How much does Whatnot take per sale?

Mainly two fees. A commission on the item price, which starts at 8% for most categories at the entry tier and drops as your four-week sales grow, down to 3.5% for coins at the top tier. And a payment processing fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents in the US, Canada and Australia, charged on the whole order: item price, the shipping your buyer paid, and sales tax. On a $20 item with $4.99 shipping at the 8% tier, that is $1.60 commission plus $1.02 processing, so you keep $17.38. In some states Whatnot also adds sales tax on its fees, which comes out of your earnings.

Is the Whatnot fee charged on shipping?

The commission is not. Whatnot calculates commission on the item price only, not on shipping or tax. The payment processing fee is charged on the whole order, including the shipping and tax the buyer paid, plus a fixed 30 cents. That is why processing costs more than 2.9% of your item price, especially on cheap items where shipping is most of the order.

What are Whatnot's commission tiers?

Since September 21, 2026, your total sales in a four-week period set your tier for the next period. In the US the tiers start at $0 to $14,999 and step up at $15,000, $35,000, $50,000, $100,000, $250,000 and $500,000. Rates vary by category within each tier. Sports and trading cards run 8% down to 6.5%, fashion and other 8% down to 4.5% or 4%, other collectibles 8% down to 5%, and coins 4% down to 3.5%. Your current rate and your pace toward the next tier are on the Seller Hub home page.

Why is my real fee percentage higher than 8%?

Because part of the processing fee has nothing to do with the item price: the fixed 30 cents, plus 2.9% of the shipping and tax the buyer paid. On a $5 item with $4.99 shipping, commission is 40 cents but processing is 59 cents, so total fees are almost 20% of the item price. On a $50 item with the same shipping, fees are under 12%. The cheaper the item, the bigger share the fixed 30 cents and the shipping-based processing take.

Where do I see the exact fee on an order?

In the Whatnot app, open Orders, select the order, and look at Receipt and earnings details. In Seller Hub on the web, open the order and check the right side panel. That shows the exact commission and processing charged, which is what this calculator estimates.

Does Backstage work this out for me?

Yes, and it does not estimate. Backstage reads what each sale actually earned after Whatnot's fees and puts that number on every captured item during the show, so the recap and your consignor splits use real net earnings rather than a calculator's guess. This page is for setting prices and expectations before you go live.

Whatnot Fee Calculator: What You Actually Keep After Fees

Enter the item price, the shipping your buyer paid and your commission tier to see Whatnot's commission, the payment processing fee, and your real net earnings on a sale. Uses Whatnot's tiered rates in effect since September 21, 2026.

Whatnot takes two fees on every sale: a commission on the item price, and a payment processing fee on the whole order. Enter a sale below to see both, and what you keep. Rates are the US tiers Whatnot published for the structure that took effect on September 21, 2026.

Item price

Shipping the buyer paid

Commission ignores it. Processing does not. Sales tax the buyer paid

Leave at 0 if you are not sure. It only affects processing. Category Your tier (four-week sales) Commission rate for this pick: 8.00%. Your exact rate is on your Seller Hub home page.

Commission on the item$1.60

Processing on the order$1.02

Total Whatnot fees$2.62

You keep$17.38

Fees as a share of the item price13.1%

An estimate for planning. Whatnot shows the exact fee on every order in Seller Hub. In the EU and UK processing is 2.42% plus €0.25 or £0.25, plus VAT; those markets also have their own commission tables. Not included here: sales tax some states charge on Whatnot's fees, the Premier Shop discount (through October 31), and any promotional or high-value-order rates.

How Whatnot's fees work

Commission is Whatnot's share of the sale. It is charged on the item price only, never on shipping or tax. Since September 21, 2026 the rate depends on two things: the category of the show (or of the product, for a marketplace sale) and your tier, which is set by your total sales across every category in the previous four-week period. New sellers start at the Standard tier, 8% in most categories and 4% for coins, unless a promotion applies, and unlock lower rates as sales grow. Existing sellers were placed into a tier on September 21 based on their sales from August 24 to September 20. Your rate is locked for the full period; crossing a threshold lowers next period's rate, not this one's.

Payment processing is separate and does not change with your tier. In the US, Canada and Australia it is 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction, charged on the total the buyer paid: item, shipping and tax together. That base is the detail most fee calculators miss, and it is the reason your real fee rate is always higher than the commission rate alone.

US commission rates by tier, from Whatnot's own table

Category	Standard	Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3	Tier 4	Tier 5	Tier 6
Sports	8.00%	7.75%	7.50%	7.25%	7.00%	6.75%	6.50%
Trading card games	8.00%	7.75%	7.50%	7.25%	7.00%	6.75%	6.50%
Fashion	8.00%	7.00%	6.50%	5.50%	5.00%	4.50%	4.50%
Other collectibles	8.00%	7.25%	6.50%	6.00%	5.00%	5.00%	5.00%
Coins	4.00%	3.90%	3.80%	3.70%	3.60%	3.55%	3.50%
Everything else	8.00%	7.00%	6.50%	5.50%	4.00%	4.00%	4.00%

Tiers by four-week sales: $0 to $14,999 · $15,000 to $34,999 · $35,000 to $49,999 · $50,000 to $99,999 · $100,000 to $249,999 · $250,000 to $499,999 · $500,000 and up. Read from Whatnot's help center on September 25, 2026; Whatnot can change it.

Why cheap items lose a bigger share

Part of the processing fee never changes with the price: the fixed 30 cents and the 2.9% on shipping and tax. That part is a big slice of a small sale and a thin slice of a large one. With $4.99 shipping, no tax, and the 8% entry rate:

Item price	Commission	Processing	Total fees	You keep	Fees as % of price
$5	$0.40	$0.59	$0.99	$4.01	19.8%
$10	$0.80	$0.73	$1.53	$8.47	15.3%
$25	$2.00	$1.17	$3.17	$21.83	12.7%
$50	$4.00	$1.89	$5.89	$44.11	11.8%

This is why a $1 start that ends at $3 can cost you about a quarter of the sale in fees when the buyer pays $4.99 shipping on it, and why a show full of cheap items, each with its own shipping charge, can run a 15 to 20% fee rate while your commission tier says 8%. The fix is not a different calculator; it is knowing the real number per item as you sell.

Stop estimating after the show starts

A calculator is for pricing and planning. Once you are live, Backstage reads what each sale actually earned after Whatnot's fees and puts that number on every captured item, so the show recap and any consignor split use real net earnings, not this page's estimate.

Next steps

Splitting with a consignor? Use the consignment split calculator.
See every job Backstage does on the Whatnot seller tools page.
Questions? Ask us.