnb relied on hosts to provide the properties, eBay and Etsy on independent sellers, Fiverr on freelancers. Each could focus on building the platform and attracting customers instead of buying, storing or managing stock.
You attract more sellers
A commission model can attract sellers or providers because they pay nothing until they sell. A commission-based marketplace works like a farmers' market: farmers join because they can sell without taking on much risk, and the market earns when they do. That low barrier tends to bring more variety of products and sellers, which in turn brings buyers.
To make the most of it:
- Make listing quick and easy on a user-friendly platform.
- Offer guides and training materials for new sellers.
- Give good customer support and talk to your sellers regularly.
- Build a seller community where people can learn from each other.
You scale without inventory
Scalability is one of the main benefits of a commission-based model. With no inventory or production, you spend your time and money on the platform and on marketing. Fiverr is a good example: freelancers receive 80% of the order value and Fiverr earns every time a project is completed, without handling any stock.
You start with lower upfront costs
You might consider a commission-based model because your sellers bring the products. Poshmark, a fashion marketplace, keeps its costs low this way: sellers pay a fee for each sale, and the company concentrates on reaching buyers. The money you would have spent on stock can go into customer acquisition and the platform itself.
When a Commission Model Doesn't Work
A commission is not the right choice for every marketplace. Watch for these situations:
- Not enough transactions yet. A commission only earns while people transact. Fiverr's annual active buyers fell 13.6% in 2025, and its annual report names AI reducing demand for simple, low-skilled services as one reason. A commission-only marketplace takes the full hit when demand drops, which is why Fiverr also earned $133.4 million in 2025 from subscriptions, ads and other services.
- No buyer traffic to justify the cut. A new marketplace can't charge what the leaders charge. Sellers accept a 20% fee where the buyers already are.
- Deals that happen off the site. If buyers and sellers meet, call each other or pay in person, as they do for cars, property, jobs and most local classifieds, there is no payment for the platform to take a cut from. These marketplaces usually earn from listing fees, lead fees and featured listings or from seller subscriptions instead.
- Frequent, high-volume sellers. Power users may prefer a fixed monthly plan to a per-sale fee. A subscription can complement or replace the commission for them.
Marketplace Transaction Fees in 2026: What the Big Marketplaces Charge
Fee models change quickly. The table shows the headline fees the leading marketplaces charge in 2026 and, where it is reported, what the company actually earns as a share of everything sold on it in 2025 (its take rate).
| Marketplace | Who pays | Headline fees (2026) | What it actually earns (2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbnb | Mostly the host | A single host-only service fee of 15.5% for most hosts (16% for listings in Brazil and Mexico). The old split fee (about 3% host plus 14.1% to 16.5% guest) is being phased out for all home hosts (Airbnb Help Center). The switch became mandatory on October 27, 2025 for US and Canadian hosts using property-management software (Hostfully). Airbnb then gave its remaining hosts until September 15, 2026 (outside the European Economic Area) and October 13, 2026 (inside it or in Switzerland) to adjust their prices for the switch (Airbnb Resource Center). | $12.2B revenue on $91.3B gross booking value, about 13% |
| Etsy | Seller | $0.20 per listing, a 6.5% transaction fee on item price plus shipping, and 3% + $0.25 payment processing in the US. An offsite ads fee of 12% to 15% applies, mandatory above $10,000 a year in sales (Craftybase, April 2, 2026). | 24.2% revenue take rate for Etsy Inc. (Etsy, Depop and, until June 2025, Reverb) on $11.9B gross merchandise sales, down 5.3% partly because Reverb was sold |
| eBay | Seller | For most categories, 13.6% of the total sale up to $7,500 and 2.35% on the portion above that, plus $0.30 per order (orders of $10 or less) or $0.40. Individual sellers get 250 free listings a month (eBay Seller Center). | Not covered here |
| Fiverr | Both sides | Sellers pay 20% of every order, tips included. Buyers pay a 5.5% service fee plus a $3 small-order fee on orders under $100 (FreelanceCompare, February 2026). | 27.7% marketplace take rate on $1,073.0M GMV (down 2.2%) |
| Poshmark | Seller | 20% on sales over $15, a flat $2.95 at $15 and under (restored in October 2024) | Not reported separately |
Sources for the 2025 figures and Poshmark: Airbnb Q4 2025 shareholder letter (February 2026); Etsy 2025 Form 10-K; Fiverr 2025 Form 20-F; Poshmark fees as reported by Modern Retail (October 2024). The Airbnb percentage is revenue divided by gross booking value.
The headline fee is only part of the income
Etsy's transaction fee is 6.5%, yet Etsy Inc.'s 2025 revenue take rate was 24.2%, because listing fees, payment processing, ads and shipping labels come on top. Fiverr's take rate of 27.7% is higher than the 20% sellers see, because buyers pay a fee too. When you compare yourself with a competitor, compare the total they take, not just the commission they advertise. And plan paid extras such as featured listings, promoted ads and seller tools from day one rather than raising the base commission. Our guide to value-added services covers the options.
More Fee Examples and Rules: Amazon, Uber, Fees Added on Top and Seller Reporting
This page also replaces our older post on why to use a commission model in an online marketplace. Its fee examples, its notes on payment processing and tax reporting, and its list of cases where a commission doesn't fit are below.
Three ways to charge a commission
A marketplace can charge the seller, the buyer or both. When the buyer pays, the commission is added on top of the price the seller sets. For example, with a 10% commission on an item the seller lists at $200, the buyer pays $220: the marketplace gets $20 and the seller keeps the $200 they asked for. A hybrid, where the seller pays a fixed amount plus a commission, is another option.
Amazon, eBay Stores and Uber in 2026
| Platform | What it charges (2026) | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon | Referral fees of 5% to 45% depending on category, mostly 8% to 15%, with a $0.30 minimum in most categories; plus $0.99 per item sold on the Individual plan or $39.99 a month on the Professional plan. | Seller |
| eBay Store subscribers | 12.7% up to $2,500, instead of the standard 13.6% up to $7,500 in most categories. | Seller |
| Uber | No fixed percentage: Uber keeps the difference between what the rider pays and what the driver earns, and says it changes each trip and week. | Driver (via rider price) |
Sources: Amazon selling plans and fees, eBay Seller Center fees and Uber driver earnings, all checked in October 2026.
At scale these percentages add up to a very large business. Amazon reported $172.2 billion of third-party seller services revenue in 2025, out of $716.9 billion in total net sales.
Card processing comes out of your cut
Stripe's standard rate for domestic cards in the US and Canada is 2.9% plus 30 cents, and rates vary by country. So a 5% commission on a $20 sale leaves you very little. A minimum fee per order, as eBay and Amazon use, protects small orders.
Taking payments brings reporting duties
- US: payment platforms and online marketplaces must file a Form 1099-K for sellers who receive more than $20,000 in more than 200 transactions in a year (IRS, updated June 2026).
- EU: the DAC7 rules require platforms to collect and verify seller details and report sellers with 30 or more transactions or more than EUR 2,000 a year.
Using a payment provider's marketplace product, which handles seller onboarding and identity checks, is usually simpler than building this yourself.
More cases where a commission doesn't fit
- No money changes hands. On dating or bartering websites the main activity is not a payment, so there is nothing to take a commission from.
- Complicated invoices. Some B2B and B2C transactions need extensive documentation, which makes a straightforward commission fee hard to charge.
- Very large transactions. With the high dollar amounts in real estate and automobile deals, a high commission is difficult to justify.
- Digital goods and services. Research on the top marketplaces found that a classic commission works best for marketplaces that sell products or offer rentals, while a subscription is more popular for digital goods or services such as dating websites.
How to Set Your Marketplace Fees
Know your cost floor
Every fee you charge sits on top of payment processing. Etsy's own US processing rate of 3% + $0.25 is a realistic benchmark. If you pay sellers through Stripe Connect and set the processing pricing yourself, Stripe also bills your platform a monthly fee per active seller account and a fee on every payout, which in the US is $2 per account and 0.25% + $0.25 per payout. Check Stripe Connect pricing for the amounts in your country. On a $20 sale, a $0.25 fixed charge alone is more than 1%, which is why many marketplaces combine a percentage with a small fixed fee or a minimum, as eBay does with its per-order fee.
Charge the side that values the marketplace most
Airbnb's biggest recent change was not the size of its fee but who pays it: it is moving the whole fee onto hosts, who can adjust their prices to keep the same net earnings. Decide early whether buyers, sellers or both pay. Niche marketplaces where the platform adds a lot of value, such as art or antiques, can usually justify higher fees than general ones.
Start below the leaders
A new marketplace has no buyer traffic to justify a 20% cut. A lower rate than your competitors (penetration pricing), or a small fixed fee on cheap items as Poshmark does, makes it easier to win your first sellers. You can raise fees later, carefully, once the marketplace delivers sales.
Show the total price up front
Since May 12, 2025, the US Federal Trade Commission's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees requires businesses that offer short-term lodging or live-event tickets to show the total price, including all mandatory fees, more prominently than other prices. This includes third-party platforms that display other sellers' offers. Even if your niche isn't covered, buyers expect a single, all-in price, and a fee that only appears at checkout costs you trust.
Change fees carefully
Fee changes can backfire fast. In October 2024 Poshmark replaced its 20% seller fee with a 5.99% fee charged to both buyers and sellers, plus $1 to $3 per item for each. After seller backlash, with some sellers reporting double-digit drops in sales, it went back to the old fees within about three weeks. Test changes on a small group, explain what users get for the fee and announce changes well in advance.
Handle pushback and disputes
- User pushback: be open about what the fee is and what it pays for, such as secure payments, support and buyer traffic. Introductory discounts for new sellers or lower rates for high volume can ease the start.
- Fraud and disputes: take payments through an established gateway such as Stripe or PayPal and publish a clear, quick dispute process, including what happens to the fee on a refund.
- Profitability versus affordability: ask sellers what they are willing to pay and try promotional rates in slow periods before changing the standard fee.
How to Evaluate Marketplace Fees: A Checklist
Use this checklist to evaluate marketplace fees, whether you are setting your own or comparing a competitor's:
- Does the fee cover your costs? Work out payment processing and payout costs per order, at your smallest typical order as well as your average one.
- What is the real take rate? Add up every fee one sale pays (listing, commission, processing, ads) and divide by the sale value. Compare that number, not the headline commission.
- Who pays, and do they get value for it? The side that pays should clearly benefit: more buyers, safer payments, less work.
- How does it compare? Benchmark against the marketplaces your sellers already use, and against the alternatives they have outside marketplaces.
- Is it fair on small and large orders? Check a cheap item and an expensive one. A fixed part or a minimum protects small orders; a lower rate above a threshold, as eBay uses, keeps large ones on the site.
- Is the total price shown up front? Buyers should see every mandatory fee before checkout.
- Can it be collected? If deals tend to close off the site, a commission will leak. Consider listing fees, featured listings or seller plans instead.
- Are you measuring the effect? Track new sellers, active listings, completed sales and complaints before and after any change.
- When will you review it? Review fees regularly, every quarter while the marketplace is new and at least once a year after that.
Combining Commission with Other Revenue
Transaction fees are rarely a marketplace's only income. The marketplaces above add listing fees, ads, promoted placements, subscriptions and seller tools. For the full range of options see how to monetize a classifieds website.
If you build a classifieds or marketplace site with Yclas, Yclas itself takes no commission on any plan: payments go straight to your own Stripe or PayPal account (19 payment providers are supported). To take a commission on your sellers' sales yourself, switch on Stripe Connect: buyers pay by card, and each seller is paid their part through Stripe minus the commission you set (a percentage and a fixed fee, with other rates for some categories or sellers). See stores and checkout. You can sell monthly seller plans, charge to post in chosen categories, let sellers buy featured listings, boosts and bring-to-top, and sell extras such as Urgent and Highlight labels, home page Spotlight places, paid renewals and banner space. The Make money wizard in the site admin switches this on in four steps. See how to make money with Yclas, or compare plans on the pricing page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a commission based business model?
It is a model where the marketplace earns a percentage of each transaction it facilitates instead of selling its own products. Sellers pay only when they sell, and the marketplace's income grows with its sales volume.
What is the difference between a transaction fee and a commission?
A commission is one kind of transaction fee: a percentage of the sale. Transaction fees can also be flat amounts, tiered rates or a percentage plus a fixed charge.
How much commission should a marketplace charge?
There is no single right number. As a reference, the 2026 headline rates above range from Etsy's 6.5% transaction fee to Fiverr's 20% seller fee, and Airbnb's 15.5% host fee. A new marketplace usually needs to start lower than established leaders and make sure the rate covers its payment costs.
Should the buyer or the seller pay the fee?
Charge the side that gets the most value from the marketplace, or split it as Fiverr does. Whatever you choose, show the buyer the full price before checkout.
Are transaction fees the only way to monetize a marketplace?
No. Subscriptions, listing fees, featured listings, advertising and value-added services are common alternatives or additions, and they suit marketplaces where deals close off the site.
Does Yclas take a commission on my sales?
No. Yclas takes no commission on any plan. Payments from your users go straight to your own Stripe or PayPal account. If you want to take a commission on your sellers' sales, you can, through Stripe Connect. You can try it with a free 15-day trial.
Conclusion
Transaction fees and commissions work well when sales happen on your platform and sellers see clear value for what they pay. Know your cost floor, decide who pays, start below the leaders, show the total price and review your fees regularly with the checklist above. Where deals close off the site, or volume is still low, combine or replace the commission with listing fees, featured listings and seller plans.
