What eBay, TCGplayer, Whatnot and Mercari actually take when you sell Pokemon cards, and what lands in your bank afterwards.
Most sellers estimate margin against market price. Market price is not what you receive. Between commission, payment processing, the per order fee and shipping, a meaningful share of every sale never reaches you, and the gap is wide enough to turn a flip you were pleased with into one that barely paid for itself.
Here is what each marketplace charges right now, and what it means on real numbers.
| Marketplace | Commission | Processing | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|
| eBay | 13.25% | included | 13.25% + $0.30 |
| TCGplayer | 10.75% | 2.5% + $0.30 | ~13.25% + $0.30 |
| Whatnot | 8% | 2.9% + $0.30 | ~11% + $0.30 |
| Mercari | 10% | 2.9% + $0.50 | ~12.9% + $0.50 |
On eBay, the fee applies to the total the buyer pays, including shipping and sales tax. Not the item price. If a card sells for $200 with $5 shipping and $15 of sales tax, the fee is calculated on $220, not $200. At an average 7.5 percent sales tax that is worth about a full percentage point of your real margin, and it is the single most commonly missed cost when sellers do this arithmetic in their head.
TCGplayer moved to a 10.75 percent commission for most sellers on February 10, 2026, with payment processing of 2.5 percent plus 30 cents charged separately. Any margin calculation built on the older rate is now understating fees. Commission is capped at $75 per item, which begins to matter above roughly $698 and makes TCGplayer distinctly cheaper on high value singles.
Three worked examples, using the effective rates above and ignoring shipping cost so the comparison stays clean.
| Channel | Fees | You keep |
|---|---|---|
| eBay | $6.93 | $43.07 |
| TCGplayer | $6.93 | $43.07 |
| Whatnot | $5.80 | $44.20 |
| Channel | Fees | You keep |
|---|---|---|
| eBay | $26.80 | $173.20 |
| TCGplayer | $26.80 | $173.20 |
| Whatnot | $22.30 | $177.70 |
| Channel | Fees | You keep |
|---|---|---|
| eBay | $66.55 | $433.45 |
| TCGplayer | $66.55 | $433.45 |
| Whatnot | $55.30 | $444.70 |
A sealed box at $120 retail with a $160 market price looks like $40 of profit. After eBay fees on $160 you keep about $138, so the real margin is closer to $18 before shipping and before your time. That is the difference between a flip worth chasing and one that is not.
Holomint applies these rates to every number it shows: alerts, trades, portfolio values, grading math. Pick your channel once and the profit you see is the profit you keep.
Open HolominteBay Standard Envelope runs about $1 for raw singles under $20 and is the cheapest realistic option for cards. Anything requiring tracking and a bubble mailer starts near $4 to $5. On a $20 card, shipping can cost more than the marketplace fee.
Optional on eBay, but competitive categories effectively expect it, and rates of 2 to 10 percent are normal. A seller running 5 percent promoted listings is paying an effective 18 percent, not 13.25, and most people never fold that into their margin estimate.
Not a line item until it happens, and then it is the whole sale plus shipping both ways. Worth holding a small mental reserve against, particularly on higher value cards.
13.25 percent plus 30 cents per order, applied to the total the buyer pays including shipping and sales tax. Promoted listings, if used, add 2 to 10 percent on top.
By headline rate, Whatnot at roughly 11 percent. But TCGplayer is cheapest on singles above about $700 because of its $75 commission cap, and eBay usually returns more on sealed product because it reaches more buyers. Cheapest rate and highest net are not always the same channel.
On eBay, yes. It is the most commonly missed cost in seller margin estimates.
Holomint does it automatically. Choose your channel and every price, trade and portfolio number in the app is shown net of that channel's fees.