Each marketplace has a specific fee system. The fee structure is generally the same for all marketplaces and consists of a monthly subscription and a commission. The amounts, although comparable, vary from one marketplace to another, and it is important to understand them well in order to be able to generate a profit. In this article, we’ll take a look at what fees sellers should consider.

Are marketplace commissions too expensive?

Our first tip, when you are evaluating the commissions of the different marketplaces , is to compare the costs – of course – with regard to your costs, but also with regard to the volume generated by the marketplace. This seems obvious, but the important question to ask is whether it is reasonable to pay x% of the founder’s commission for additional turnover. Another way to look at marketplace fees is to compare them to the sum of the costs that you would have to incur to generate the same volume by your own site. How much to pay for traffic, SEO services, payment providers, fraud … Last point, very often, it is possible to slightly increase its selling price to include the price of the commission. In absolute terms, any commission is always too expensive! but when compared to the costs that one would have to incur to generate the same turnover, it makes it possible to realize the value that marketplaces bring.

Commissions applicable on the sale price including VAT, shipping costs included

The Commission is generally stated exclusive of tax, and generally applies (except for ManoMano) to the sales price including VAT, shipping costs included. Let’s take an example. A marketplace announces a commission of 10% excluding taxes. You sell a product at € 100 including VAT, shipping costs included, you will have a commission of € 10 excluding VAT. Accounting, you will therefore have an income of 83.33 euros excluding taxes (100 divided by 1.2), and therefore a commission of … 12%, i.e. 10 € divided by 83.33. This is not a scam, you just need to know it up front.

Why is it done like this? originally it was for the sake of simplicity. Some sellers pay French VAT, others pay their local VAT, still others pay VAT on margin, and some do not pay VAT at all. In the United States, the Sales Tax (equivalent to VAT) applies differently depending on the state for each seller, depending on the location of the buyer and whether the seller has an establishment in the state in question. Applying a duty-free commission would have made the setup much more complicated.

Now that you know what the commission applies to, what are the amounts?

Amazon commissions

Selling costs on Amazon are: the subscription, the sales costs and the management costs.
Subscription on Amazon is 39 € / month.
There is a sales charge for each item sold, which is the commission on each item.
Management fees are only for the media category (books, music, video, DVD).

Selling fees

Some costs are “degressive” depending on the sale price

Management fees

Each product sold must also pay a handling fee of 0.30€.

Example:

For the sale of a digital camera sold for 150 €, with 5.99 € shipping costs.
The commission is up to 7.21% on the high-tech category.
It is not subject to management fees by Amazon.
Amazon will therefore retain (150+5,99) x 0,0721 + 0.30 =11.55€ excl. tax.

Note that in the event of a refund, Amazon will refund the commission minus a “commission deduction” of €5 or 20% of the commission amount (whichever is lower).

Fnac commissions

The Fnac retains 2 costs related to sales: subscription and commission.
The subscription is 39,99 € / month.

In summary, the commission will vary depending on the condition of the product sold (new, used or reconditioned).

Example:
For an order of 425 € TTC for a new product, which is in the “Large Household Appliances” category, the commission will be 6.5%. Therefore, the amount of the commission will be 30.81 HT, to which you will have to add 20% VAT.

Rakuten Commissions

Rakuten takes 3 types of costs related to a sale: subscription , the commission and the management fees .
At Rakuten, there are 4 types of subscription:

– Starter for €0/month
– Classic for €39/month
– Extend for €199/month
– Absolute for €499/month

To these rates is added 2% if the product sold is not new.
To these rates, 2% is added if the seller is based outside France.

Management fees are added to the commissions:

Example:
On the sale of a smartphone for €650, the commission is 12.5%, for a Pro Classic seller (who pays €39 excl. tax per month), i.e. 650*12.5% + €5 = €86.25. If the seller is an Absolute (who pays €499 per month), the commission is 6.5%, i.e. 650*6.5% + €5 = €47.25. For the subscription choice, it is all a question of volume. A low volume seller will prefer to pay high commissions rather than a large fixed subscription, and the other way round for a high volume seller.

Cdiscount commissions

Cdiscount takes into account two factors for sales: subscription and commission.
The subscription is 39.99 € HT / month.

The commission rates apply to the amounts including tax of sales made, shipping costs included, and the commission thus calculated is understood to be exclusive of VAT. Note that when a sale is canceled, the commission is not refunded.

Example:

Price of a ring: € 399 incl.
Delivery costs: 49 € incl.
Commission rate: 20% HT (jewelry category)
Cdiscount commission: ((399 + 49) x (20% (jewelry commission) x 1.20 (VAT)) = 75.26

If the buyer has opted for payment in several installments, the following costs are borne by the seller:

Darty commissions

Fees on the marketplace of Darty are aligned with those of Fnac. The subscription fee is €39.99 excl. / month.

Ebay commissions

Sure Ebay , there are 3 types of costs: subscription, advertisement insertion costs and costs relating to options and tools.

There are 3 types of subscription on Ebay:

• Basic Shop at 19.50 € / month
• Featured Boutique at 39.50 € / month
• Premium Shop at 149.50 € / month

Commissions

The costs of inserting advertisements

Depending on the store you have chosen, you are entitled to a certain number of included advertisements, without insertion costs.

For a basic store: 300 fixed price ads, for a featured store: 10,000 fixed price ads and for a Premium store, as many fixed price ads as you want. If you exceed the number of advertisements planned in your store, an insertion fee applies as follows:

Ebay’s model differs from that of other marketplaces because of this notion of insertion fees and the possibility of the auction format. It is recommended that all professional sellers take a shop in order to avoid insertion fees.

This is a summary, you can find all the information here .

Manomano commissions

For Manomano, there is a subscription fee of €100 excl. tax per month per site (FR, ES, IT, DE) and £50 for the UK, as well as a fixed commission of 15 to 25% excl. tax on average applied to the tax free.

Back Market Commissions

For the marketplace of Back Market, the subscription is €50/month excluding VAT and the general commission is set at 11% excluding VAT of the amount including all taxes, whatever the product.

Example: 

For a product worth €100 incl. VAT and €10 incl. VAT postage, Back Market will receive a commission of €12.10 (11% of €110).

Some product categories do not have the general 11% commission:

• 10% ex VAT for laptops, MacBooks, iMacs and video consoles ;
• 15% ex VAT on Apple accessories (except Apple cases);
• 20% VAT excl. for non-Apple accessories (except for cases)
• 20% excl. VAT on repair kits;
• 25% excl. VAT on cases for smartphones, laptops, AirPods, tablets and Apple Watches.

Commissions Rue du Commerce

For Shopping street , the subscription is 40 € TTC . It exists 2 types of commissions : for new products and for used products.

New products

Second-hand products

La Redoute Commissions

The Redoubt , the historic marketplace specializing in fashion and furniture is one of the leaders in these product segments.
A selective and demanding marketplace, it works exclusively with brands that complement its historical activity.
The subscription is 49 € / month .

Commissions break down as follows:

• 17% on the “Fashion and Home” category
• 20% on the “Jewelry and Accessories” category
• 8% on the “High Tech, Small Appliances and Large Appliances” category
• 12.5% on the “Fine Food” category
• 10% on the “Wine / Spirits” category

The above data is current as of March 18, 2019. Despite all the care taken in writing this article, if you find an error or imprecision, please let us know.