Online Marketplaces for UK Sellers: Fees, Fit and Where to Sell in 2026
Amazon, eBay, Etsy and Vinted can each put your products in front of more buyers than a new store ever will, but they charge very different amounts for it and suit very different products. This hub brings together our marketplace reviews, fee breakdowns, seller guides and data so you can decide where to sell, what it will cost and when your own store makes more sense.
The short answer
- Amazon gives you the biggest audience and hands-off delivery through FBA, but plan for Amazon to take 30 to 40% of the selling price on a typical FBA item. It works best for products with healthy margins. Amazon review
- eBay is free for private sellers on domestic UK sales and costs business sellers roughly 13 to 17% all-in. It is the natural home for used, refurbished and collectible goods. eBay review
- Etsy suits handmade, vintage and design-led products. Its standard fees come to about 12% of a £30 sale before VAT and ads, but the share Etsy collects from sellers has risen every year since 2019.
- Vinted charges private sellers no selling fees; buyers pay a Buyer Protection fee instead. It is built for clearing personal items, not running a business.
- Your own store keeps the customer relationship and costs only payment processing (around 1.5% + 20p per UK card sale with Stripe) plus platform fees, but you have to bring the traffic yourself.
UK marketplaces compared
| Marketplace | Our score | Seller fees (UK) | Fulfilment | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| eBay | 7.5 | Private: £0 on domestic sales. Business: 6.9–12.9% final value fee + 30p per order (40p over £10) + 0.35% regulatory fee, plus VAT | You ship (Simple Delivery for private sellers) | Used, refurbished and collectible goods; low-fee reselling |
| Amazon | 7.4 | Referral fee typically 8–15% (min 25p) + £25/month Professional plan or 75p per item; FBA fees on top | FBA (Amazon ships, Prime badge) or you ship | New and branded goods with healthy margins and existing search demand |
| Etsy | – | 20p listing + 6.5% transaction + 4% + 20p payment processing + 0.48% regulatory fee | You ship | Handmade, vintage, craft supplies and design-led products |
| Vinted | – | No selling fees for private sellers; the buyer pays Buyer Protection | You ship (prepaid labels) | Clearing personal clothing and household items |
Scores are out of 10 and come from our full reviews; Etsy and Vinted are not yet fully reviewed. Fees are for UK sellers selling to UK buyers and were checked in October 2026. Ads, international sales and VAT schemes are excluded. Always confirm current fees with each marketplace before you price.
What each marketplace really costs on a sale
Headline percentages hide most of the cost. Fixed per-order fees, fulfilment, advertising and VAT all change the real figure, so we work it out on a typical sale in each review.
Amazon FBA, £25 item
About £3.75–£4 referral fee plus £3–£5 fulfilment, before stock costs, inbound postage and ads. Most sellers also spend 5–15% of revenue on Sponsored Products.
Full Amazon fee breakdown →eBay business seller, £50 item
An effective 13–17% once VAT and the per-order fee are counted, plus 2–10% if you use Promoted Listings in a competitive category.
Full eBay fee breakdown →Etsy, £30 item
Listing, transaction, payment processing and regulatory fees on a £30 sale with no postage charged, before VAT, Etsy Ads and offsite ads fees.
Work out your own numbers →Want the exact figure for your product? Our UK Seller Profit Calculator compares your profit, margin and break-even price on eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Vinted and your own website side by side, for private, non-VAT and VAT-registered sellers.
Which marketplace fits your business
- You are clearing out personal items. Start with eBay or Vinted: both charge private sellers nothing on domestic sales. If you start buying to resell, HMRC and the marketplaces may treat you as a business.
- You sell new, branded or private-label products. Amazon’s buyer traffic usually converts best, but only if your gross margin can absorb a 30–40% fee stack. Products below about 50% gross margin rarely survive it.
- You sell used, refurbished, spare-part or collectible stock. eBay buyers expect it, auctions still work for rare items, and fees undercut Amazon because eBay does not charge for fulfilment.
- You make or curate handmade, vintage or design-led goods. Etsy’s audience is the closest match, but budget for advertising: Etsy’s ad and services revenue nearly doubled as a share of sales between 2020 and 2025.
- You want someone else to handle delivery. Amazon FBA is the only option here that picks, packs, ships and handles returns for you.
- Your brand depends on owning the customer. Use marketplaces for discovery, but build your own store. Marketplaces control the listing, the customer data and the rules.
Marketplaces vs your own store
Marketplaces are getting more expensive. Etsy collected 16.5% of the value of goods sold on its platforms in 2019 and 24.2% in 2025. eBay’s take rate rose from 10.3% to 13.9% over the same period, and Amazon’s seller fees per dollar of seller sales rose by an estimated 20%. Advertising is a growing part of that cost at all three. Read the take rate analysis.
At the same time, marketplaces are taking a bigger share of online sales. In 13 EU countries, marketplaces handled 17.5% of web sales value in 2024, up from 12.4% in 2016, while businesses’ own websites and apps still carried the other 82.5%. See the Eurostat data.
For most growing sellers the answer is both: marketplaces for reach, your own store as insurance against rising fees and account risk. To choose a store platform, start with our best ecommerce platform for small business guide, or compare Shopify vs WooCommerce.
Selling on more than one marketplace
Multichannel selling multiplies the admin: stock has to stay in sync, listings and prices drift, and every channel has its own fees and rules. These guides cover the operational side.
Marketplace management
Inventory sync, listings, pricing, fees and the software that keeps Amazon, eBay, Walmart and Etsy under control.
Read the guide →Stock control across channels
How to stop overselling and keep stock accurate when the same products sell in several places.
Stock management →Shipping your orders
Carriers reviewed and scored for UK sellers, plus a price comparer for Royal Mail, Evri and InPost.
Shipping companies →Marketplace guides and data
- Amazon SEO: how to rank products in Amazon search
- Etsy SEO: how to get your listings found in Etsy search
- How to get more product reviews on Shopify, WooCommerce and Amazon
- Amazon vs Temu: where each marketplace wins for sellers and shoppers
- TikTok Creator Marketplace for influencer marketing
- Europe’s resale boom: how shoppers became sellers
- Marketplaces keep taking a bigger cut
- Marketplaces now take more than one in six euros of European web sales
How we evaluate marketplaces
We review marketplaces from the seller’s side, using the same review process as every platform we cover. Each review looks at five things:
- Real cost on a typical sale, including fixed fees, fulfilment, VAT and the advertising most sellers need, not just the headline rate.
- Audience fit: which products and price points the marketplace’s buyers actually look for.
- Fulfilment options and how much delivery work stays with you.
- Seller control and risk: who owns the listing and the customer, competition on your listings, and account suspension risk.
- Support and disputes: how returns, claims and chargebacks are handled in practice.
Fee figures are checked against each marketplace’s published UK rate cards and updated when they change. EcommerceViews does not use affiliate links and no marketplace pays to be included or to change its score. See our disclosure page.
Frequently asked questions
Which UK marketplace has the lowest fees?
For private sellers, eBay and Vinted charge no selling fees on most domestic sales; the buyer pays a Buyer Protection fee. For business sellers, eBay is usually cheapest at roughly 13–17% all-in, compared with 30–40% for a typical Amazon FBA sale once fulfilment and ads are included.
Is it worth selling on Amazon as a small business?
It can be if your products have healthy margins, fit standard parcel sizes and already have search demand. Products with less than about 50% gross margin rarely survive Amazon’s combined referral, fulfilment, storage and advertising costs.
Should I sell on a marketplace or build my own store?
Most growing sellers do both. Marketplaces bring buyers you could not reach on your own, while your own store keeps the customer relationship and protects you from rising marketplace fees and account suspensions.
Do I need to register as a business to sell on eBay or Vinted?
If you regularly buy items to resell, HMRC and the marketplaces may treat you as a business even if your account is set up as private. Fee-free private selling is meant for personal items.
How can I compare my profit on each marketplace?
Use our free UK Seller Profit Calculator. Enter your selling price, item cost, postage and VAT status to see fees, profit, margin and break-even price on eBay, Etsy, Amazon, Vinted and your own site.
Last updated: November 2026. Fees checked October 2026 for UK sellers. Reviewed by the EcommerceViews editorial team. Questions or corrections: contact us.