How marketplace fees change your real price
PayPal, Stripe, Amazon, Etsy, and freelance platforms take a cut before you get paid. Here is how to reverse the fee so the price you publish still covers your cost.
List price is not take-home pay
A $100 invoice is not $100 in your account. Card processors charge a percentage plus a fixed fee. Marketplaces add listing or payout fees on top. If you ignore that, every sale quietly loses margin.
The simple check is: net = gross − (gross × rate) − fixed fee. For PayPal and Stripe that is often around 2.9% + $0.30, but the exact rate depends on your country and product type.
Price backward from the amount you need
If you need $100 after fees, do not add 2.9% to $100. That undercharges because the fee is taken from the higher total. The reverse formula is: list price = (target + fixed fee) / (1 − rate).
Example: ($100 + $0.30) / 0.971 ≈ $103.30. That is the amount to put on the invoice if you want about $100 left after a 2.9% + $0.30 cut.
Marketplaces stack more than one fee
Amazon FBA, Etsy, eBay, Fiverr, and Upwork each mix referral, payment, and sometimes fulfillment fees. A 15% platform fee plus a payment fee is not the same as 15% total. Run both, then compare what is left against your cost of goods or hourly rate.
Use the fee calculators on Qalculators to test PayPal, Stripe, Square, Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Fiverr, and Upwork before you publish a price.
How marketplace fees change your real price is part of the Business cluster on Qalculators. Use the related tools below to run the numbers instead of estimating by hand.
Results depend on the values you enter. Treat them as planning estimates and confirm important decisions with a professional when needed.