Whatnot is built around live shows and fast auctions, which means you often find out the sale price at the same moment the buyer does. Knowing your fees before you go live tells you where to start the bidding, which lots are worth running and which should be bundled. This calculator applies Whatnot's two seller fees to a sale and shows your payout and profit after your own costs.
Rates are from Whatnot's US seller fees page as of October 2026. The calculator runs in your browser.
How Whatnot fees work in 2026
A Whatnot sale has two fees:
- Commission: 8% of the item's final sale price. Whatnot charges it on the item price only, not on shipping or tax.
- Payment processing: 2.9% of the total order value plus $0.30 per order. The total order value includes the shipping and sales tax the buyer pays.
There are no listing fees. Sellers with more sales in a rolling 4-week period pay a lower commission:
| Tier | Sales in 4 weeks | Commission |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Under $15,000 | 8% |
| Tier 1 | $15,000 | 7.25% |
| Tier 2 | $35,000 | 6.5% |
| Tier 3 | $50,000 | 6% |
| Tier 4 | $100,000 | 5% |
Tiers reset every 4 weeks. Private shows and local pickup orders do not count toward your tier, and canceled or refunded orders are subtracted. Whatnot also says rates can vary by category and that select high-volume sellers can get custom rates as low as 3%. If your category or account has its own rate, choose Custom rate in the calculator.
How to use the Whatnot fee calculator
- Enter the final sale price: the winning bid or Buy It Now price.
- Choose your commission rate: 8% standard, one of the four tiers, or a custom rate.
- Choose Shipping. With Buyer pays shipping, enter what the buyer pays; it goes to the Whatnot label, but processing is still charged on it. With I cover shipping, enter what the label costs you.
- Enter the buyer's sales tax rate. Whatnot collects the tax, but the processing fee is charged on it.
- Enter your item cost and packaging.
- Read the fees, your payout, your profit and margin, and the break-even price, the lowest final bid that covers your costs.
Worked examples
A $45 sale, buyer pays shipping
The buyer pays $45, $7.49 shipping and 7% tax ($3.67), a total order of $56.16. Commission is 8% of $45, which is $3.60. Processing is 2.9% of $56.16 plus $0.30, which is $1.93. Whatnot takes $5.53 and you receive $39.47. With a $15 item cost and $0.50 of packaging, profit is $23.97, a 53.3% margin. The break-even price for this item is $18.03.
A $5 single card
Small lots are where fees bite. On a $5 card with $4.49 shipping and 7% tax ($0.66), commission is $0.40 and processing is 2.9% of $10.15 plus $0.30, or $0.59. Fees are $0.99, nearly 20% of the sale price, mostly because of the fixed $0.30 and the processing on shipping. Bundling five cards into one $25 lot pays the $0.30 once.
The same $45 sale with free shipping
If you offer free shipping and pay a $7.49 label yourself, processing is charged on $45 plus tax ($48.15), so it drops to $1.70 and fees total $5.30. But you now pay the label: profit falls to $16.71. Free shipping can win more bids, so price for it rather than absorbing it.
Reaching Tier 4
At 5% commission, the $45 sale pays $2.25 instead of $3.60, and your payout rises to $40.82. At high volume that $1.35 per sale adds up quickly: on 4,000 sales of this size a month it is $5,400.
What a month of shows costs in fees
Per-sale numbers are easy to shrug off, so add them up. Say you run four shows in a 4-week period and sell 240 orders averaging $22, with $5 shipping and 7% tax on each. Each order pays $1.76 commission and $1.14 processing, $2.90 in total. Over the month that is $696 on $5,280 of item sales, or 13.2%. Because many of these orders are small, the fixed $0.30 alone accounts for $72.
The same month at Tier 1 is not available yet, because $5,280 is under the $15,000 threshold. Tiers are designed for sellers doing several shows a week. If you are near a threshold, the lower commission applies to every order in the next 4-week period, which is worth planning a strong show around.
What counts toward your tier
Whatnot counts total sales across all categories in the 4-week window. Orders from private shows and local pickup do not count, and canceled or refunded orders are taken off. When a promotion or discount applies, Whatnot gives you the best available rate by default.
Whatnot compared with other resale apps
The table under the calculator runs the same sale through standard rules on Whatnot, Depop, Mercari, Poshmark and TikTok Shop. For a $45 item with $7.49 shipping, Whatnot keeps $5.53, Depop $2.30, Mercari $5.25, Poshmark $9.00 and TikTok Shop $3.15. The numbers are only part of the story: Whatnot's live format moves volume quickly in categories like trading cards, sneakers, toys and collectibles, while the others suit fixed-price listings that sit until someone searches for them.
Many Whatnot sellers also list leftovers on eBay. Our eBay fee calculator compares the fees, and AM Jarvis eBay Research shows units sold per listing and daily best sellers, which helps you decide what to source for your next show. For other channels, try the Mercari fee calculator and the TikTok Shop fee calculator.
Whatnot versus eBay on the same sale
The $45 item with $7.49 shipping and 7% tax pays $5.53 on Whatnot. On eBay without a Store, in most categories, the fee is 13.6% of the full $56.16 plus $0.40, which is $8.04. Whatnot's commission skips shipping and tax, which is where most of the gap comes from.
Pricing live auctions with fees in mind
- Know your floor. Use the break-even price as the minimum you would accept. For auctions that start at $1, decide in advance which items are worth the risk.
- Bundle low-value items. The $0.30 per order and the processing on shipping weigh most on small sales.
- Account for tax and shipping in processing. On a $45 item, the buyer's shipping and tax add about $0.32 in processing fees.
- Track your 4-week sales. If you are close to a tier, a strong show near the end of the period lowers your commission on the next period.
Troubleshooting
My payout is lower than the calculator shows
Check for promotions you funded, such as giveaways or discounts, and for shipping costs Whatnot charged you on free shipping or heavy packages. Your category may also have a different rate; enter it as a custom rate.
Why does the calculator ask for the tax rate?
Because Whatnot charges the 2.9% processing fee on the total order, and that includes sales tax. Enter the buyer's rate for an exact figure, or a typical 7% for an estimate.
What does the break-even price mean for an auction?
It is the lowest final bid at which your payout covers the item cost, packaging and any shipping you cover. If a $1 starting auction might end below it, run that item in a bundle or as Buy It Now instead.
Does Whatnot charge commission on shipping?
No. The commission applies to the item's final sale price only. Processing, however, applies to the full order including shipping.