The same sale, on every platform
One set of inputs, priced 29 ways. Ranked by what actually reaches your account — not by headline rate, which hides the flat fees that decide small orders.
The sale
Enter it once. Every platform is priced against the same numbers.
Optional — for profit
Each platform is priced on its default settings — no Offsite Ads on Etsy, the free Square plan, Shopify Basic billed yearly, a direct Gumroad link. Open any platform to change those and see the itemised working. Shopify’s plan fee is not a per-sale cost, so it is flagged separately rather than folded into the figures above.
Head to head
Two platforms at a time, with the settings that reverse the answer worked out rather than assumed. Most “X vs Y” articles give you one worked example; these say which conditions flip it.
Etsy vs eBay
Two marketplaces that charge in completely different shapes.
Shopify vs Etsy
The only comparison here where the answer depends on how much you sell rather than what you sell it for.
Stripe vs PayPal
Two processors with near-identical jobs and visibly different prices.
Stripe vs Square
Square prices by channel and Stripe does not.
Gumroad vs Lemon Squeezy
The two obvious homes for a digital product, and a genuine trade rather than a straight price difference: Lemon Squeezy charges less but acts as merchant of record, taking on sales tax and VAT compliance that Gumroad leaves with you..
PayPal vs Square
Both will take a card from someone who is standing in front of you or reading an invoice, and they price those two situations very differently..
Amazon vs eBay
The two biggest general marketplaces, and the comparison most often answered with a single averaged percentage.
Mercari vs eBay
The two obvious homes for second-hand goods, and a genuinely lopsided comparison: Mercari charges one flat 10% and nothing else, while eBay folds card processing into a higher percentage and adds a fee per order.
Amazon vs Etsy
A real decision for anyone selling handmade or home goods.
Reading this table
Take is the effective rate: total fees as a share of what the buyer paid. It is the only rate that survives comparison, because a headline percentage ignores the flat fee, and the flat fee is what decides whether a $6 sale is worth making at all.
You keep is the payout. Fill in what the item and its shipping cost you and the column switches to profit, which is a different ranking whenever a platform charges fees on the shipping you collected.
Marketplaces and processors are not really substitutes — eBay brings you a buyer, Stripe does not — so the cheapest row is not automatically the right one. This table prices the transaction; what a platform is worth to you is not arithmetic.