If you are selling on eBay Australia, the fee structure has changed significantly. From May 12, eBay is rolling out free selling for casual sellers, and restructuring its plans for everyone else. This guide covers exactly what you will pay — no marketing fluff, just the numbers.
We have already covered how to choose between eBay and Gumtree as an Australian reseller and how to optimise your eBay listings for faster sales. This post focuses on the one thing that directly determines your bottom line: fees.
The Big Change: Free Selling From May 12, 2026
From 12 May 2026, eBay Australia is introducing free selling for certain sellers — and it is a genuine shift in how the platform charges. Here is how it works:
Who qualifies:
- Your registered address is in Australia
- You do not have an active eBay Pro subscription
- Your total sales across all eBay sites in the past 12 months is AU$25,000 or less
If you meet all three criteria, you will no longer pay final value fees (transaction fees) when items sell on eBay.com.au. That is the entire 13.2% FVF — gone. Some costs still apply, though: optional listing upgrades, international sales fees, and seller performance penalties are not covered by free selling.
Who does NOT qualify:
- Sellers with over $25,000 in annual sales
- Anyone with an eBay Pro subscription (must cancel Pro to access free selling)
- Sellers based outside Australia
If your sales exceed $25,000, you get upgraded to the Pro Starter plan — no monthly cost, but you continue paying transaction fees when items sell.
One important catch: As part of free selling, you generally must buy postage labels on eBay to send eligible items. If you use a third-party shipping provider, factor that into your decision.
How eBay Tracks Your Sales
eBay calculates your 12-month total on the first of each month using the preceding 12 full calendar months. If your total goes over $25,000, eBay notifies you on the 20th of the month and upgrades you to Pro Starter from the 1st of the following month. You can track your running total in Seller Hub under Performance > Sales, or in the eBay app under My eBay > Selling overview > Performance.
eBay Pro Subscription Plans
For sellers who need advanced features (multi-quantity listings, scheduled payouts, Discounts Manager, third-party integrations), eBay now offers four Pro plans replacing the old eBay Store subscriptions:
| Plan | Monthly Cost | Transaction Fees |
|---|---|---|
| Pro Starter | Free | Standard FVF apply |
| Pro Basic | $24.95 | Reduced FVF |
| Pro Featured | $59.95 | Reduced FVF |
| Pro Anchor | $299.95 | Lowest FVF |
Pro Starter is the default plan for sellers over $25,000/year who do not manually subscribe to a paid plan. You can downgrade to free selling if your sales are under the threshold.
Existing eBay Store subscriptions (Basic, Featured, Anchor) are being automatically migrated to the equivalent Pro plan. No action needed from you.
Final Value Fees (What Most People Actually Ask About)
If you are on the Pro Starter plan or still in the pre-free-selling period, the final value fee for most categories on eBay.com.au is 13.2% (incl. GST) of the total sale amount (item price + postage + any applicable tax).
The TurnGoods pricing engine tracks eBay AU at 12.4% as a baseline rate and 17.4% when a 5% promoted listing ad rate is applied. The 13.2% figure is the most common rate across general merchandise categories. Some categories (vehicles, real estate, services, gift cards) have separate fee schedules not covered here.
Key points about final value fees:
- Calculated on the total amount the buyer pays, including postage
- Automatically deducted from your payout before funds are released
- Fee credits are available if a sale is cancelled or the buyer receives a refund
- Final value fee rate is based on terms in effect at the time of the sale, not when you listed
- Rates vary significantly by category — always check the listing form before publishing
How Much eBay Fees Actually Cost You
We calculated this in detail in our Resale Business Profit Margins in Australia guide, but here is the short version: a $100 sale with a $30 cost basis looks like $70 gross profit. After eBay’s 13.2% FVF ($13.20), postage ($12), and packaging ($2), your net is closer to $42.80. That is 42.8% net margin — not the 70% you saw on paper.
Promoted Listings
eBay’s Promoted Listings is a self-service ad tool. You pay an ad rate (a percentage you choose, typically 2-5%) on top of your final value fee when the item sells through a promoted placement. Unlike standard fees, promoted listing costs are determined by the ad rate you set.
At a 5% ad rate with standard FVF, your total fee burden is approximately 17-18% of the sale price. The trade-off: eBay claims promoted listings sell 10-15% faster on average, which for aged stock or slow-moving categories can be worth the extra cost.
When promoted listings make sense: Items over 60 days old, seasonal items that need to move fast, or high-margin items where the extra 5% is absorbed easily.
When they do not: Low-margin items (electronics, media), items already selling well, or categories where organic search is strong.
Insertion (Listing) Fees
For most sellers, listing on eBay Australia is effectively free:
- First 250,000 listings per month: FREE
- Excess listings: $1.00 each
Unless you are running a mega-volume operation with over 250,000 active listings, you can ignore insertion fees entirely. This is an effective 100% reduction from eBay’s earlier fee structure where even basic listings cost $0.30-0.50.
Optional Listing Upgrade Fees
| Upgrade | Fee (incl. GST) |
|---|---|
| Second category | $1.00 |
| Subtitle | $2.20 |
| Scheduled listing | Free (most categories), $0.44 (some categories) |
| Buy It Now on auction | Free (most categories), $0.11 (some categories) |
Important: These fees are non-refundable, even if the item does not sell or you remove the upgrade later. They also reapply on manual relists (but not on auto-renew).
The categories where scheduled listing and Buy It Now fees apply are niche: Business > Websites & Businesses for Sale, Gift Cards & Vouchers > Gift Cards, Home & Garden > Real Estate, Services, and Tickets/Travel categories.
International Sales Fee
If a buyer’s delivery address is outside Australia, eBay charges an additional 3% (incl. GST) on the total sale amount. This applies regardless of whether you are on free selling or a Pro plan. It is calculated on the full sale amount (item + postage + tax) and automatically deducted.
If you do not want to sell internationally, exclude overseas delivery locations in your postage settings. Australian sellers shipping to New Zealand, the UK, or the US frequently — check whether the additional 3% still leaves you a worthwhile margin on each sale.
Seller Performance Penalties
If your performance drops below eBay’s standards, additional fees kick in on top of your regular FVF:
- Below Standard rating: Extra 5.5% on total sale amount for the following calendar month
- Very High ‘Item Not As Described’ return rate: Extra 5.5% on sales in affected categories
These penalties stack. If you are Below Standard AND have Very High INAD returns, only the Below Standard penalty applies (not both). But at 5.5% on top of 13.2% FVF, you are looking at 18.7% effective take rate — which destroys margins on anything under 40% gross margin.
Monitor your performance in the Seller Standards Dashboard and Service Metrics Dashboard. The most common causes of Below Standard status are late shipment rates and INAD return rates above category averages.
Dispute Fees
If eBay finds you responsible for a chargeback or payment dispute, you will be charged a $24.20 dispute fee on top of the disputed amount. At $24.20 per dispute, a disputed $50 sale costs you $74.20 — keep your listings accurate and communicate with buyers to avoid this.
Currency Conversion
When selling on international eBay sites, eBay converts your funds at their transaction exchange rate. The conversion charge for Australian sellers is 3.3% (incl. GST) — this is eBay’s margin on top of the wholesale exchange rate, applied each time eBay converts currencies (listing on eBay.com in USD, for example).
Worked Example: What You Actually Keep
Let’s walk through a real example. Say you sell a designer handbag on eBay Australia for $500, with $15 postage.
Scenario A: Under $25k/year (post-May 12 free selling)
- Sale price: $515 (item + postage)
- Final value fee: $0 (free selling)
- Promoted listing (5%): $0
- Postage: ~$15
- Packaging: ~$2
- You keep: ~$498
Scenario B: Pro Starter / over $25k/year
- Sale price: $515
- Final value fee (13.2%): -$67.98
- Promoted listing (5%): $0 (if not promoted)
- Postage: ~$15
- Packaging: ~$2
- You keep: ~$430
Scenario C: Promoted listing + Below Standard
- Sale price: $515
- Final value fee (13.2%): -$67.98
- Promoted listing (5%): -$25.75
- Below Standard penalty (5.5%): -$28.33
- Postage: ~$15
- Packaging: ~$2
- You keep: ~$376
The difference between Scenario A and C is $122 — more than 23% of your sale price eaten by fees and penalties.
What TurnGoods Does With Fee Data
TurnGoods factors eBay Australia’s fee structure directly into pricing decisions. When you scan an item, the platform calculates net revenue after fees across all marketplaces — eBay AU, Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, Whatnot, Shopify, StockX, and GOAT — and recommends the platform that maximises your take-home.
The fee data lives in TurnGoods’s platform analysis engine and the AI Price Scorecard, which scores every item on pricing, aging, and category sell-through rates. Items overpriced relative to their category get flagged for markdown before they become dead stock.
It is not a standalone fee calculator page. It is a live pricing intelligence that factors in fees so you do not have to do the maths yourself.
Quick Reference Table
| Fee Type | Amount (incl. GST) | Who Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Listing fee (first 250k/mo) | FREE | Everyone |
| Excess listing fee | $1.00 | Volume sellers |
| Final value fee (standard) | 13.2% | Pro Starter + non-free sellers |
| Promoted listings | Variable (2-5%+ ad rate) | Optional |
| International sales fee | 3% | Sellers shipping overseas |
| Below Standard penalty | +5.5% | Poor performance sellers |
| INAD return penalty | +5.5% | High return-rate sellers |
| Dispute fee | $24.20 | Chargeback losers |
| Currency conversion | 3.3% | International site sellers |
When Do These Fees Apply?
The fees on this page apply to listings on eBay.com.au. If you list directly on eBay.com, eBay.co.uk, or other international sites, their fee structures apply instead.
The free selling changes roll out from 12 May 2026. Until you receive notification from eBay that you are enrolled, the previous fee structure (standard 13.2% FVF for all sellers without a store) continues to apply.
Bottom Line
The free selling change is genuinely good news for casual resellers and side-hustlers. For volume sellers and consignment stores doing over $25k/year, the Pro Starter plan keeps costs where they were, but removes the old store subscription fee. Either way, understanding exactly what you pay per sale is the difference between a profitable resale business and one that is just keeping the post office busy.
The full eBay AU fee policy is at eBay.com.au Selling Fees. Note that eBay’s free selling roll-out is still in progress — check your Performance tab in Seller Hub or the eBay app to confirm your status.
Want to see how fees affect your net revenue without doing the maths? TurnGoods factors platform fees into every pricing recommendation. Try it at turngoods.com.