Marketplace Fees & Net Calculation

Why marketplace fees matter

The price you list at and the price you actually net are different numbers. Sports-card fees vary by platform, category, listing format, and shipping configuration, so compare net proceeds rather than gross prices.

RocketVault Seller Marketplace

RocketVault uses the versioned marketplace-standard-2026-08 marginal schedule: 5.9% on the first $100 of item subtotal and 5.0% on the portion above $100. RocketVault calculates the bracketed fee in integer cents, rounds once at the order level, and snapshots the version, brackets, exact fee, and proceeds on the order. Listing review and order surfaces render the backend quote; customer-facing code does not embed a separate percentage or “keep” claim.

Buyer-paid shipping and sales tax appear separately. If the seller offers free shipping, the estimated label cost is also deducted in the seller preview. RocketVault does not add a listing fee, buyer marketplace fee, standard payout fee, or withdrawal fee.

Future effective-dated fee rules can select account, tier, or volume pricing, but a changed schedule applies only after its activation boundary and never rewrites an existing order. Payment-processing cost is recorded separately from the RocketVault fee so contribution margin can be reconciled from the internal ledger rather than inferred from provider exports.

Legacy RocketVault Trade Marketplace

RocketVault charges no transaction fee for V1 handshake trades and does not process cash payments. Free accounts can initiate five marketplace offers per calendar month; paid plans can initiate unlimited offers. Participants pay each other and purchase shipping directly, so any payment-app, shipping-label, insurance, or signature-confirmation cost is outside RocketVault's calculation.

Optional protected transactions and RocketVault-generated labels are roadmap features, not current buyer or seller protection.

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eBay

eBay is the dominant secondary market for sports cards in the US. Fees stack from three sources:

• Final value fee (FVF) — eBay's commission on the total sale, including shipping. For Trading Cards (category 261328) the standard rate runs around 13-14% for non-store sellers and a bit lower for Store-tier sellers. Above $7,500 per item, the rate steps down on the portion above the threshold.
• Per-order fee — a small fixed amount (recently around $0.30) added to every order.
• Promoted Listings — optional ad rate the seller chooses; deducted from the gross at payout. Often 2-12% on top of FVF for visibility.
• International surcharges — extra ~1.5% on top of FVF for sales shipped outside the US.
• eBay Standard Envelope / Authenticity Guarantee — eBay's centralized programs may modify the fee structure for raw cards under $20 (Standard Envelope discount) and high-value graded cards ($500+ goes through Authenticity Guarantee).

Effective fee rate after stacking is usually 13-15% of the sale total for a typical card listing. Confirm current rates on eBay's seller fee page — the FVF schedule updates annually.

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Whatnot

Whatnot is live-stream / show-based; the seller hosts an auction or fixed-price show and buyers bid in real time.

• Final value fee — historically around 8% of the hammer price for Trading Cards categories, lower than eBay.
• Payment processing — bundled into the FVF rate.
• Shipping — buyer-paid on most US shipments; seller can offer a flat ship-per-item or combined-shipping cap. Whatnot's combined-shipping feature lets buyers stack purchases under one ship.

Whatnot's lower FVF is offset by show-production overhead (time on camera, audience build, give-away offers). For a high-velocity seller doing weekly breaks or pulls, Whatnot's net per item can beat eBay. For a one-off listing, eBay's discovery surface still wins.

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Mercari

Mercari is fixed-price-listing focused, popular for casual sellers.

• Selling fee — recently 10% of the sale price.
• Payment processing — around 2.9% + $0.50 per transaction.
• Shipping — Mercari offers prepaid label discounts; pricing similar to eBay's label tools.

Effective net rate is in the 12-13% range after stacking. Lower-effort listing than eBay but smaller audience for sports cards specifically.

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Fanatics Collect

Fanatics Collect (formerly PWCC's auction surface and adjacent products) is sports-card-native and targets the mid-to-high end of the market.

• Seller commission — varies by service tier: standard auction commissions sit around 5% of the hammer for marketplace sellers; consigned-auction commissions (premium service, professional cataloging) are typically 15-20%.
• Buyer's premium — buyers pay an additional 10-20% on top of hammer, which is separate from the seller commission.
• Shipping & handling — bundled into the seller's price.

Best fit for cards above $500 where Fanatics' high-end audience and cataloging premium are worth the higher commission. Below $200, the seller's net is often better on eBay.

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Break-even comparison framework

To compare nets cleanly:

1. Start with the gross sale price you can realistically hit on each platform (use comp data, not aspiration).
2. Subtract platform FVF + per-order fees + payment processing.
3. Subtract shipping if buyer doesn't cover.
4. If grading is involved, subtract the prorated grading cost.

A worked example for a raw card you expect to sell at $50:

• eBay — gross $50, FVF at 13.5% = $6.75, per-order fee = $0.30, label = $4 → net ≈ $39.
• Whatnot — gross $50 (if hit during a show), FVF at 8% = $4, label = $4 → net ≈ $42 but you spend an hour selling it on stream.
• Mercari — gross $48 (slight discount typical), 10% fee = $4.80, processing = $1.89, label = $4 → net ≈ $37.

For high-value cards (>$500), Fanatics Collect's audience can drive a higher gross even after the larger commission, particularly for graded cards. Below $200, eBay's net usually wins.

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Shipping defaults RocketVault assumes

When RocketVault calculates "fair value" or "net to seller," the default fee model is eBay at 13.5% + $0.30 per order + a flat shipping cost. You can override per-listing or per-account.