Marketplace
Whatnot fee calculator
Live-stream and marketplace selling. 8% commission, falling with volume.
Whatnot charges two things on every sale: a commission set by the category you sell in and the tier your recent sales have unlocked, and payment processing on top. Since 21 September 2026 the commission falls as your sales grow — your total over a four-week period sets the rate you pay in the next one. The detail that matters on a shipped order is that the two fees use different bases: commission is charged on the item price only, while payment processing is charged on everything the buyer pays, shipping included.
The sale
Optional — for profit
On a $51.00 sale, Whatnot takes $5.38 — 10.5% of what the buyer paid — and $45.62 reaches you. You keep 89.5% of the order.
Every line of it
| Buyer pays | item + shipping | $51.00 |
Commission Charged on the item price only. Buyer-paid shipping and tax are not included. | 8% of $45.00 | −$3.60 |
Payment processing Charged on everything the buyer pays, including shipping and tax. | 2.9% of $51.00 + $0.30 | −$1.78 |
| Total fees | −$5.38 | |
| Reaches your account | $45.62 | |
On this sale, Whatnot ranks 19 of 29 for what reaches you.
Compare all platformsWhat this calculator does not cover
- This tiered structure took effect on 21 September 2026 and is new. The tier you pay is the one your sales unlocked in the PREVIOUS four-week period; crossing a threshold lowers the rate for the next period, not the current one.
- Promotional rates — 0% for new sellers, launch promotions, limited-time category promotions — override the earned rate while they run and are not modelled. Nor are the custom rates as low as 3% that Whatnot negotiates with its highest-volume sellers.
- Through 31 October 2026 a Premier Shop takes a further 10% off its commission rate (5% becomes 4.5%). Whatnot ends that discount on 1 November 2026, so it is not modelled.
- Payment processing is also charged on the sales tax the buyer pays. Tax varies by buyer location and is not modelled, so on a taxed order processing runs slightly higher than shown.
- Whatnot adds state sales tax to its own fees for sellers in some states — on commission in DC, Hawaii, New Mexico and West Virginia; on processing in Connecticut, Hawaii, New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia. Not modelled.
- The high-value reduction is a promotion Whatnot says it may change or end at any time. Only Singles subcategories qualify in Sports.
- Show Promotion, Boost, cancellation fees and shipping labels are separate and not included. These are US figures; every other market has its own rate card.
Whatnot fees: common questions
How much does Whatnot take from a $50 sale?
$5.75 in fees on a $50 sale, leaving you $44.25 — an effective rate of 11.5%. On $100 it is $11.20, leaving $88.80. The effective rate is higher on the smaller sale because part of the fee is a fixed amount per transaction, which weighs more heavily on smaller orders.
What are Whatnot's fees, exactly?
On a $50 sale, the fees are commission of $4.00 (8% of $50.00), payment processing of $1.75 (2.9% of $50.00 + $0.30). That comes to $5.75 in total. There is no monthly fee.
Does Whatnot charge fees on shipping?
Partly. Payment processing is charged on the whole payment, shipping included; the commission is not. A $50 item with free shipping costs $5.75 in fees; the same item with $10 shipping costs $6.04 — $0.29 more, on shipping money that mostly goes to the carrier.
What should I charge on Whatnot to keep $50?
Work it backwards rather than guessing: at Whatnot's rates you have to charge more than $50 to keep $50, because the fee is taken from what the buyer pays. The what-to-charge calculator solves for the exact price, including any flat per-transaction fee, and rounds up to the cent so you are never left short.
What does this Whatnot calculator not include?
This tiered structure took effect on 21 September 2026 and is new. The tier you pay is the one your sales unlocked in the PREVIOUS four-week period; crossing a threshold lowers the rate for the next period, not the current one.
Are these Whatnot fees up to date?
They were read from Whatnot's own published fee schedule on October 2, 2026, and the source is linked on this page so you can check it yourself. Whatnot's source pages cannot be read by the weekly automated check, so it flags them for a manual re-read instead. Fee schedules do move without notice, so where this page and Whatnot disagree, Whatnot is right.
That is what Whatnot takes. What the unit actually earns is another question again, once shipping, advertising and the orders that come back are in the picture — work out the true margin.
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There is no account, no email wall and nothing for sale here, which is deliberate — it is what lets the site publish what platforms actually charge and link to where each rate came from. Re-reading ten fee schedules every week is the unglamorous part, and it is what keeps the numbers worth trusting. If that saved you a bad listing decision, you are welcome to put a little toward the domain and the hosting. If it did not, please do not.
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