# Platform fee study notes, October 29, 2026

Companion to platform-fees-2026.json. Every rate in the JSON comes from the platform's own help center, fee page, terms page or dealer contract. Where the page could not be opened by WebFetch, this file says so and says where the number came from instead. No third-party blog figures are used anywhere.

## Scenario assumptions

- Item prices: $50, $1,000, $5,000. Buyer pays $10.00 shipping. Seller's cost for a bubble mailer with tracking is $8.00.
- Sales tax: 7% of the item price is assumed on marketplaces that collect tax and charge fees on it (eBay, Whatnot, TCGplayer, Facebook). Mercari's base excludes tax. Processor and card show channels assume no marketplace tax.
- No promoted listings, US buyer, domestic shipping, single item per order.
- Whatnot shipping is pass-through: the buyer pays Whatnot's rate and Whatnot issues the label; the 2.9% processing fee still hits the shipping and tax.
- Whatnot commission (rechecked November 13, 2026): standard tier, single card in Trading Card Games or a Sports Singles subcategory, 8% on the first $1,500 of the item price and 0% above it. See the Whatnot section below.
- Vault channels (Fanatics Collect, Goldin): the $8 is spent shipping the card in; the buyer pays shipping out.
- Card show table costs are listed but not deducted per card, since they spread over every sale at the show.

## Net to seller

| Channel | $50 card | $1,000 card | $5,000 card |
|---|---|---|---|
| eBay (US, no Store subscription) | $43.19 | $858.50 | $4,291.40 |
| eBay (US, Basic Store or above; $27.95/mo subscription not deducted) | $43.76 | $868.22 | $4,625.64 |
| Whatnot (live or marketplace listing) | $43.86 | $888.38 | $4,724.26 |
| Fanatics Collect Buy Now (cash payout, card in the Fanatics Collect Vault) | $39.00 | $932.00 | $4,692.00 |
| Fanatics Collect Weekly Auction (graded card, hammer price = scenario price) | $42.00 | $992.00 | $4,992.00 |
| TCGplayer Marketplace, Level 1-4 seller (TCG singles only, e.g. Pokemon) | $43.66 | $898.62 | $4,791.62 |
| Mercari (US) | $46.00 | $901.00 | $4,501.00 |
| PayPal Goods and Services (buyer sends from a PayPal account) | $50.21 | $971.80 | $4,852.20 |
| Venmo business profile | $50.76 | $982.71 | $4,906.71 |
| Cash App for Business | $50.29 | $975.59 | $4,871.59 |
| Square in person, tap/dip/swipe (Free plan, card show table) | $48.55 | $973.85 | $4,869.85 |
| Square online (Free plan) | $49.72 | $968.37 | $4,836.37 |
| Stripe (online, own site or payment link) | $49.96 | $972.41 | $4,856.41 |
| Facebook Marketplace, shipping with checkout | $45.65 | $894.00 | $4,466.00 |
| Card show table (cash sale; table cost listed, not deducted) | $50.00 | $1,000.00 | $5,000.00 |
| Goldin Marketplace fixed price (Buy Now), graded cards | $37.85 | $909.00 | $4,577.00 |
| Heritage Auctions (sports catalog and Platinum Night auctions) | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| PWCC | n/a | n/a | n/a |

## Sources, by channel

### eBay
- Selling fees: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/selling-fees?id=4822 (no article date; footer Copyright 1995-2026). Trading cards 13.25% up to $7,500 per item, 2.35% above; per-order $0.40 (or $0.30 at $10 or less); international fee 1.65%; fee base is item + handling + shipping collected + sales tax + other fees. Fetched OK.
- Store selling fees: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/store-selling-fees?id=4809. Basic and above: 12.35% up to $2,500 then 2.35%; Starter keeps 13.25% / $7,500. Subscriptions: Starter $7.95, Basic $27.95, Premium $74.95, Anchor $349.95 monthly. Fetched OK.
- eBay Standard Envelope: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/ebay-standard-envelope?id=5308. 1 oz $0.82, 2 oz $1.11, 3 oz $1.40; max $20 selling price excluding tax; no graded cards; max 24 raw cards, max 2 in top loaders; tracking integrated; protection $20 single / $50 combined. Fetched OK. Note: eBay's older trading-cards landing page (pages.ebay.com/trading-cards) still prints $0.60 / $0.84 / $1.08 and a $250 raw / $500 graded AG threshold; the help page and AG terms are treated as current.
- Promoted Listings General: https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ebay-advertising/promoted-listings/general-campaign-strategy?id=4164. Ad rate 2% to 100% of the total sale amount including shipping and taxes; charged only when the item sells within 30 days of a click. Fetched OK. The generic promoted-listings help page (id=4815) returned an eBay error page.
- Authenticity Guarantee seller terms: https://pages.ebay.com/authenticity-guarantee-tradingcards-seller/index_app.html. Single raw or graded cards $200 or more; eBay covers authentication; seller pays shipping to the authenticator; no seller fee. Fetched OK.
- Vault: https://www.ebay.com/vault/terms fetched OK but only references a fee page. The fee pages (pages.ebay.com/vault/fees, pages.ebay.com/bm/en-us/vault/fees, pages.ebay.com/il/en-us/vault/fees) all return 404. eBay sold the vault to PSA in 2024 (eBay press release PDF on ebay.q4cdn.com). PSA's vault page (psacard.com/vault) returned 403. Vault excluded from nets.

### Whatnot
Rechecked November 13, 2026. The public help pages still return 403 to automated requests, so both articles below were read through Whatnot's help center article API (https://help.whatnot.com/api/v2/help_center/en-us/articles/{id}.json), which returns the article body Whatnot publishes.

- Seller fees help article: https://help.whatnot.com/hc/en-us/articles/4847069165965-Whatnot-seller-fees (article last edited November 1, 2026). It says: "Our new commission rate structure took effect September 21, 2026 for existing sellers." A seller's total sales in a four-week period set the tier for the next period. US table, Sports and TCG rows: Standard ($0 to $14,999) 8.00%, Tier 1 ($15,000 to $34,999) 7.75%, Tier 2 ($35,000 to $49,999) 7.50%, Tier 3 ($50,000 to $99,999) 7.25%, Tier 4 ($100,000 to $249,999) 7.00%, Tier 5 ($250,000 to $499,999) 6.75%, Tier 6 ($500,000+) 6.50%. Coins 4.00% to 3.50%. Custom rates as low as 3% for the highest-volume sellers. Commission is calculated on "the sale price of the item. Shipping and taxes paid by the buyer are not included."
- Payment processing, same article: "Payment processing fees are calculated on the total order value paid by the buyer, including the item price, buyer-paid shipping, and taxes, plus a fixed transaction fee." and "US, Canada, Australia: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction". It is the same at every tier.
- Reduced Commission on High-Value Orders: https://help.whatnot.com/hc/en-us/articles/27912945518733-Reduced-Commission-on-High-Value-Orders (article last edited July 31, 2026; still published on November 13, 2026 with no end date). It says: "Starting January 14, 2026, Whatnot began charging a 0% commission on the portion of the sale price over 1,500 (USD/AUD/EUR/GBP 1,500 or JPY 225,000) on individual orders in select categories plus standard payment processing." Included categories: "Comics & Anime, Toys & Hobbies, Coins & Money, Trading Card Games, Entertainment Cards, Sports Singles subcategories (see other restrictions), Bags & Accessories, Jewelry & Watches". Restrictions: "Rate only applies to the Singles subcategories in Sports Cards. Sports breaks and Surprise Products are excluded from the promotion." Terms: "This is a limited-time promotion. Whatnot reserves the right to modify, suspend, or end this promotion, including the eligible categories, qualifying thresholds, and commission rates, at any time and for any reason, with or without prior notice." Whatnot's own example: a $2,000 item pays 8% on the first $1,500, a $120 commission, and 0% on the remaining $500, with processing on the full transaction.
- Model used in the JSON, the CSV and both calculators from November 13, 2026: standard tier, single card, commission = 8% of min(item price, $1,500); processing 2.9% of item + shipping + tax, plus $0.30.
- Correction: the October 29 version of this study charged 8% on the whole item price, because the high-value article had not been read. The $50 and $1,000 figures are unchanged. The $5,000 figures changed: total fees $555.74 to $275.74, net $4,444.26 to $4,724.26, net 88.89% to 94.49% of the item price.
- Not modelled: higher tiers (a Tier 1 to Tier 6 seller pays 7.75% to 6.50% on the first $1,500), sports breaks and Surprise Products (tier rate on the whole price), and dated event promotions such as the Black Friday weekend commission cuts listed in the help center.
- Seller Academy guide: https://selleracademy.whatnot.com/guide. Fetched OK in October. Prints 'Standard Whatnot Commission Fee: 8%' and 'Payment Processing: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction'. It does not mention the $1,500 rule.
- Fees page: https://www.whatnot.com/seller/fees. BLOCKED: 403 in October. No longer used as a source; the processing line now cites the help article.
- Giveaways: the October snippet said no commission or processing on giveaways and that giveaway shipping is debited from the seller balance. The seller fees article read on November 13 does not mention giveaways, so that line still rests on the October snippet.
- Shipping: https://help.whatnot.com/hc/en-us/articles/46768886074765-Shipping-for-sellers-in-the-US BLOCKED: 403 in October and not re-read. Snippet: buyers pay shipping by default at Whatnot's published rates, which include a handling fee; Whatnot generates a prepaid tracked label; sellers may cover part or all of shipping during a show. The per-ounce rate table could not be read.
- Whatnot terms page (whatnot.com/terms) also returned 403.

### Fanatics Collect (incl. PWCC)
- Buy Now fees: https://support.fanaticscollect.com/en_us/buy-now-fees-ry33QCXaxe. JS-RENDERED: WebFetch got only the title. Snippet: 6% seller fee for listings priced under 120% of Card Ladder market value; the help-center copy of the article adds 12% at or above that line; fee is on the final sale price.
- Selling on Fanatics Collect: https://support.fanaticscollect.com/en_us/selling-on-fanatics-collect-Byq2QAQpel. JS-RENDERED. Snippet (indexed about 31 days ago): no fees to sell graded collectibles in Weekly or Premier Auctions; Premier pays a minimum $1,000 of price realized to Fanatics Collect; Weekly opens at $5; Premier opens at $1,000; Premier sellers receive a bonus commission of 110% of hammer up to $250,000.
- Weekly Auction and Premier Auction articles (https://support.fanaticscollect.com/en_us/weekly-auction-ry6imAm6lx, https://support.fanaticscollect.com/en_us/premier-auction-Sk2jQCmaeg): JS-RENDERED. Snippets: 20% buyer's premium on auction sales; Buy Now has no buyer's premium but a 2.9% checkout fee may apply by payment method; Premier eligibility printed as $10,000 on one page and $25,000 on another.
- The Vault: https://www.fanaticscollect.com/thevault. Fetched OK (page date Oct 29, 2026). Intake free for authenticated items $50+, $3 for items under $50 not sold or auctioned in 30 days; oversized $15, large $25; fulfillment out of the vault 1%, or 3% within 90 days, plus standard shipping and insurance; no storage fee printed.
- No fees page: https://www.fanaticscollect.com/nofees. Fetched OK. FanCash payout = no marketplace seller fee on that sale; cash payouts carry the standard fee.
- Sell page: https://www.fanaticscollect.com/sell. Fetched OK. 'Seller fees as low as 6%', '0% fees with FanCash payouts', 'No minimums'.
- FanCash payouts article is JS-rendered; the search snippet says vault fees still apply on FanCash sales.

### TCGplayer
- TCGplayer Fees: https://help.tcgplayer.com/hc/en-us/articles/201357836-TCGplayer-Fees. BLOCKED: 403 (all help.tcgplayer.com articles and store.tcgplayer.com/help returned 403 or 500). Snippet of the fee table: Marketplace Seller Level 1-4 commission 10.75% plus transaction fee 2.5% + $0.30; commission on order subtotal capped at $75 per product, shipping portion uncapped; transaction fee on order total including shipping and tax; Pro non-Direct 9.25% commission plus 2.5% Pro fee; international PayPal 2% capped at $20.
- Fee change blog post: https://seller.tcgplayer.com/blog/important-changes-to-tcgplayer-direct-minimum-pricing-and-marketplace-fees. Fetched OK. 'Marketplace Seller (Level 1-4 Account) percent commission fees will increase from 10.25% to 10.75%' and 'The Marketplace Commission Fee cap is increasing from $50 to $75', effective February 10, 2026, posted January 8, 2026.
- The help page's intro formula reportedly still shows 9.25% in one snippet; the table and the blog post are treated as current.

### Mercari
- Fees on Mercari: https://www.mercari.com/us/help_center/article/169/. Fetched OK, 'Updated 10/23/2026'. 10% selling fee on item price + buyer-paid shipping; 3.6% Buyer Protection fee paid by the buyer; no seller processing fee; Instant Pay $3.
- Changes to our fee structure: https://www.mercari.com/us/help_center/article/2517/. Fetched OK. Effective January 6, 2025; the previous structure's 2.9% + $0.50 processing fee is gone.

### Payment processors
- PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/merchant-fees. Fetched OK, Last Updated October 1, 2026. Send/Receive Money for Goods and Services 2.99% with no fixed fee shown; Standard card payments 2.99% + fixed fee; PayPal Checkout and Pay with Venmo 3.49% + fixed fee; USD fixed fee 0.49.
- Venmo: https://help.venmo.com/cs/articles/business-profile-transaction-fees-vhel221. Fetched OK. Business profile 1.9% + $0.10; Tap to Pay 2.29% + $0.10; payments of $1.00 or more.
- Cash App: https://cash.app/help/us/en-us/6522-switch-to-cash and https://cash.app/help/US/EN-US/6521-cash-for-business-fees. JS-RENDERED: both returned an empty body to WebFetch. Snippets: 2.6% + $0.15 per payment received from a customer's Cash App; Tap to Pay flat 3%. The business payment terms (https://cash.app/legal/us/en-us/cash-payment-terms, fetched OK, Last Updated August 25, 2025) say fees are disclosed in the account and print no rate.
- Square: https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5068-what-are-square-s-fees. Fetched OK. Free plan: in person 2.6% + 15c, online and invoices 3.3% + 30c, keyed 3.5% + 15c; Plus: 2.5% + 15c in person, 2.9% + 30c online; fees taken on the total including tax and tip. The marketing pricing pages (squareup.com/us/en/pricing and /payments/our-pricing) were truncated or 404.
- Stripe: https://stripe.com/pricing. Fetched OK. 2.9% + 30c online domestic cards; Terminal 2.7% + 5c.

### Facebook Marketplace
- Onsite Checkout Payments terms: https://www.facebook.com/legal/checkout_terms. Fetched OK, Last modified May 26, 2026. US Marketplace selling fee 10%, minimum $0.80, calculated on the entire transaction including sale price, shipping and applicable taxes; $20 chargeback fee waived on a won dispute.
- Conflicts: facebook.com/marketplace/sell-with-shipping still says 5%, and business help 223030991929920 ('About Fees for Sales') says 5% or $0.40 for shipments of $8 or less, written for Commerce Manager shops. The help page 449101635835192 (fetched) only links to a 'selling fee for orders with shipping' article without a number. The legal terms page is used.

### Card shows
- The Philly Show (Oaks, PA), December 11-13, 2026: $375. one 8 ft sports card table in Hall B/E, 1 badge, all three days (Fri 1-8 pm, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 9:30-3); TCG/Pokemon exclusive table in Hall D $275; 10x10 interior booth $575 with one 6 ft and one 8 ft table and 2 badges; corner booth $700 with two 8 ft tables; $200 deposit per booth; PA tax certificate required; 4% fee on card payments. Source: https://phillyshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PSCS-Dealers-2026-Contract_12.2026-REV1-2-page.pdf (contract for the December 11-13, 2026 show, linked from https://phillyshow.com/forms/).
- CSA Show, Chantilly, VA (Dulles Expo Center; venue sold, new site pending), Oct 2025 / Apr 2026 / Jun 2026 contract: $350. one 8 ft table, 1 badge, three days (Fri 1-8 pm, Sat 9-5, Sun 10-4); Pokemon 8 ft table $200; 10x10 interior booth $500 with one 6 ft table and 2 badges; corner booth $650 with two 8 ft tables; premium front row $950; $200 deposit; VA tax certificate required; 4% fee on PayPal payments. Source: https://csashows.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/CSA-2025.10-Dealer-Forms-Contract_v2.pdf (contract covering Oct 17-19 2025, Apr 10-12 2026 and Jun 26-28 2026 shows, linked from https://csashows.com/contracts/).
- Dallas Card Show Houston (George R. Brown Convention Center), December 18-20, 2026: $250. one standard table for the three-day show; wall table $400; premium table with first pick $500; showcase rental $60; table size, chairs and badges not stated on the page. Source: https://www.dallascardshow.com/houston (footer 2026; show December 18-20, 2026).
- Dallas Card Show Chicago (Schaumburg Convention Center), November 13-15, 2026: $300. one table for three days; 2 tables $550, 3 tables $775, 4 tables $1,000; showcase rental $60; size, chairs and badges not stated. Source: https://www.dallascardshow.com/chicago (footer 2026; show November 13-15, 2026).
- Lucky's Card Shows, Hofstra (Hempstead, NY), April and October 2026; same promoter as the White Plains show: $300. one 8 ft table, chairs provided, 1 vendor badge, three days (Fri 3-7 pm, Sat 10-5, Sun 10-4); booth $550 with two 8 ft tables in an L plus a 6 ft backup table and 2 badges; extra badges $50; showcase rental $30 advance / $40 day of. The White Plains vendor page lists booth contents (8 ft + 6 ft + 6 ft backup tables) but no price. Source: https://luckycardshows.com/hofstra-vendor-info/ (footer Copyright 2025 Lucky's Promotions; Hofstra 2026 April and October).
- Collector Roadshow, Montclair, NJ, November 25, 2026: $100. one 6 ft x 2.5 ft table, one evening (5-10 pm), roughly 3 display cases per table, 2 people max, bring your own displays; chairs not mentioned. Source: https://www.collectorroadshow.com/shows/montclair/2026-11-25/ (show November 25, 2026).
- The Philly Show contract is a PDF; text was extracted locally from the FlateDecode streams. The earlier contract link on phillyshow.com (PSCS-Dealers-2026-Contract_3.2026-rev11.19.pdf) served the CSA Shows contract content (same promoter family), which is where the CSA prices were read; the CSA site's own link to CSA-2025.10-Dealer-Forms-Contract_v2.pdf returned 404 at the time of fetch but csashows.com/contracts/ still links to it.
- White Plains: Lucky's Promotions took the show over from JP's Sports; the White Plains vendor page lists booth contents and showcase rental but no price, so the Hofstra price from the same promoter is recorded and flagged. Dallas Card Show's home show in Allen, TX lists showcases ($50) but no table price on the vendor page (tables sold out; 'call 469-656-1445'), so the Houston and Chicago editions are used.

### Consignment and auction houses
- Goldin about page: https://goldin.co/about.html. Fetched OK. Marketplace fee table: $2,499 and under 16.7% 'Now 8.3%'; $2,500-$4,999 12.5% 'Now 8.3%'; $5,000-$9,999 10% 'Now 8.3%'; $10,000-$249,999 8.3%; buyer's premium 22% ($19 min) in Marketplace, Weekly and Elite auctions; auction seller commission 'Contact Sales'.
- Goldin FAQ: https://goldin.co/faq. JS-RENDERED (title only). Snippet: $5 seller fee on any Weekly Auction lot hammering under $50 or unsold; lots over $50 pay no listing fee unless agreed; Weekly lots start at $10 with no reserve. Goldin's sell page (goldin.co/sell) also rendered as title only.
- Heritage: all ha.com pages (terms, consignment, auction home) returned 403. Buyer's premium 22% of the successful bid, minimum $29 per lot, from the search snippet of https://sports.ha.com/c/auction-home.zx?saleNo=50087 and the 2025 Fall and Winter sports catalog auction pages. Seller's commission is not published anywhere on ha.com that the search surfaced.
- PWCC: absorbed into Fanatics Collect; no separate schedule.

## What was blocked or could not be confirmed

- 403 to WebFetch: help.whatnot.com (every public article page; the seller fees and high-value order articles were read through the help center article API on November 13, 2026), whatnot.com/seller, whatnot.com/seller/fees, whatnot.com/terms, help.tcgplayer.com (every article), store.tcgplayer.com/help (500), all ha.com hosts, psacard.com/vault. A browser-user-agent curl was refused by the sandbox policy, so these were not retried that way.
- JavaScript-rendered, body invisible to WebFetch: support.fanaticscollect.com (all articles), cash.app help, goldin.co/faq and goldin.co/sell, facebook.com/business/help/223030991929920.
- 404: eBay vault fee pages (three regional URLs), eBay help id=5252 and the sellercenter Standard Envelope page (the live help article is id=5308), squareup.com/us/en/payments/our-pricing, CSA contract PDF at the time of fetch.
- Not confirmed: Fanatics Collect 12% Buy Now rate above 120% of market value (snippet only); Whatnot per-ounce buyer shipping rates; Cash App 2.6% + $0.15 (snippet only; the terms page prints no rate); eBay Vault / PSA Vault current fees; Goldin and Heritage auction seller commissions (negotiated, unpublished); whether the Goldin 8.3% 'Now' marketplace rate has an end date; Premier Auction eligibility ($10,000 vs $25,000 on two Fanatics Collect pages); whether Facebook's 10% applies in every US region where shipping checkout is offered.

## Fee lines excluded from the nets, and why

- eBay international fee 1.65%: domestic buyer assumed.
- eBay Promoted Listings (2% minimum): optional; the study is organic.
- eBay Standard Envelope: only for items $20 or less; none of the three scenario prices qualify. A $15 raw card would ship for $0.82 at 1 oz.
- eBay Store subscription: shown as a separate channel row but the monthly fee is not deducted because it spreads over all monthly sales.
- eBay Vault: fee page gone, vault now PSA's.
- Whatnot giveaway shipping: only applies if the seller runs giveaways.
- Fanatics Collect vault fulfillment (1% / 3%) and the $3 under-$50 intake fee: the scenario card sells rather than being withdrawn, and all three prices are $50 or more.
- Fanatics Collect buyer-side fees (20% auction premium, 2.9% checkout fee): paid by the buyer; shown as an alternative net where the buyer's outlay is held equal to the price.
- TCGplayer Pro and Direct tiers: Level 1-4 is the default account; Pro adds a 2.5% Pro fee and Direct has its own per-card fees.
- Mercari 3.6% Buyer Protection fee and $3 Instant Pay: buyer-paid, and optional, respectively.
- PayPal 3.49% + $0.49 checkout rate: applies to a merchant checkout button or Pay with Venmo, not a Goods and Services send.
- Square keyed 3.5% + 15c and Plus/Premium plan rates: Free plan tap rate used for a card show.
- Facebook $20 chargeback fee: contingent.
- Goldin $5 under-$50 fee: the $50 scenario is a fixed-price Marketplace sale, not a Weekly Auction lot.
- Goldin and Heritage auction seller commission: unpublished, so no auction net is given; the buyer's premium is recorded for context.
- Sales tax remittance at card shows: the dealer's own obligation, not a platform fee.